Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Train the rural Internet trainer: Lessons learned vom Pilotprojekt
Eine Zusammenfassung über das FITEL Pilotprojekt zur nationalen Alfabetisierungskampagne. Ich habe es für die Fachzeitschrift Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit (EuZ) geschrieben – wo sie redigiert im November 2007 veröffentlicht wird.....
Die Anwendung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) , die Kombination alter und sogenannter „neuer“, hautpsächlich digitaler Medien sollen einen Beitrag zur Erreichung der Ziele der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Peru leisten. Es ist inzwischen international anerkannt, daß die wichtigsten Komponenten nachhaltiger IKT Projekte die drei sogenannten „Cs“ sind: Connectivity, die technische Anbindung; Capacity building, die Aus- und Fortbildung in der Nutzung der IKT; und Content, was für die angemessenen Inhalte für die jeweilige Zielgruppe steht . Der staatliche peruanische Fonds zur Unterstützung ländlicher Telekommunikations- und IKT Projekte „FITEL“ hat bis dato 6500 Dörfer mit Telefon- und 550 mit Internet-Anbindungen ausgestattet. Unter dem Titel Integration von IKT in die Ländliche Entwicklung unterstützte die deutsche Entwicklungszusammenarbeit durch CIM-GTZ ein Pilotprojekt FITELs. Es galt zu untersuchen, wie man das erste „C“ (connectivity-Anbindung) durch Fortbildung zur Nutzung von Internet im ländlichen Raum ergänzen konnte. 160 Dörfer peru-weit, das war eine logistische Herausfoderung: insbesondere im Amazonas Tiefland und im Anden Hochland waren einige der für das Pilotprojekt ausgesuchten Lokalitäten erst nach dreitägiger Reise erreichbar.
Das Herzstück des Pilotprojektes war das Prinzip „train the trainer“. Es ging darum, bestimmte Dorfbewohner als lokale Trainer auszubilden die wiederum den Mitbürgern ihrer eigenen Dörfer die sinnvolle und produktive Nutzung von Internet und IKT beibringen sollen. Mit anderen Worten, sie nicht nur zu Computer-, sondern auch „Information literate “ zu machen: sie zu befähigen, Informationen, die durch IKT verbreitet werden, zu identifizieren, evaluieren, interpretieren, organisieren und zu nutzen. Umfragen von FITEL hatten ergeben, daß Internet auf dem peruanischen Land meist dem Entertainment und selten der Verbesserung der eigenen Lebensumstände dient. Bewusst hatte FITEL sich gegen Schulungen mit von außen, meist aus Städten importierten Ausbildern entschieden. Nicht nur die „digital divide“, die sogenannte digitale Kluft, zeichnet die enormen Unterschiede zwischen Stadt und Land in Peru aus. Von 28 Millionen Peruaner leben 7 Millionen auf dem Land. Die Armutsrate im ländlichen Peru liegt bei 70%, der Analphabetismus bei 26%, 27 % haben einen höheren Schulabschluss. Das Konzept, pro Dorf zwei Einheimische zu Internet Trainern auszubilden erschien nachhaltiger. Die Trainer kennen ihre Dörfer und haben einen Vertrauensvorschuss in ihren Dorfgemeinschaften, darüberhinaus können sie auch nach abgehaltenen Trainings als Mittlerfigur zwischen Einheimischen und Projektleitung in der Hauptstadt fungieren.
FITEL hatte mit der Durchführung des Pilotprojektes eine peruanische NRO beauftragt. Der Pilot bestand aus vier hauptsächlichen Schritten:
1. Vorauswahl, Umfrage und Auswahl der Trainer aus den Dörfern,
2. Durchführung der Weiterbildung der Dorf-Trainer in ausgewählten Provinzstädten durch drei Tages-Präsenz-Kurse,
3. die ausgebildeten Dorf-Trainer geben Kurse und Präsentationen über die sinnvolle Nutzung von Internet an ihre Mitbürger in ihren Dörfern weiter,
4. Supervision der Trainingskurse in den Dörfern telefonisch und durch Reisen vor Ort und Abschlussbericht mit Empfehlungen an ein nationales Programm zur „information literacy“.
Die Auswahl der lokalen Trainer erfolgte durch einen eigens für die Umfrage entwickelten Fragebogen. Die Fragen bezogen sich auf Vorkenntnisse der ausgewählten Dorfbewohner im Bereich Führungskompetenz, Geschäftssinn und Computer und Internet. Durch vorherige Telefonate mit Bürgermeisterämtern und Lokalregierungen filterte sich pro Dorf eine Vorauswahl an Leuten heraus, die für den Trainerjob in Frage kamen. Dazu hatte FITEL mit der NRO zusammen eine Liste an Mindestkriterien für den idealen Trainer-Kandidaten erstellt: er soll seinen festen Wohnsitz im Dorf haben, zwischen 18 und 65 Jahren alt sein, zumindest die ersten vier Schuljahre absolviert und vorzugsweise weiterführende Schulen besucht haben.
Die 160 Ortschaften sind eine Selektion aus einem der grossen Satelliten-Telefon Projekte FITELs. Das Auswahlkriterium für diese 160 Dörfer war hauptsächlich ökonomisch: weil dort die längsten und häufigsten Telefonate geführt wurden, das heißt mehr Kaufkraft existierte als in den restlichen Dörfern, hoffte man auch auf mehr Kundschaft für Internet Cafes. Viehzucht in Hochlandtälern mit gemäßigtem Klima, die Nähe zu Minen, Bergbau und Erdölförderung sind die Ursachen für mehr Telefoneinheiten in den Ortschaften. Strenggenommen sind FITEL Projekte Vorhaben privater Telekommunikationsfirmen, die subventioniert werden. Da die Investitionskosten in ländlichen Gebieten für privatwirtschaftliche Unternehmen in der Regel sehr hoch sind, entwickelt FITEL Projekte, die von Privatfirmen umgesetzt werden und vom Fonds subventioniert werden. Dabei geht FITEL einerseits nach geographisch-demographischen Gesichtspunkten vor, z.B. geringe Einwohnerdichte und schlechte oder nicht vorhandene Infrastruktur, andererseits müssen Telekommunikationsprojekte und deren Konzeption sowie die Finanzierung nach wirtschaftlich nachhaltigen Gesichtspunkten erfolgen.
Die Trainingskurse für die ausgewählten Dorf-Trainer fanden in acht Provinzstädten statt. Jeweils drei Tage lang wurden die lokalen Trainer in Computerkenntnissen, einfachen Massenkommunikations- und Veröffentlichungstechniken und Grundlagen in der Führung von Kleinunternehmen weitergebildet. Diese „train the trainer“ Kurse wurden durch die NRO unter Vertrag genommene Trainer, also Ausbilder für die Dorf-Trainer, durchgeführt.
Die Veranstaltung dieser dreitägigen Kurse war – wie das gesamte Pilotprojekt – eine grosse logistische Herausforderung. Trainingsorte mussten koordiniert und mit Online Computern ausgestattet werden oder aber eine „Cabina Publica“, also ein öffentliches Internet Cafe angemietet werden. Die Nachfrage nach den Kursen war gross. Sogar Leute aus Dörfern ohne Internet, die nicht zu den 160 auserwählten Orten gehörten, schrieben sich in die Ausbildungskurse „Train the trainer“ ein. Manche nahmen bis zu drei Tage lange Boots-Anreisen aus dem Tiefland in die Traniningsorte auf sich, um teilnehmen zu können. Eine spätere Umfrage unter den Kursteilnehmern ergab, daß die Mehrheit an der praktischen Computerausbildung interessiert waren. Einige mögen sich dadurch Chancen auf dem engen peruanischen Arbeitsmarkt erhofft haben. Auf der anderen Seite ist es einleuchtend, daß ländliche Bewohner eher an praktischen und sofort umsetzbaren Kenntnissen und Fähigkeiten interessiert sind als an so wenig abgrenzbaren Begriffen wie Unternehmensführung und Kommunikation.
„Bildet euer eigenes Kommunikationsunternehmen“ lautete die Aufgabe an die Dorf Trainer in Ayacucho, Provinzknotenpunkt im südlichen Hochland Perus. Wie plant man, legt man Inhalte und Struktur, Marketing und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit eines Kleinunternehmens fest – das waren die Fragestellungen an der die Dorf-Trainer in spe in Kleingruppen arbeiteten. Circa 30 Leute zwischen 18 und 50 Jahren füllten den Workshop Raum, circa 60% davon waren Männer. “www.cuyesdecalidad.com.pe” – www.qualitäts-meerschweinchen.com.pe nannte eine Gruppe die potentielle Website ihrer Meerschweinchenzucht. Meerschweinchen sind im peruanischen Hochland ein weitverbreitetes Nahrungsmittel. Einige Teilnehmer wussten theoretisch einiges über IKT und deren Möglichkeiten. Sie steckten voller Enthusiamus und Lerneifer.
Drei wichtige Lektionen zog FITEL aus den „Train the trainer“ Kursen: Die unterschiedlichen Vorkenntnisse der Dorf-Trainer hätten einer anderen Einteilung der Auszubildenden in Lerngruppen bedurft. Die Gruppen waren oftmals zu heterogen, während viele Jüngere schon einige Souveränität im Umgang mit Computern hatten, taten sich andere z. B. noch schwer im Umgang mit der Maus. Die zweite Lesson Learned war die Auswahl der Ausbilder. Einige arbeiteten partizipativ und simulierten mit den Teilnehmern Konfliktsituationen und Rollenspiele. Andere Ausbilder hatten zu wenig Kenntnisse über praktische Erwachsenenbildung, insbesondere mit Menschen aus dem ländlichen Raum. Strengere Auswahlkriterien neben höheren Ansprüchen für und an die Ausbilder und ein grober didaktischer Rahmen hätten dem Abhilfe leisten können. Last but not least hätte in das dreitägige Trainingsprogramm ein Modul, welches den Dorf-Trainern didaktische Basisinstrumente beibringt, integriert werden sollen. Wie sich in den späteren Trainings in den Dörfern herausstelte, fehlten den Dorf Trainern Kenntnisse über die Art, Wissen anschaulich und an praktischen Themen orientiert zu vermitteln. Resumierend lässt sich feststellen, daß zu guten Weiterbildungen pädagogische Expertise gehört, die FITEL auch durch die durchführende NRO nicht abgedeckt hatte.
Beobachtungen auf einer zwei Monate späteren Supervisionsreise gewähren einen Einblick in die Situation der Dorf Trainer.:FITEL Mitarbeiter reisten zu einem Workshop, der von den beiden lokalen Trainern Denis und Isabell im Dorf Tamshiyacu im Amazonas Tiefland, circa 2 Stunden Bootsfahrt von der Provinzhauptstadt Iquitos entfernt, veranstaltet wird. Die Online Anbindung des Internet Cafes ist defekt und nicht auf die Schnelle wiederherzustellen. Doch durch einige Koordination und Überzeugungskraft gelingt es Denis, die Anbindung der örtlichen Schule für die Computerschulung zur Verfügung gestellt zu bekommen. Der Andrang ist so gross, daß der Unterricht in drei Schichten bis kurz nach Mitternacht läuft. Nachmittags gibt es in Tamshiyacu keine Stromversorgung. Einer der Dorflehrer gehört zu den neugierigen Schülern. Denis Kollegin Isabell bringt ihn auf die Idee, die Basilikum Pflanze im Internet nachzuschauen. „Im Schulgarten habe ich einige davon stehen sehen, die halb vertrocknet sind“, sagt sie zu ihm. Ein anderer Teilnehmer hat Probleme mit der Maus. Isabell legt dazu ihre Hand über die Maus-Hand ihres erwachsenen Schülers. Gemeinsam bewegen sie die Maus, Isabell zeigt ihm den Effekt auf dem Bildschirm. Einer der älteren Schüler, ein circa 55jähriger Bauer, fragt nach mehr Information über Ananas – er will wissen, wie und wo er seine Früchte gewinnbringender verkaufen kann, wie die Preise auf dem nächstgelegenen Markt in Iquitos sind, etc. Denis hilft ihm und surft mit ihm auf die Website des peruanischen Landwirtschaftsministeriums. Die Suchergebnisse spucken wissenschafltiche Studien der FAO zu neuen Schädlingen und Großmarktpreise in Lima aus. Der schätzungsweise 55jährige Bauer schüttelt den Kopf und sieht Denis müde an: das wissenschaftliche Spanisch ist für ihn unverständlich. Es gibt wenig oder keine Informationen in angemessener Sprache und Aufbereitung für peruanische Bauern. Denis weiss nicht weiter. „Ich hätte mir mehr Betreuung durch die Verantwortlichen in Lima gewünscht“, sagt er nach dem Training. Ein Problem, welchem FITEL und die NRO durch eine 6-22 Uhr Hotline Rechnung zu tragen suchten. Aber die Satellitenleitungen fordern viel Geduld und ersetzen keine persönlichen Feedbackgespräche. Eine weitere Lehre zog FITEL aus der Supervisionsreise. Mit der ausführenden NRO hatte FITEL sich nicht auf zwei Zielgruppen verständigt: die Dorf Trainer und die zu trainierenden Dorfbewohner. Die NRO hatte sich auf die Dorf Trainer konzentriert und vernachlässigt, den Lernerfolg der ländlichen End-User zu messen. Quantitatives Fazit des Pilotprojektes: von 240 Dorf Trainern desertierten 60. Die verbliebenen 180 führten insgesamt 3000 Trainings in ihren Dörfern innerhalb eines halben Jahres durch.
Neben lessons learned lieferte das Pilotprojekt einige konkrete Ergebnisse für ein nationales Information Literacy Programm. Der Fragebogen zur Auswahl der lokalen Trainer, das Profil des idealen lokalen Trainers, Trainings Handbücher, und ein Incentive System für die Dorf Trainer. Die meisten Incentives waren nicht monetär: die Reisen in die „Train the trainer“ Orte, die Auszeichnung im eigenen Dorf als Führungsperson anerkannt zu werden. Einzig die Ausgaben für Workshops in den Dörfern wurden zurückerstattet.
Wichtigste Empfehlung an ein nationales Programm in Peru im besonderen und an IKT Projekte im ländlichen Raum im allgemeinen ist, daß eine Fortbildung zur sinnvollen Nutzung von Internet auf dem Land auf digitale Inhalte mit unmittelbarem Nutzen für die Dorfbewohner aufbauen sollte. Sind diese nicht vorhanden, sind zum Beispiel die Vernetzung und Unterstützung mit verschiedenen staatlichen Sektoren wie Gesundheit, Agrarinformationen und E-government denkbare Möglichkeiten, die einiges an Vorarbeit verlangen. Denkbar wäre ein Online Frage und Antwort Dienst unterschiedlicher staatlicher Sektoren, die diese wiederum als Datenbanken von häufig gestellten Fragen bestimmter Regionen nutzen könnten. Ein Wettbewerb über die nützlichste oder am häufigsten besuchteste lokale Website unter den Dörfern oder Regionen könnte ein Incentive sein. Ein wirklich erfolgreiches Fortbildungsprojekt sollte mit dem dritten „C“ der IKT Projekt Komponente, den Inhalten (Content) verknüpft sein. Insofern ist es umso wichtiger, die Projekte von FITEL mit den lokalen Realitäten zu vernetzen und nicht von „oben“, also von Lima aus, ein Fertigkonzept überzustülpen. Bedingung für FITEL Projekte ist, daß es nationale Grossprojekte sind. Dieser Anspruch muss insbesondere bei einem Weiterbildungsprojekt den regionalen und lokalen Besonderheiten gerecht werden, durch die Unterstützung, Mitverantwortung und Umsetzung der entsprechenden Counterparts in den Regionen und Dörfern.
Die Anwendung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) , die Kombination alter und sogenannter „neuer“, hautpsächlich digitaler Medien sollen einen Beitrag zur Erreichung der Ziele der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Peru leisten. Es ist inzwischen international anerkannt, daß die wichtigsten Komponenten nachhaltiger IKT Projekte die drei sogenannten „Cs“ sind: Connectivity, die technische Anbindung; Capacity building, die Aus- und Fortbildung in der Nutzung der IKT; und Content, was für die angemessenen Inhalte für die jeweilige Zielgruppe steht . Der staatliche peruanische Fonds zur Unterstützung ländlicher Telekommunikations- und IKT Projekte „FITEL“ hat bis dato 6500 Dörfer mit Telefon- und 550 mit Internet-Anbindungen ausgestattet. Unter dem Titel Integration von IKT in die Ländliche Entwicklung unterstützte die deutsche Entwicklungszusammenarbeit durch CIM-GTZ ein Pilotprojekt FITELs. Es galt zu untersuchen, wie man das erste „C“ (connectivity-Anbindung) durch Fortbildung zur Nutzung von Internet im ländlichen Raum ergänzen konnte. 160 Dörfer peru-weit, das war eine logistische Herausfoderung: insbesondere im Amazonas Tiefland und im Anden Hochland waren einige der für das Pilotprojekt ausgesuchten Lokalitäten erst nach dreitägiger Reise erreichbar.
Das Herzstück des Pilotprojektes war das Prinzip „train the trainer“. Es ging darum, bestimmte Dorfbewohner als lokale Trainer auszubilden die wiederum den Mitbürgern ihrer eigenen Dörfer die sinnvolle und produktive Nutzung von Internet und IKT beibringen sollen. Mit anderen Worten, sie nicht nur zu Computer-, sondern auch „Information literate “ zu machen: sie zu befähigen, Informationen, die durch IKT verbreitet werden, zu identifizieren, evaluieren, interpretieren, organisieren und zu nutzen. Umfragen von FITEL hatten ergeben, daß Internet auf dem peruanischen Land meist dem Entertainment und selten der Verbesserung der eigenen Lebensumstände dient. Bewusst hatte FITEL sich gegen Schulungen mit von außen, meist aus Städten importierten Ausbildern entschieden. Nicht nur die „digital divide“, die sogenannte digitale Kluft, zeichnet die enormen Unterschiede zwischen Stadt und Land in Peru aus. Von 28 Millionen Peruaner leben 7 Millionen auf dem Land. Die Armutsrate im ländlichen Peru liegt bei 70%, der Analphabetismus bei 26%, 27 % haben einen höheren Schulabschluss. Das Konzept, pro Dorf zwei Einheimische zu Internet Trainern auszubilden erschien nachhaltiger. Die Trainer kennen ihre Dörfer und haben einen Vertrauensvorschuss in ihren Dorfgemeinschaften, darüberhinaus können sie auch nach abgehaltenen Trainings als Mittlerfigur zwischen Einheimischen und Projektleitung in der Hauptstadt fungieren.
FITEL hatte mit der Durchführung des Pilotprojektes eine peruanische NRO beauftragt. Der Pilot bestand aus vier hauptsächlichen Schritten:
1. Vorauswahl, Umfrage und Auswahl der Trainer aus den Dörfern,
2. Durchführung der Weiterbildung der Dorf-Trainer in ausgewählten Provinzstädten durch drei Tages-Präsenz-Kurse,
3. die ausgebildeten Dorf-Trainer geben Kurse und Präsentationen über die sinnvolle Nutzung von Internet an ihre Mitbürger in ihren Dörfern weiter,
4. Supervision der Trainingskurse in den Dörfern telefonisch und durch Reisen vor Ort und Abschlussbericht mit Empfehlungen an ein nationales Programm zur „information literacy“.
Die Auswahl der lokalen Trainer erfolgte durch einen eigens für die Umfrage entwickelten Fragebogen. Die Fragen bezogen sich auf Vorkenntnisse der ausgewählten Dorfbewohner im Bereich Führungskompetenz, Geschäftssinn und Computer und Internet. Durch vorherige Telefonate mit Bürgermeisterämtern und Lokalregierungen filterte sich pro Dorf eine Vorauswahl an Leuten heraus, die für den Trainerjob in Frage kamen. Dazu hatte FITEL mit der NRO zusammen eine Liste an Mindestkriterien für den idealen Trainer-Kandidaten erstellt: er soll seinen festen Wohnsitz im Dorf haben, zwischen 18 und 65 Jahren alt sein, zumindest die ersten vier Schuljahre absolviert und vorzugsweise weiterführende Schulen besucht haben.
Die 160 Ortschaften sind eine Selektion aus einem der grossen Satelliten-Telefon Projekte FITELs. Das Auswahlkriterium für diese 160 Dörfer war hauptsächlich ökonomisch: weil dort die längsten und häufigsten Telefonate geführt wurden, das heißt mehr Kaufkraft existierte als in den restlichen Dörfern, hoffte man auch auf mehr Kundschaft für Internet Cafes. Viehzucht in Hochlandtälern mit gemäßigtem Klima, die Nähe zu Minen, Bergbau und Erdölförderung sind die Ursachen für mehr Telefoneinheiten in den Ortschaften. Strenggenommen sind FITEL Projekte Vorhaben privater Telekommunikationsfirmen, die subventioniert werden. Da die Investitionskosten in ländlichen Gebieten für privatwirtschaftliche Unternehmen in der Regel sehr hoch sind, entwickelt FITEL Projekte, die von Privatfirmen umgesetzt werden und vom Fonds subventioniert werden. Dabei geht FITEL einerseits nach geographisch-demographischen Gesichtspunkten vor, z.B. geringe Einwohnerdichte und schlechte oder nicht vorhandene Infrastruktur, andererseits müssen Telekommunikationsprojekte und deren Konzeption sowie die Finanzierung nach wirtschaftlich nachhaltigen Gesichtspunkten erfolgen.
Die Trainingskurse für die ausgewählten Dorf-Trainer fanden in acht Provinzstädten statt. Jeweils drei Tage lang wurden die lokalen Trainer in Computerkenntnissen, einfachen Massenkommunikations- und Veröffentlichungstechniken und Grundlagen in der Führung von Kleinunternehmen weitergebildet. Diese „train the trainer“ Kurse wurden durch die NRO unter Vertrag genommene Trainer, also Ausbilder für die Dorf-Trainer, durchgeführt.
Die Veranstaltung dieser dreitägigen Kurse war – wie das gesamte Pilotprojekt – eine grosse logistische Herausforderung. Trainingsorte mussten koordiniert und mit Online Computern ausgestattet werden oder aber eine „Cabina Publica“, also ein öffentliches Internet Cafe angemietet werden. Die Nachfrage nach den Kursen war gross. Sogar Leute aus Dörfern ohne Internet, die nicht zu den 160 auserwählten Orten gehörten, schrieben sich in die Ausbildungskurse „Train the trainer“ ein. Manche nahmen bis zu drei Tage lange Boots-Anreisen aus dem Tiefland in die Traniningsorte auf sich, um teilnehmen zu können. Eine spätere Umfrage unter den Kursteilnehmern ergab, daß die Mehrheit an der praktischen Computerausbildung interessiert waren. Einige mögen sich dadurch Chancen auf dem engen peruanischen Arbeitsmarkt erhofft haben. Auf der anderen Seite ist es einleuchtend, daß ländliche Bewohner eher an praktischen und sofort umsetzbaren Kenntnissen und Fähigkeiten interessiert sind als an so wenig abgrenzbaren Begriffen wie Unternehmensführung und Kommunikation.„Bildet euer eigenes Kommunikationsunternehmen“ lautete die Aufgabe an die Dorf Trainer in Ayacucho, Provinzknotenpunkt im südlichen Hochland Perus. Wie plant man, legt man Inhalte und Struktur, Marketing und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit eines Kleinunternehmens fest – das waren die Fragestellungen an der die Dorf-Trainer in spe in Kleingruppen arbeiteten. Circa 30 Leute zwischen 18 und 50 Jahren füllten den Workshop Raum, circa 60% davon waren Männer. “www.cuyesdecalidad.com.pe” – www.qualitäts-meerschweinchen.com.pe nannte eine Gruppe die potentielle Website ihrer Meerschweinchenzucht. Meerschweinchen sind im peruanischen Hochland ein weitverbreitetes Nahrungsmittel. Einige Teilnehmer wussten theoretisch einiges über IKT und deren Möglichkeiten. Sie steckten voller Enthusiamus und Lerneifer.
Drei wichtige Lektionen zog FITEL aus den „Train the trainer“ Kursen: Die unterschiedlichen Vorkenntnisse der Dorf-Trainer hätten einer anderen Einteilung der Auszubildenden in Lerngruppen bedurft. Die Gruppen waren oftmals zu heterogen, während viele Jüngere schon einige Souveränität im Umgang mit Computern hatten, taten sich andere z. B. noch schwer im Umgang mit der Maus. Die zweite Lesson Learned war die Auswahl der Ausbilder. Einige arbeiteten partizipativ und simulierten mit den Teilnehmern Konfliktsituationen und Rollenspiele. Andere Ausbilder hatten zu wenig Kenntnisse über praktische Erwachsenenbildung, insbesondere mit Menschen aus dem ländlichen Raum. Strengere Auswahlkriterien neben höheren Ansprüchen für und an die Ausbilder und ein grober didaktischer Rahmen hätten dem Abhilfe leisten können. Last but not least hätte in das dreitägige Trainingsprogramm ein Modul, welches den Dorf-Trainern didaktische Basisinstrumente beibringt, integriert werden sollen. Wie sich in den späteren Trainings in den Dörfern herausstelte, fehlten den Dorf Trainern Kenntnisse über die Art, Wissen anschaulich und an praktischen Themen orientiert zu vermitteln. Resumierend lässt sich feststellen, daß zu guten Weiterbildungen pädagogische Expertise gehört, die FITEL auch durch die durchführende NRO nicht abgedeckt hatte.
Beobachtungen auf einer zwei Monate späteren Supervisionsreise gewähren einen Einblick in die Situation der Dorf Trainer.:FITEL Mitarbeiter reisten zu einem Workshop, der von den beiden lokalen Trainern Denis und Isabell im Dorf Tamshiyacu im Amazonas Tiefland, circa 2 Stunden Bootsfahrt von der Provinzhauptstadt Iquitos entfernt, veranstaltet wird. Die Online Anbindung des Internet Cafes ist defekt und nicht auf die Schnelle wiederherzustellen. Doch durch einige Koordination und Überzeugungskraft gelingt es Denis, die Anbindung der örtlichen Schule für die Computerschulung zur Verfügung gestellt zu bekommen. Der Andrang ist so gross, daß der Unterricht in drei Schichten bis kurz nach Mitternacht läuft. Nachmittags gibt es in Tamshiyacu keine Stromversorgung. Einer der Dorflehrer gehört zu den neugierigen Schülern. Denis Kollegin Isabell bringt ihn auf die Idee, die Basilikum Pflanze im Internet nachzuschauen. „Im Schulgarten habe ich einige davon stehen sehen, die halb vertrocknet sind“, sagt sie zu ihm. Ein anderer Teilnehmer hat Probleme mit der Maus. Isabell legt dazu ihre Hand über die Maus-Hand ihres erwachsenen Schülers. Gemeinsam bewegen sie die Maus, Isabell zeigt ihm den Effekt auf dem Bildschirm. Einer der älteren Schüler, ein circa 55jähriger Bauer, fragt nach mehr Information über Ananas – er will wissen, wie und wo er seine Früchte gewinnbringender verkaufen kann, wie die Preise auf dem nächstgelegenen Markt in Iquitos sind, etc. Denis hilft ihm und surft mit ihm auf die Website des peruanischen Landwirtschaftsministeriums. Die Suchergebnisse spucken wissenschafltiche Studien der FAO zu neuen Schädlingen und Großmarktpreise in Lima aus. Der schätzungsweise 55jährige Bauer schüttelt den Kopf und sieht Denis müde an: das wissenschaftliche Spanisch ist für ihn unverständlich. Es gibt wenig oder keine Informationen in angemessener Sprache und Aufbereitung für peruanische Bauern. Denis weiss nicht weiter. „Ich hätte mir mehr Betreuung durch die Verantwortlichen in Lima gewünscht“, sagt er nach dem Training. Ein Problem, welchem FITEL und die NRO durch eine 6-22 Uhr Hotline Rechnung zu tragen suchten. Aber die Satellitenleitungen fordern viel Geduld und ersetzen keine persönlichen Feedbackgespräche. Eine weitere Lehre zog FITEL aus der Supervisionsreise. Mit der ausführenden NRO hatte FITEL sich nicht auf zwei Zielgruppen verständigt: die Dorf Trainer und die zu trainierenden Dorfbewohner. Die NRO hatte sich auf die Dorf Trainer konzentriert und vernachlässigt, den Lernerfolg der ländlichen End-User zu messen. Quantitatives Fazit des Pilotprojektes: von 240 Dorf Trainern desertierten 60. Die verbliebenen 180 führten insgesamt 3000 Trainings in ihren Dörfern innerhalb eines halben Jahres durch.
Neben lessons learned lieferte das Pilotprojekt einige konkrete Ergebnisse für ein nationales Information Literacy Programm. Der Fragebogen zur Auswahl der lokalen Trainer, das Profil des idealen lokalen Trainers, Trainings Handbücher, und ein Incentive System für die Dorf Trainer. Die meisten Incentives waren nicht monetär: die Reisen in die „Train the trainer“ Orte, die Auszeichnung im eigenen Dorf als Führungsperson anerkannt zu werden. Einzig die Ausgaben für Workshops in den Dörfern wurden zurückerstattet.
Wichtigste Empfehlung an ein nationales Programm in Peru im besonderen und an IKT Projekte im ländlichen Raum im allgemeinen ist, daß eine Fortbildung zur sinnvollen Nutzung von Internet auf dem Land auf digitale Inhalte mit unmittelbarem Nutzen für die Dorfbewohner aufbauen sollte. Sind diese nicht vorhanden, sind zum Beispiel die Vernetzung und Unterstützung mit verschiedenen staatlichen Sektoren wie Gesundheit, Agrarinformationen und E-government denkbare Möglichkeiten, die einiges an Vorarbeit verlangen. Denkbar wäre ein Online Frage und Antwort Dienst unterschiedlicher staatlicher Sektoren, die diese wiederum als Datenbanken von häufig gestellten Fragen bestimmter Regionen nutzen könnten. Ein Wettbewerb über die nützlichste oder am häufigsten besuchteste lokale Website unter den Dörfern oder Regionen könnte ein Incentive sein. Ein wirklich erfolgreiches Fortbildungsprojekt sollte mit dem dritten „C“ der IKT Projekt Komponente, den Inhalten (Content) verknüpft sein. Insofern ist es umso wichtiger, die Projekte von FITEL mit den lokalen Realitäten zu vernetzen und nicht von „oben“, also von Lima aus, ein Fertigkonzept überzustülpen. Bedingung für FITEL Projekte ist, daß es nationale Grossprojekte sind. Dieser Anspruch muss insbesondere bei einem Weiterbildungsprojekt den regionalen und lokalen Besonderheiten gerecht werden, durch die Unterstützung, Mitverantwortung und Umsetzung der entsprechenden Counterparts in den Regionen und Dörfern.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Internet Access Projects: A Balance
It has been three and a half years that I have been working at, with and for Peruvian Internet Access Projects. Most of them were and are rural. I have experienced a lot of problems, obstacles and mistakes to overcome. It might sound a little negative, but I am convinced that it is mistakes that we learn from. In the sometimes euphemistic business slang of development cooperation those summarized experiences are called “lessons learned”. Let's see what are the mistakes I would consider worthwhile to learn from.
1. Community involvement: Rural communities have to be involved from the very beginning of any kind of ICT project. Especially in rural telecenter projects, the activities are oftentimes designed as a stand-alone project and from an urban perspective. If the planners don’t invest time, effort and money to travel, consult, ask, listen and plan together with crucial parts of the rural communities, the project will most likely be doomed to fail. FITELs first experience with the installation of 500 Internet booths in some very remote rural areas in the year 2000 is an example of “how not to do it”: the booths are barely used; some of them are completely abandoned because FITEL did not accompany the effort with capacity building nor content development. Integrated ICT projects have to provide a sustainable way to deploy infrastructure in a bottom-up way.
2. Combination of the 3 Cs: Within the ICT for development area, it often has been stated that 3 Cs are important: connectivity, content and capacity building. A lot of the projects in the region focused on either one of the three Cs, but barely do or did they combine all three of them. The 3 Cs don’t necessarily have to go along together within one single project framework, but they have to complement each other, be it in modular approaches or different project steps that have a certain time line that make them go hand in hand together.
3. ICTs to improve sustainable livelihoods: Capacity building for the use of ICTs has to focus on more than just technical and basic applications. The killer applications of todays (urban) Internet cafes in Peru are Chat and E mail surfaces and all kind of electronic games. Some users that regularly communicate via MS Messenger never even opened a browser to surf on the WWW. Capacity building should therefore focus on the practical integration of Internet contents for the creation of sustainable livelihoods. One example is a FITEL supported telecenter in the province of Huancavelica where online content about milk production methods initiated a small enterprise for the production and sales of yogurt.
4. Prevent unexpected effects: Capacity building approaches have to connect with local and regional activities to prevent unexpected negative effects on the population such as migration to urban centers. Historical studies proved that telecommunications neither pushed nor halted the rural migration into the cities. Nevertheless, the push and pull factors of migration continue to be strong in centralized countries like Peru. Capacity building for the use of ICTs has to support decentralization efforts and the fostering of small urban towns within the regions. Rural ICT initiatives could and should emphasize local content that goes beyond agriculture. Local ICT contents should include applications that improve the information exchange with urban centers, for example local e government applications.
5. “Train the trainer” approach: A community-based Capacity building program needs local confidence to reach the most excluded portion of the population. Our experience with FITEL has taught us that people from within the communities have a higher level of acceptance by the population if they work as local trainers. Additionally, the interest and motivation of those trainers to contribute to the development of their own community is mostly very high. They identify with their own village or community, know the problems and mentality better than anyone from the outside (in our example, from Lima). Of course, those trainers have to fit a certain profile; they have to assume a role of local leadership. We worked on a method to select local trainers through the local governments or municipalities, elaborating a questionnaire with them in order to facilitate the massive selection of local trainers within 160 villages all over Peru.
6. Local content creation process from the bottom up: The development of local content should include the community. Community members know best what topics are of interest to the population. Local contents are going to be used if the population itself has at least partially produced and published it. Efforts to get content going and used that is developed from top down are most likely futile. The experience of 4 rural telecenters in the northern province of Cajamarca showed that. The content was designed by a national NGO. The communities rejected it, did not use the website of Infodev because the contents were of no interest for them. A more successful approach was to train local youth as reporters of their own communities. There are a lot of local contents yet to be published, the challenge is not to identify it and “put it on the air”, “in print” or “online”. The challenge is to motivate the community members to be conscious about their own contents and give them the instruments to publish them within and for the sake of their own communities. It is important to identify the audience for those contents – some of them are just of interest for the local population. Others may be of interest to a broader, scientific target group. One example is a college competition about local climate indicators that allow weather forecasts, initiated by the ICT project PiuraRural (http://www.piurarural.com) in northern Peru. The results are yet to be incorporated into a regional disaster prevention strategy since Piura is home of “El Nino” floods.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation: Only a few known Peruvian ICTs projects monitored or evaluated their efforts in a systematic way. Monitoring and evaluation is still considered as an unnecessary and time consuming activity. Baseline studies are often lacking. But it is essential from the beginning of a project, because it will deliver lessons learned and guidelines for future project designs. M&E does not necessarily have to be very labor intensive. Considering our own experiences, FITEL presently has elaborated a list of possible ICT indicators to apply them for future ICT projects. It is important to consider that one should always focus on one or two thematic areas of community development to be monitored. Because it is impossible to monitor the whole local development, it helps for example to monitor the improvement of the agricultural trading sector through an ICT project: improved access to price information, knowledge of more than one intermediary, etc…
8. Creation of networks: Networking through, with and due to ICT initiatives is a key element for the sustainability of it. The construction of local, regional, national and international networks for knowledge sharing can be an incentive for the further development of ICT activities. Here, as in most of the other factors of ICT projects, it is important not to impose the networking from top down. Oftentimes, ideas and initiatives for networking start within the communities in an informal way. The work of ICT projects is to identify those networks and support and further enhance them through the connection with other existing networks. For example the CEFE network, or the idea of the creation of a furthering of FITELs local capacity building project in different communities through virtual networks and e learning approaches.
9. Cross-sector and holistic approaches on the government and financing level: If ICT projects follow the approach to include the “3Cs” (second bullet point above), they are most likely including different sectors in order to come to terms. Government agencies are often reluctant to finance projects that comprise various sectors. Competition between ministries and public sector organizations often oppose holistic approaches since they are not easily contributable to one single sector. They for example prefer to stick to big infrastructure projects with no capacity building at all since it is easier to classify them according to existing structures. FITEL has decided to implement all our future ICT projects with a capacity building component. The international community could and should develop policy guidelines for holistic and cross sector approaches in development countries. Oversized infrastructure does not help if no one knows how to use it, let alone how to fix it if small damages occur. Poverty reduction won’t ever work if it doesn’t address the worst of all types of poverties: mental poverty.
10. Private sector involvement and negotiation skills: FITEL projects always include the private provision of telecommunication services. Our experience has taught us that it is essential to build capacities within the communities to negotiate with the private operators independently. Internet and phone booths are mostly based on a subcontractor model. Those subcontractors, comparable with telecenter administrators, often lack education - technical and entrepreneurial - and initiative in order to market their own business. Plus they are not sufficiently instructed how to behave in case of technical and legal problems. The communication between subcontractors and private companies are often marked by a cultural and social divide. Misunderstandings and lack of communication often lead to phone and Internet booths that are out of service. Capacity building efforts have to include simple modules addressing those issues, thus broadening and enhancing the opportunities of communities to negotiate with private connectivity companies.
Practical examples, some of them cited within the text:
Cajamarca: based in information services for rural population
Huaral: aims to improve communication within rural farmer´s organization, community based
Challhuahuacho
Joint project with the New Zealand Technical Cooperation
1. Community involvement: Rural communities have to be involved from the very beginning of any kind of ICT project. Especially in rural telecenter projects, the activities are oftentimes designed as a stand-alone project and from an urban perspective. If the planners don’t invest time, effort and money to travel, consult, ask, listen and plan together with crucial parts of the rural communities, the project will most likely be doomed to fail. FITELs first experience with the installation of 500 Internet booths in some very remote rural areas in the year 2000 is an example of “how not to do it”: the booths are barely used; some of them are completely abandoned because FITEL did not accompany the effort with capacity building nor content development. Integrated ICT projects have to provide a sustainable way to deploy infrastructure in a bottom-up way.
2. Combination of the 3 Cs: Within the ICT for development area, it often has been stated that 3 Cs are important: connectivity, content and capacity building. A lot of the projects in the region focused on either one of the three Cs, but barely do or did they combine all three of them. The 3 Cs don’t necessarily have to go along together within one single project framework, but they have to complement each other, be it in modular approaches or different project steps that have a certain time line that make them go hand in hand together.
3. ICTs to improve sustainable livelihoods: Capacity building for the use of ICTs has to focus on more than just technical and basic applications. The killer applications of todays (urban) Internet cafes in Peru are Chat and E mail surfaces and all kind of electronic games. Some users that regularly communicate via MS Messenger never even opened a browser to surf on the WWW. Capacity building should therefore focus on the practical integration of Internet contents for the creation of sustainable livelihoods. One example is a FITEL supported telecenter in the province of Huancavelica where online content about milk production methods initiated a small enterprise for the production and sales of yogurt.
4. Prevent unexpected effects: Capacity building approaches have to connect with local and regional activities to prevent unexpected negative effects on the population such as migration to urban centers. Historical studies proved that telecommunications neither pushed nor halted the rural migration into the cities. Nevertheless, the push and pull factors of migration continue to be strong in centralized countries like Peru. Capacity building for the use of ICTs has to support decentralization efforts and the fostering of small urban towns within the regions. Rural ICT initiatives could and should emphasize local content that goes beyond agriculture. Local ICT contents should include applications that improve the information exchange with urban centers, for example local e government applications.
5. “Train the trainer” approach: A community-based Capacity building program needs local confidence to reach the most excluded portion of the population. Our experience with FITEL has taught us that people from within the communities have a higher level of acceptance by the population if they work as local trainers. Additionally, the interest and motivation of those trainers to contribute to the development of their own community is mostly very high. They identify with their own village or community, know the problems and mentality better than anyone from the outside (in our example, from Lima). Of course, those trainers have to fit a certain profile; they have to assume a role of local leadership. We worked on a method to select local trainers through the local governments or municipalities, elaborating a questionnaire with them in order to facilitate the massive selection of local trainers within 160 villages all over Peru.
6. Local content creation process from the bottom up: The development of local content should include the community. Community members know best what topics are of interest to the population. Local contents are going to be used if the population itself has at least partially produced and published it. Efforts to get content going and used that is developed from top down are most likely futile. The experience of 4 rural telecenters in the northern province of Cajamarca showed that. The content was designed by a national NGO. The communities rejected it, did not use the website of Infodev because the contents were of no interest for them. A more successful approach was to train local youth as reporters of their own communities. There are a lot of local contents yet to be published, the challenge is not to identify it and “put it on the air”, “in print” or “online”. The challenge is to motivate the community members to be conscious about their own contents and give them the instruments to publish them within and for the sake of their own communities. It is important to identify the audience for those contents – some of them are just of interest for the local population. Others may be of interest to a broader, scientific target group. One example is a college competition about local climate indicators that allow weather forecasts, initiated by the ICT project PiuraRural (http://www.piurarural.com) in northern Peru. The results are yet to be incorporated into a regional disaster prevention strategy since Piura is home of “El Nino” floods.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation: Only a few known Peruvian ICTs projects monitored or evaluated their efforts in a systematic way. Monitoring and evaluation is still considered as an unnecessary and time consuming activity. Baseline studies are often lacking. But it is essential from the beginning of a project, because it will deliver lessons learned and guidelines for future project designs. M&E does not necessarily have to be very labor intensive. Considering our own experiences, FITEL presently has elaborated a list of possible ICT indicators to apply them for future ICT projects. It is important to consider that one should always focus on one or two thematic areas of community development to be monitored. Because it is impossible to monitor the whole local development, it helps for example to monitor the improvement of the agricultural trading sector through an ICT project: improved access to price information, knowledge of more than one intermediary, etc…
8. Creation of networks: Networking through, with and due to ICT initiatives is a key element for the sustainability of it. The construction of local, regional, national and international networks for knowledge sharing can be an incentive for the further development of ICT activities. Here, as in most of the other factors of ICT projects, it is important not to impose the networking from top down. Oftentimes, ideas and initiatives for networking start within the communities in an informal way. The work of ICT projects is to identify those networks and support and further enhance them through the connection with other existing networks. For example the CEFE network, or the idea of the creation of a furthering of FITELs local capacity building project in different communities through virtual networks and e learning approaches.
9. Cross-sector and holistic approaches on the government and financing level: If ICT projects follow the approach to include the “3Cs” (second bullet point above), they are most likely including different sectors in order to come to terms. Government agencies are often reluctant to finance projects that comprise various sectors. Competition between ministries and public sector organizations often oppose holistic approaches since they are not easily contributable to one single sector. They for example prefer to stick to big infrastructure projects with no capacity building at all since it is easier to classify them according to existing structures. FITEL has decided to implement all our future ICT projects with a capacity building component. The international community could and should develop policy guidelines for holistic and cross sector approaches in development countries. Oversized infrastructure does not help if no one knows how to use it, let alone how to fix it if small damages occur. Poverty reduction won’t ever work if it doesn’t address the worst of all types of poverties: mental poverty.
10. Private sector involvement and negotiation skills: FITEL projects always include the private provision of telecommunication services. Our experience has taught us that it is essential to build capacities within the communities to negotiate with the private operators independently. Internet and phone booths are mostly based on a subcontractor model. Those subcontractors, comparable with telecenter administrators, often lack education - technical and entrepreneurial - and initiative in order to market their own business. Plus they are not sufficiently instructed how to behave in case of technical and legal problems. The communication between subcontractors and private companies are often marked by a cultural and social divide. Misunderstandings and lack of communication often lead to phone and Internet booths that are out of service. Capacity building efforts have to include simple modules addressing those issues, thus broadening and enhancing the opportunities of communities to negotiate with private connectivity companies.
Practical examples, some of them cited within the text:
Cajamarca: based in information services for rural population
Huaral: aims to improve communication within rural farmer´s organization, community based
Challhuahuacho
Joint project with the New Zealand Technical Cooperation
Friday, May 19, 2006
Guinea pigs go online
FITELs capacity building project is on its way. We have convoked over 300 local promoters from about 132 villages. In 8 different cities of Peru. In case of the Amazon jungle regions, some of them have been on 3 day boat rides in order to get to the workshop places. It is the first round of train the trainer workshops and I am right in the middle of it.
I am participating in the city of Ayacucho, center of the political violence in the 80 and 90s and one of the poorest provinces of Peru . (For more information on the latest political history of Ayacucho, the Political Sciences Department of the University of San Diego has an interesting collection of articles) 3 days of training in enterprise development and management, in communication strategies and computer and Internet basics.
“I feel proud. Proud and satisfied. After a long time of discussions, planning, concepts and bureaucratic waiting procedures it has finally come true.” That is the emotional gist of what I say when I introduce myself in our Ayacucho workshop.
23 persons, potential local promoters, have gathered in the province capital to receive their first training lessons. Most of the to-be local promoters look shy, some of them tired. Traveling in rural Peru is often exhaustive due to long distances and bad infrastructure. I estimate the average promoter age around 30 years. They don’t know each other, don’t know what the workshop will bring. Our Ayacucho workshop center has something spartanic to it. White plastic chairs, concrete floor, no windows. Stop, I am wrong. There is a day light source just below the high ceiling. See-through bricks. I smile while I think that they look like the constructors put them in last minute. It is impossible to open them. But the rather bare and functional atmosphere doesn’t detain the enthusiasm of the 23 workshop participants.
Expectations are high. Not only on my behalf. The introduction round shows that a lot of the guys want to learn about informatics, graphic design, Website management. Around 70 % are men. A lot of them do sports in their leisure time. Will they be disappointed when they find out that a part of the workshop isn’t all about technical skills? Will they understand that Internet is more than just chatting and playing games online? Will the facilitators be able to get across that Internet can promote their local livelihoods?
The first practical assignment is small group work. Antonio, our moderator, puts a lot of focus on the creative and communicative parts of small business promotion. “Create your own communication business” is the title of the workshop experiment. How do they plan, what are their contents, how do they go about marketing and publishing their efforts? I am amazed about some of the results. Some of the promoters seem to know more about ICTs for development than our trainer himself. One group plans to promote the breeding and sales of guinea pigs online. “www.cuyesdecalidad.com.pe” they call their potential website.
One of the workshop members approaches me timidly. Wilfredo is from a village in the Ayacuchean highlands that is not included in our project. He asks me if he and his friend Jose may participate. “How did you hear about the workshop?” I ask him a little surprised. “Someone from Taca, our neighboring village told us”, he replies. Taca forms part of the project. “Please, we would love to learn more about Internet”. I am amazed about the interest for the capacity building. I wouldn’t have dreamed that our project would stimulate such a demand. I think back to the class in Chiclayo we gave to Internet café owners (LINK) there and the rather disinterested responses we got. It was a different audience and a different setting, for sure. Chiclayo is, in Peruvian terms, a big city compared to Ayacucho. And it forms part of the relatively well-off coastline of Peru. The highlands and the jungle present a completely different reality. With much more deficits and needs.
We go into the second day with a different facilitator. Carlos Gutierrez works for a local NGO in Ayacucho and has 10 years of experience in Small enterprise formation. Although he doesn’t know very much about ICTs and their applications for community development either, I am exalted about his participative workshop methods. In one of the exercises, small groups of promoters have to pretend to be a small enterprise that produces paper envelopes. They have to give their company a name and forecast the number of envelopes they will be able to produce in 1 hour. Then they will have to produce the envelopes with some manual instruments such as large paper stacks, rulers, glue and paper knifes.
The condition is that they have to be standardized. Accurate and exact. The groups are given the chance to negotiate benefits for their enterprise in advance. One group negotiates tables for their production. They are the group that turns out to be the one that produces the largest amount of envelopes.
After one hour of busy activities, the promoters measuring and cutting paper all over the workshop room, on the walls and on the floor, Carlos comes in as a strict auditor who doesn’t speak Spanish. He only looks at the produced envelopes and decides if they pass or not. He does not want to hear any excuses. He plays the role perfectly. A mute auditor being anal and dead serious. He measures the produced envelopes with an original bought in a professional store. Only 2 of a total of 48 envelopes produced pass his evaluation. After the wrote the results on the wall, he switches back into the role of the facilitator. And makes the guys analyze their faults. “Why did you predict that you are going to produce 20 envelopes if you only managed 9?” he asks one group. With his questions he makes the promoters see how important it is to plan realistically and negotiate well if you have the chance to do so.
In one of the coffee breaks, Carlos tells me that he was trained in the CEFE method. I had heard that one of my former GTZ colleagues developed the method in Germany. Carlos performance really convinced me: he managed to make the participants reflect and analyze actively. I can sense that the exercises have made some of the group pensive.
I am leaving the workshop after the second day. I am satisfied. Although I also feel a little disappointed on the little knowledge of the facilitators about ICTs for development. But my delight about the energy and enthusiasm of the local promoters balances my little letdown very well. Another aspect that the workshop made me see is the big logistical effort our 132 villages nationwide project represents. To gather and motivate those promoters from their remote homes is a challenge. But it works. And actually, it is “just” a pilot for a national digital alphabetization to follow. We want to train promoters in 3000 villages all over Peru. But that is a story for one of my next entries.
I am participating in the city of Ayacucho, center of the political violence in the 80 and 90s and one of the poorest provinces of Peru . (For more information on the latest political history of Ayacucho, the Political Sciences Department of the University of San Diego has an interesting collection of articles) 3 days of training in enterprise development and management, in communication strategies and computer and Internet basics.
“I feel proud. Proud and satisfied. After a long time of discussions, planning, concepts and bureaucratic waiting procedures it has finally come true.” That is the emotional gist of what I say when I introduce myself in our Ayacucho workshop.
23 persons, potential local promoters, have gathered in the province capital to receive their first training lessons. Most of the to-be local promoters look shy, some of them tired. Traveling in rural Peru is often exhaustive due to long distances and bad infrastructure. I estimate the average promoter age around 30 years. They don’t know each other, don’t know what the workshop will bring. Our Ayacucho workshop center has something spartanic to it. White plastic chairs, concrete floor, no windows. Stop, I am wrong. There is a day light source just below the high ceiling. See-through bricks. I smile while I think that they look like the constructors put them in last minute. It is impossible to open them. But the rather bare and functional atmosphere doesn’t detain the enthusiasm of the 23 workshop participants.
Expectations are high. Not only on my behalf. The introduction round shows that a lot of the guys want to learn about informatics, graphic design, Website management. Around 70 % are men. A lot of them do sports in their leisure time. Will they be disappointed when they find out that a part of the workshop isn’t all about technical skills? Will they understand that Internet is more than just chatting and playing games online? Will the facilitators be able to get across that Internet can promote their local livelihoods?
The first practical assignment is small group work. Antonio, our moderator, puts a lot of focus on the creative and communicative parts of small business promotion. “Create your own communication business” is the title of the workshop experiment. How do they plan, what are their contents, how do they go about marketing and publishing their efforts? I am amazed about some of the results. Some of the promoters seem to know more about ICTs for development than our trainer himself. One group plans to promote the breeding and sales of guinea pigs online. “www.cuyesdecalidad.com.pe” they call their potential website.
One of the workshop members approaches me timidly. Wilfredo is from a village in the Ayacuchean highlands that is not included in our project. He asks me if he and his friend Jose may participate. “How did you hear about the workshop?” I ask him a little surprised. “Someone from Taca, our neighboring village told us”, he replies. Taca forms part of the project. “Please, we would love to learn more about Internet”. I am amazed about the interest for the capacity building. I wouldn’t have dreamed that our project would stimulate such a demand. I think back to the class in Chiclayo we gave to Internet café owners (LINK) there and the rather disinterested responses we got. It was a different audience and a different setting, for sure. Chiclayo is, in Peruvian terms, a big city compared to Ayacucho. And it forms part of the relatively well-off coastline of Peru. The highlands and the jungle present a completely different reality. With much more deficits and needs.
We go into the second day with a different facilitator. Carlos Gutierrez works for a local NGO in Ayacucho and has 10 years of experience in Small enterprise formation. Although he doesn’t know very much about ICTs and their applications for community development either, I am exalted about his participative workshop methods. In one of the exercises, small groups of promoters have to pretend to be a small enterprise that produces paper envelopes. They have to give their company a name and forecast the number of envelopes they will be able to produce in 1 hour. Then they will have to produce the envelopes with some manual instruments such as large paper stacks, rulers, glue and paper knifes.
The condition is that they have to be standardized. Accurate and exact. The groups are given the chance to negotiate benefits for their enterprise in advance. One group negotiates tables for their production. They are the group that turns out to be the one that produces the largest amount of envelopes. After one hour of busy activities, the promoters measuring and cutting paper all over the workshop room, on the walls and on the floor, Carlos comes in as a strict auditor who doesn’t speak Spanish. He only looks at the produced envelopes and decides if they pass or not. He does not want to hear any excuses. He plays the role perfectly. A mute auditor being anal and dead serious. He measures the produced envelopes with an original bought in a professional store. Only 2 of a total of 48 envelopes produced pass his evaluation. After the wrote the results on the wall, he switches back into the role of the facilitator. And makes the guys analyze their faults. “Why did you predict that you are going to produce 20 envelopes if you only managed 9?” he asks one group. With his questions he makes the promoters see how important it is to plan realistically and negotiate well if you have the chance to do so.
In one of the coffee breaks, Carlos tells me that he was trained in the CEFE method. I had heard that one of my former GTZ colleagues developed the method in Germany. Carlos performance really convinced me: he managed to make the participants reflect and analyze actively. I can sense that the exercises have made some of the group pensive.
I am leaving the workshop after the second day. I am satisfied. Although I also feel a little disappointed on the little knowledge of the facilitators about ICTs for development. But my delight about the energy and enthusiasm of the local promoters balances my little letdown very well. Another aspect that the workshop made me see is the big logistical effort our 132 villages nationwide project represents. To gather and motivate those promoters from their remote homes is a challenge. But it works. And actually, it is “just” a pilot for a national digital alphabetization to follow. We want to train promoters in 3000 villages all over Peru. But that is a story for one of my next entries.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Huarochiri: Bella Durmiente
A la vuelta de Lima está el Peru originario. Cuando la brumosa capital se pone fria y gris el escape hacia el sol andino esta cerca. Huarochiri es la provincia al este de Lima y cuenta con casi todo lo que el turista limeño necesita para dejar atrás la bulla de la capital por un fin de semana: Alturas hasta 3.800 metros, valles templados con plantaciones de frutas, ruinas incaicas, lagunas, cataratas. La empresa Valtron, subvencionada por el fondo de telecomunicaciones del estado peruano, implementa un proyecto que va a poner telefonía e internet en toda la provincia. Asesoro los proyectos de Fitel en temas relacionados a la comunicación y capacitación. Responsables de Valtron viajan para informar y explicar a la gente de Huarochiri sobre el proyecto. Al mismo tiempo, ellos tratan de apoyar a la población en su esfuerzo de impulsar el turismo. Los acompañé dos días en una ruta que había hecho en bicicleta de montaña 6 meses atrás: la ruta del Tutayquiri.
La niña y el niño me miran con una mezcla de curiosidad y timidez. Corren para esconderse detrás de una de las casa de adobe. Después de menos de 30 segundos, los ojos de la niña mayor me observan nuevamente, esta vez detrás de la casa. Su curiosidad despertó la mía. Me río. Ella empieza a sonreír. No tendría mas de ocho años, a su compañero le echo no mas de cinco años. Los dos corren hacia la próxima casa, ahora se ríen también. Tres esquinas mas alla el juego de “escondite” termina y permiten que me acerque mas. “Cómo te llamas?” pregunto a ella. Suelta una carcajada de risa antes de contestarme. “Elena” – “Y tú?” pregunto al chico menor, “Wilson” me contesta ella en vez de él. “Es tu hermano?” Elena asiente con la cabeza “Si”.
Les tomo una foto y se las muestro luego en la pantalla digital. Siguen mas carcajadas de risas. “Que fácil es entrar en contacto con los niños del campo”, pienso. Para ellos, soy una gringa limeña mas, normalmente ni se dan cuenta que soy extranjera. Fuera de las zonas turísticas, la gente de las zonas rurales parece más auténtica y sencilla.
Estoy en Tupicocha, a casi 3.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Este pueblo huarochirano está construido en una pendiente. Las calles mas arriba ofrecen una vista espectacular del pueblo con los picos andinos en el fondo. Respiro profundo y disfruto el verde de los arbolés y pastos que tanto extraño en Lima. Me cuesta creer que el mismo día en la mañana salí de la bulliciosa capital. Cierro los ojos y me acuerdo de mi llegada a Tupicocha hace medio año atrás. Los cerros tenían colores dorados y marrones, el aire olía a eucalipto en el sol fuerte del mediodía. Recuerdo el intenso sentimiento de libertad y felicidad, recorriendo los cerros con mi bicicleta. Seguida por una 4x4 que habíamos alquilado, Orlando el chofer, nos seguía el paso para salvarnos en momentos que la altura exigía demasiado de nuestros cuerpos que ya no daban. Un reportaje sobre este viaje se encuentra aqui.
Mi sueño diurno es interrumpido por el altavoz del pueblo. “Ha venido desde Lima la empresa Valtron para informar sobre sus servicios de teléfono que va a brindar en la municipalidad. Hoy a las 6 de la tarde. Acérquense a la municipalidad por favor!” Brigitte, enérgica colaboradora de Valtron, está convocando a la gente. Son las 4 de la tarde. Hemos llegado temprano, casi todos los pobladores están en sus chacras trabajando. Aquí, las reuniones hay que hacerlas antes de las 8 de la mañana o a partir de la 6 de la noche. El día laboral en el campo es duro y es largo.
Telefonía Inalámbrica en la chacra
“No es un teléfono celular. Se parece pero es un teléfono fijo, aún funciona sin cable y con pilas normales y tiene cuatro kilómetros del alcance”, Brigitte está explicando la tecnología de la telefonía inalámbrica a los Tupicochanos. Son las ocho de la noche. Cuento 32 personas en la sala de la municipalidad, la mayoría hombres entre 20 y 50 años. “Me puedo llevar este teléfono a mi chacra?” pregunta uno de los agricultores. “Claro, si su casa no está mas lejos que cuatro kilómetros” contesta Brigitte. Reflexiono como la vida tradicional del campo se mezcla más y más con la tecnología de la vida moderna. Debido al aislamiento de las zonas rurales, los contrastes en el Perú son muy marcados.
Doris, regidora de la municipalidad, nos sirve estofado de pollo de cena. El largo viaje desde Lima y las caminatas por el pueblo al aire libre muestran su efecto. Estamos con hambre. Pasamos la noche en uno de los hospedajes del pueblo. A las 6 de la mañana nos despierta música andina. Suena como huaino pero no tiene la tristeza de los huainos típicos que conozco, parece que la municipalidad escogió algo con un tono alegre para ponernos las pilas para el día. Pasamos por la bodega de una pareja de edad. La señora nos cuenta que quisiera un teléfono en su casa lo más antes posible para poder llamar a su hija en Estados Unidos. “La señora del teléfono publico no me deja hablar mucho” cuenta, “dice que yo hablo demasiado, que necesita la línea para otros”. Brigitte explica el proceso de inscribirse para la telefonía “Ay no he estudiado, yo no entiendo nada de esas cosas nuevas”, reclama la anciana varias veces. Y después me cuenta que llama a su hija usando Internet cuando baja a Lima. En una cabina. La señora me hace reír y a la vez le tengo mucho respeto. Ni mis propios padres en Alemania, un país supuestamente desarrollado, usan Internet para comunicarse conmigo. Esta anciana huarochirana es más abierta a las nuevas tecnologías que mis papas “primer mundistas”.
Rumbo a San Damian
Subimos al 4x4 de Valtron y nos vamos al próximo pueblo mas cercano, San Damian.
Miro atrás y veo a Tupicocha en la distancia, una aglomeración blanca pegada a un precipicio de un cerro verde gigante. Las nubes parecen manchitas de vapor, han perdido su agua y color gris en la noche anterior. Las vistas en el camino son espectaculares: valles profundos, picos lejanos, cataratas. La vastedad del paisaje me impone un gozo profundo. Carlos, hijo del empresario de Valtron, conoce bien la zona. Nos paramos al borde de un abismo “Perfecto para practicar parapente” me dice. Miro el precipicio y me imagino un vuelo silencioso. Un deslizamiento suave hacia las casitas que se ven como puntitos blancos en el fondo del valle. “Debe ser alucinante volar en este paisaje” le comento a Carlos. Me imagino a Carlos llegando aquí, con sus amigos parapentistas, volando por los aires silenciosos y limpios de estos cerros. Aventureros e idealistas con un amor profundo por la naturaleza y su deporte. Son los que abren la puerta para mas turistas?
Mis pensamientos vuelven al primer dia de nuestro viaje cuando hemos dejado la carretera central algunos kilómetros después de Chosica para subir en pista hacia Santiago de Tuna. El paisaje y el ambiente cambiaron casi inmediatamente en este otro mundo, el Peru rural. Quizás está bien que sea así de inexplorado yque se pueda llegar solo con las 4x4 o transportes públicos 2 o 3 veces a la semana. El encanto de Huarochiri como destino turistico consiste en eso.
Paredes pintadas
San Damian nos espera en un vestido multicolor.
Cada casa en la plaza de armas está pintada de otro motivo: Pájaros y flores gigantes, gente picando flores, montando caballo. Da un tono alegre al pueblo.
Nos acercamos al restaurante del pueblo. El dueño me reconoce “Usted vino antes. Con bicicleta, no?” Álvaro ya nos había preparado trucha en Setiembre. Hoy nos sirve queso de San Damián para desayuno. Álvaro me habla de la gente que viene de paseo los fines de semana. “Si, por el día de la madre vienen muchos. A veces tanto que ya no hay sitio en el hospedaje, se quedan en las casas del pueblo.” – “Y ciclistas?” pregunto “Si, pero normalmente no se quedan la noche. Pasan no más. Almuerzan y luego se van”. En la municipalidad descubro afiches sobre la “trepada de Marcahuasi” con Maratón, ciclismo de montaña, trekking. Con fecha de Octubre de 2005. Parece que hay mas actividades en la época seca. Cuando Lima se pone gris y fea, Huarochiri ofrece una perfecta salida al sol. Según la mitología, los pueblos en nuestra ruta fueron defendidos contra otros grupos de esta época (1000-1470 d. de C.) por un dios con el nombre de Tutayquiri. El era hijo de Pariacaca, principal deidad prehispánica de la actual provincia de Huarochiri. Por eso los pueblos recuerdan Tutayquiri hasta hoy. Y el ministerio de turismo puso el nombre de “ruta de Tutayquiri” a el recorrido turístico en el 2005.
La demanda de los pobladores de San Damián por la comunicación moderna es igual de grande que en Tupicocha: 27 personas se inscriben para tener teléfonos en su casa. Y Álvaro, nuestro huésped, que también es dueño de uno de los teléfonos públicos del pueblo no se molesta: “Es importante que San Damián avanze.” Me despide calurosamente, con la típica pregunta de la gente del campo: ”Cuando vuelves?”- “Ojala que pronto” le contesto sonriendo.
Nos dirigimos hacia Lahuaytambo, compartiendo la carretera con vacas y caballos. Desde Lahuaytambo empezamos la bajada hacia el valle de Lurin. Como cambió el paisaje!
Medio año atrás, la trocha se parecía mas a una pista para esquiar. Arena blanca, el cielo azul, el aire puro y un silencio absoluto. Me acuerdo que en el descenso con mi bici pensaba en esquiar. O volar. Las vistas me hacían bajar de la bici varias veces quitándome el aire por su belleza. En el camino de Lahuaytambo a Antioquia, se superan casi los 2.000 metros de altura. Las zonas bajas nos dan la bienvenida con árboles de frutas maduras – melocotones, Chirimoyas. Antioquia, último punto en la ruta del Tutayquiri tiene un clima moderado. No solo la plaza, también la mayoria de las casas tienen pinturas en sus paredes. Que lindo debe ser poder decir “Vivo en la casa con los pájaros rosados en la pared”. Lamentablemente ya no hay almuerzo en el pueblo, así que nuestro hambre nos lleva a Cieneguilla. Destino limeño para fines de semanas. Con truchas a la parilla cerramos nuestro día al borde del rio Lurin.
Si, la haría otra vez, la ruta del Tutayquiri. Preferiblemente en época seca, con mi bicicleta. Me incentiva y da mucha alegria a la vez saber que todavía me falta descubrir otros rincones del “Hinterland” limeño. Todo un universo distinto, a la vuelta de la brumosa capital.
Informaciones adicionales
Pagina de Promperu
Sobre rutas cortas desde Lima
Pagina de Fitel
Sobre el proyecto de Valtron
La niña y el niño me miran con una mezcla de curiosidad y timidez. Corren para esconderse detrás de una de las casa de adobe. Después de menos de 30 segundos, los ojos de la niña mayor me observan nuevamente, esta vez detrás de la casa. Su curiosidad despertó la mía. Me río. Ella empieza a sonreír. No tendría mas de ocho años, a su compañero le echo no mas de cinco años. Los dos corren hacia la próxima casa, ahora se ríen también. Tres esquinas mas alla el juego de “escondite” termina y permiten que me acerque mas. “Cómo te llamas?” pregunto a ella. Suelta una carcajada de risa antes de contestarme. “Elena” – “Y tú?” pregunto al chico menor, “Wilson” me contesta ella en vez de él. “Es tu hermano?” Elena asiente con la cabeza “Si”.
Les tomo una foto y se las muestro luego en la pantalla digital. Siguen mas carcajadas de risas. “Que fácil es entrar en contacto con los niños del campo”, pienso. Para ellos, soy una gringa limeña mas, normalmente ni se dan cuenta que soy extranjera. Fuera de las zonas turísticas, la gente de las zonas rurales parece más auténtica y sencilla. Estoy en Tupicocha, a casi 3.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Este pueblo huarochirano está construido en una pendiente. Las calles mas arriba ofrecen una vista espectacular del pueblo con los picos andinos en el fondo. Respiro profundo y disfruto el verde de los arbolés y pastos que tanto extraño en Lima. Me cuesta creer que el mismo día en la mañana salí de la bulliciosa capital. Cierro los ojos y me acuerdo de mi llegada a Tupicocha hace medio año atrás. Los cerros tenían colores dorados y marrones, el aire olía a eucalipto en el sol fuerte del mediodía. Recuerdo el intenso sentimiento de libertad y felicidad, recorriendo los cerros con mi bicicleta. Seguida por una 4x4 que habíamos alquilado, Orlando el chofer, nos seguía el paso para salvarnos en momentos que la altura exigía demasiado de nuestros cuerpos que ya no daban. Un reportaje sobre este viaje se encuentra aqui.
Mi sueño diurno es interrumpido por el altavoz del pueblo. “Ha venido desde Lima la empresa Valtron para informar sobre sus servicios de teléfono que va a brindar en la municipalidad. Hoy a las 6 de la tarde. Acérquense a la municipalidad por favor!” Brigitte, enérgica colaboradora de Valtron, está convocando a la gente. Son las 4 de la tarde. Hemos llegado temprano, casi todos los pobladores están en sus chacras trabajando. Aquí, las reuniones hay que hacerlas antes de las 8 de la mañana o a partir de la 6 de la noche. El día laboral en el campo es duro y es largo.
Telefonía Inalámbrica en la chacra
“No es un teléfono celular. Se parece pero es un teléfono fijo, aún funciona sin cable y con pilas normales y tiene cuatro kilómetros del alcance”, Brigitte está explicando la tecnología de la telefonía inalámbrica a los Tupicochanos. Son las ocho de la noche. Cuento 32 personas en la sala de la municipalidad, la mayoría hombres entre 20 y 50 años. “Me puedo llevar este teléfono a mi chacra?” pregunta uno de los agricultores. “Claro, si su casa no está mas lejos que cuatro kilómetros” contesta Brigitte. Reflexiono como la vida tradicional del campo se mezcla más y más con la tecnología de la vida moderna. Debido al aislamiento de las zonas rurales, los contrastes en el Perú son muy marcados.
Doris, regidora de la municipalidad, nos sirve estofado de pollo de cena. El largo viaje desde Lima y las caminatas por el pueblo al aire libre muestran su efecto. Estamos con hambre. Pasamos la noche en uno de los hospedajes del pueblo. A las 6 de la mañana nos despierta música andina. Suena como huaino pero no tiene la tristeza de los huainos típicos que conozco, parece que la municipalidad escogió algo con un tono alegre para ponernos las pilas para el día. Pasamos por la bodega de una pareja de edad. La señora nos cuenta que quisiera un teléfono en su casa lo más antes posible para poder llamar a su hija en Estados Unidos. “La señora del teléfono publico no me deja hablar mucho” cuenta, “dice que yo hablo demasiado, que necesita la línea para otros”. Brigitte explica el proceso de inscribirse para la telefonía “Ay no he estudiado, yo no entiendo nada de esas cosas nuevas”, reclama la anciana varias veces. Y después me cuenta que llama a su hija usando Internet cuando baja a Lima. En una cabina. La señora me hace reír y a la vez le tengo mucho respeto. Ni mis propios padres en Alemania, un país supuestamente desarrollado, usan Internet para comunicarse conmigo. Esta anciana huarochirana es más abierta a las nuevas tecnologías que mis papas “primer mundistas”.
Rumbo a San Damian
Subimos al 4x4 de Valtron y nos vamos al próximo pueblo mas cercano, San Damian.
Miro atrás y veo a Tupicocha en la distancia, una aglomeración blanca pegada a un precipicio de un cerro verde gigante. Las nubes parecen manchitas de vapor, han perdido su agua y color gris en la noche anterior. Las vistas en el camino son espectaculares: valles profundos, picos lejanos, cataratas. La vastedad del paisaje me impone un gozo profundo. Carlos, hijo del empresario de Valtron, conoce bien la zona. Nos paramos al borde de un abismo “Perfecto para practicar parapente” me dice. Miro el precipicio y me imagino un vuelo silencioso. Un deslizamiento suave hacia las casitas que se ven como puntitos blancos en el fondo del valle. “Debe ser alucinante volar en este paisaje” le comento a Carlos. Me imagino a Carlos llegando aquí, con sus amigos parapentistas, volando por los aires silenciosos y limpios de estos cerros. Aventureros e idealistas con un amor profundo por la naturaleza y su deporte. Son los que abren la puerta para mas turistas? Mis pensamientos vuelven al primer dia de nuestro viaje cuando hemos dejado la carretera central algunos kilómetros después de Chosica para subir en pista hacia Santiago de Tuna. El paisaje y el ambiente cambiaron casi inmediatamente en este otro mundo, el Peru rural. Quizás está bien que sea así de inexplorado yque se pueda llegar solo con las 4x4 o transportes públicos 2 o 3 veces a la semana. El encanto de Huarochiri como destino turistico consiste en eso.
Paredes pintadas
San Damian nos espera en un vestido multicolor.
Cada casa en la plaza de armas está pintada de otro motivo: Pájaros y flores gigantes, gente picando flores, montando caballo. Da un tono alegre al pueblo. Nos acercamos al restaurante del pueblo. El dueño me reconoce “Usted vino antes. Con bicicleta, no?” Álvaro ya nos había preparado trucha en Setiembre. Hoy nos sirve queso de San Damián para desayuno. Álvaro me habla de la gente que viene de paseo los fines de semana. “Si, por el día de la madre vienen muchos. A veces tanto que ya no hay sitio en el hospedaje, se quedan en las casas del pueblo.” – “Y ciclistas?” pregunto “Si, pero normalmente no se quedan la noche. Pasan no más. Almuerzan y luego se van”. En la municipalidad descubro afiches sobre la “trepada de Marcahuasi” con Maratón, ciclismo de montaña, trekking. Con fecha de Octubre de 2005. Parece que hay mas actividades en la época seca. Cuando Lima se pone gris y fea, Huarochiri ofrece una perfecta salida al sol. Según la mitología, los pueblos en nuestra ruta fueron defendidos contra otros grupos de esta época (1000-1470 d. de C.) por un dios con el nombre de Tutayquiri. El era hijo de Pariacaca, principal deidad prehispánica de la actual provincia de Huarochiri. Por eso los pueblos recuerdan Tutayquiri hasta hoy. Y el ministerio de turismo puso el nombre de “ruta de Tutayquiri” a el recorrido turístico en el 2005.
La demanda de los pobladores de San Damián por la comunicación moderna es igual de grande que en Tupicocha: 27 personas se inscriben para tener teléfonos en su casa. Y Álvaro, nuestro huésped, que también es dueño de uno de los teléfonos públicos del pueblo no se molesta: “Es importante que San Damián avanze.” Me despide calurosamente, con la típica pregunta de la gente del campo: ”Cuando vuelves?”- “Ojala que pronto” le contesto sonriendo.
Nos dirigimos hacia Lahuaytambo, compartiendo la carretera con vacas y caballos. Desde Lahuaytambo empezamos la bajada hacia el valle de Lurin. Como cambió el paisaje!
Medio año atrás, la trocha se parecía mas a una pista para esquiar. Arena blanca, el cielo azul, el aire puro y un silencio absoluto. Me acuerdo que en el descenso con mi bici pensaba en esquiar. O volar. Las vistas me hacían bajar de la bici varias veces quitándome el aire por su belleza. En el camino de Lahuaytambo a Antioquia, se superan casi los 2.000 metros de altura. Las zonas bajas nos dan la bienvenida con árboles de frutas maduras – melocotones, Chirimoyas. Antioquia, último punto en la ruta del Tutayquiri tiene un clima moderado. No solo la plaza, también la mayoria de las casas tienen pinturas en sus paredes. Que lindo debe ser poder decir “Vivo en la casa con los pájaros rosados en la pared”. Lamentablemente ya no hay almuerzo en el pueblo, así que nuestro hambre nos lleva a Cieneguilla. Destino limeño para fines de semanas. Con truchas a la parilla cerramos nuestro día al borde del rio Lurin. Si, la haría otra vez, la ruta del Tutayquiri. Preferiblemente en época seca, con mi bicicleta. Me incentiva y da mucha alegria a la vez saber que todavía me falta descubrir otros rincones del “Hinterland” limeño. Todo un universo distinto, a la vuelta de la brumosa capital.
Informaciones adicionales
Pagina de Promperu
Sobre rutas cortas desde Lima
Pagina de Fitel
Sobre el proyecto de Valtron
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Of Mines and Cows
Internet use for community development. Peru-wide. 162 rural villages all over the country shall be involved in the use of Internet to improve their local development. Most of them in the Andean highlands or the Amazonian jungle. Many of them remote and isolated. Every single village with its own specific local dynamic. That is the challenge we are facing. We, that is me at FITEL and a group of national NGOs as executing agency. Our strategy is a train-the-trainer approach: we select local persons, train them and have them train their fellow villagers. As a first step we are selecting “local promoters” with a questionnaire.
Huancayo is our base for the sample survey in the surrounding villages. 3200 meters above sea level, 7 hours drive east from Lima, straight into the Andean heartland. Huancayo is a rather functional town – designed for commercial activities and not for romantic traveler expectations.
Our consortium of Peruvian NGOs consists of Informet, Depesa and Separ. Informet and Depesa work from Lima whereas Separ has its head office in Huancayo and works mostly in the central highland provinces. We leave early in the morning for Comas. The four wheel drive of SEPAR surmounts the timberline on a dirt road, passing Lamas and alpacas in order to descend into a green and rainy valley. Comas lies enshrouded in misty clouds and rain as we arrive after 3 hours.
Ollanta Humala is the only presidential candidate smiling down from an enormous election poster at the central place. A little less than two months until Peru will vote for its next president. And the ex-military and radical candidate tries to gain votes mostly among the poor and indigenous parts of the population.
Next to him sits the statue of another Peruvian military, named Avelino Caceres. Aided to defeat the Chilean arch enemy in the 1880s. I can’t prevent the immediate sarcastic comment that crosses my mind “The firm hand. Militarism still sells. Nothing has changed in all those years.” Sigh.
The mayor of Comas greets us in his office. After a formal and polite welcome he shows his impatience and lack of comprehension for why it takes so long to connect Comas to Internet. His village is a district capital and relatively big. I am already used to this attitude. Patiently I am explaining the selection procedure of FITEL projects to him. That Comas is one of the villages with a high use of the public FITEL phones and therefore got chosen to get connected to Internet. But that the service has to be paid for - at least US $50 a month, depending on connection speed. And that people interested in connecting themselves have to buy their own computers.
It is carnival. People dressed in traditional Andean clothes follow a small group of musicians. Harp, saxophones and violins are the typical instruments. Andean music has something sad and melancholic; for me it is the soul of South America. I came to love that music. In this moment, it fits perfectly the rain falling down on Comas.
Marketing public phones
Change of tune. When we walk to the FITEL phone booth in the village, the rain has stopped, the music has vanished and the phone manager is greeting us with a smile. But Zaida is much more than just a public phone licensee. She runs a simple hostel, a convenient store and the two satellite phones in her house. Her daughter might become one of the local promoters for our project. She studied in the local computer school in Comas. Offline. Internet has yet to be installed. In her house, with the arrival of our project. As Zaida tells us about her phone business I decide that she herself would be a perfect local promoter.
We interview her in her backyard, between the satellite dish that runs the phone, guinea pigs and hanging dried corn cobs. Zaida sells phone cards worth 135 Soles in one day. That is a lot. Comas is on the way to a mining town, Canchapalca, where we will head to later on. “If people want to make a local phone call that won’t cost more than 50 Centimos, I buy the phone card for them and charge them only 50 centimos for it.” After that she reuses the 3 and 5 Soles phone cards for clients alike until the credit is used up. Zaida also distributes the phone cards when she leaves Comas. She seems a brilliant entrepreneur. On our way out, I get a chance to see her in her carnival outfit (to the left in the photograph), heading towards the local festival. “What a role model” I think. “If just all of the local promoters would be that way….” But I know that the nearby mine has a lot to do with the high sales and maybe also the positive attitude of Zaida.
Communication in a mining town
The next stop is Canchapalca. The energy of this little village is definitively a different one. New four wheel trucks come and go, men in working overalls and helmets linger around the central place. Set apart from the village center I picture a bunch of big white tents and bright lights illuminating the scenery. “Mining camps” explains Monica to me. She is the phone licensee in this village. “The mine itself is another hour to go she tells me. It just reopened 2 months ago. But the engineers and workers live in this camp.” Monica sells phone cards for 100 Soles a week. Why less than Zaida in Comas? I can only assume that it has to do with Zaidas more proactive attitude: she distributes her phone cards plus she has a convenient store attached to her phone business. Monicas phones are installed in the entrance room of her adobe house. There is an old Singer sowing machine sitting on a stool and a microphone with amplifier. Even before I can think of asking what purpose the microphone has, I see and hear it. Monica received a phone call for someone in the village. She picks up the microphone, turns on the amplifier and says with an energetic tone “Roman Gutierrez, you have a call in line. Run!” Our project doesn’t provide computers, so we have to check if the villages possesses computers. “Those who belong to the mine have computers,” says Monica, “but the secondary school as well”.
The demand for Internet connections in the village is high. The mining company brings work places and money. It transforms a little village like Canchapalca into a totally different town, something I have never experienced in the 3 years that I have been in Peru. But it has something scary to it, maybe because I read and heard so much about the horrible downsides of the mostly foreign mining companies and their impacts in Peru: the heavy pollution and the social effects like alcoholism and prostitution, to only name a few. Darkness has fallen on Canchapalca when we finish our survey and leave the little cottage. The trucks from the mining company still come and go. Although I haven’t been to Canchapalca before, I can feel how that this is not anymore the isolated village that it used to be.
Cows and wealth
The next day we are off to Usibamba. It is only 1,5 hours from Huancayo and it is a beautiful ride. A valley full of blossoming and flowering fields and meadows. Irma Aquino greets us with the typical coyness of the Andean people. She is the FITEL phone licensee in Usibamba. “I sell phone cards for around 25 Soles a week”, she says. “But I could sell a lot more. There are a lot of people who want to call the United States or Europe. But with a 3 Soles phone card the call timeb lasts very little time. Now all the people go to the Telefonica phone here because there they can use coins.”
This time we have arrived with Gilat technicians in order to see if the Internet connection works. I brought my laptop but Irma has her own new Compac Computer. “I studied Informatics in Huancayo” she explains. “And I heard that Internet will arrive one day. My neighbour with the Telefonica phone will get Internet in September”. She is one of our prospective local promoters.
The installation is not as easy as we thought. The technicians have to make a lot of phone calls to the Gilat office in Lima in order to get Irmas Computer online – network card, proxy server, etc….. After three hours we’ re connected! But only with a slow speed. Due to the contract with Gilat it should be 64 kilobytes per hour, but we only measure 39.
Supposedly because Gilat will only provide that speed if the $50 monthly are paid - that is the official Gilat statement when I talk to them later on. Another sigh. The communication with our private counterpart is somewhat complicated at times.
As we go on with our interviews of the potential local promoters, we learn that Usibamba has a lot of livestock, mainly cows. That explains the relative wealth of Usibamba. Some of the villagers sell cheese and yogurt. And that explains also why the community was able to buy 6 computers and antennas for a telecenter at the central plaza. Only that the telecenter never went online. We talk to Benito Huaire, the former community president of Usibamba. He is obviously embarrassed to tells us what happened. They spent almost US $10.000 on computers, satellite dishes and equipment. But the arrival of Internet should have taken place over a month ago. As we revise their documents we realize that nowhere in all of the contracts the actual connection to the World Wide Web is mentioned. It seems to be a fraud. “What a bummer”, I think, “taking advantage of the naivety of rural people… Or maybe they had technical problems that they couldn’t manage and just ran off…” I try to track down the cheater called Engineer Alejandro Mejia. But according to his wife who answers the phone he is hospitalized for a month, victim of a mugging. She knows about the contract and the expired installation dates. But she plays the role of the victim on the phone: we will fulfill the contract, but we are poor, my husband has to recover, than we will install the telecenter. I also know that there are no legal chances to nail them down. The contracts are at their favor.
Overall impression
The villages with the high “traffic”, the lingo expression for the high use of the public phones, got selected to be connected to Internet by Gilat. It seems logical to me to support those places where supposedly exists more purchasing power. But the reasons of the traffic seem to be different ones. Mines, livestock – what might be the background in the rest of the 162 villages? More mines? Will we really support local development if we help mine workers to get online? I am trying to calm the skeptical voice inside of me. I just hope for more examples like Usibamba.
I sense how big of a challenge the project is after this trip. FITEL is working with a consortium of local NGOs that have little or no experience with this type of ICT projects. The highly bureaucratic and complicated system of calling for tenders in the Peruvian public system leaves very little room for a selection procedure based on quality. It endorses consulting companies and NGOs with a high turnover. And I know that I demand too much if I ask for a personal identification with the work of our project in every single participant. I can only try to spread my own personal enthusiasm on to my immediate colleagues and contributors in the project. Against all odds? I don't think so, I just expect a high deserting rate and maybe desinterest of local promotors in some places. I won’t be able to reach out to all 162 villages. The project just started and will last until November of 2006. So this experience is to be continued. In this weblog as well.
Huancayo is our base for the sample survey in the surrounding villages. 3200 meters above sea level, 7 hours drive east from Lima, straight into the Andean heartland. Huancayo is a rather functional town – designed for commercial activities and not for romantic traveler expectations.
Our consortium of Peruvian NGOs consists of Informet, Depesa and Separ. Informet and Depesa work from Lima whereas Separ has its head office in Huancayo and works mostly in the central highland provinces. We leave early in the morning for Comas. The four wheel drive of SEPAR surmounts the timberline on a dirt road, passing Lamas and alpacas in order to descend into a green and rainy valley. Comas lies enshrouded in misty clouds and rain as we arrive after 3 hours.
Ollanta Humala is the only presidential candidate smiling down from an enormous election poster at the central place. A little less than two months until Peru will vote for its next president. And the ex-military and radical candidate tries to gain votes mostly among the poor and indigenous parts of the population.
Next to him sits the statue of another Peruvian military, named Avelino Caceres. Aided to defeat the Chilean arch enemy in the 1880s. I can’t prevent the immediate sarcastic comment that crosses my mind “The firm hand. Militarism still sells. Nothing has changed in all those years.” Sigh.
The mayor of Comas greets us in his office. After a formal and polite welcome he shows his impatience and lack of comprehension for why it takes so long to connect Comas to Internet. His village is a district capital and relatively big. I am already used to this attitude. Patiently I am explaining the selection procedure of FITEL projects to him. That Comas is one of the villages with a high use of the public FITEL phones and therefore got chosen to get connected to Internet. But that the service has to be paid for - at least US $50 a month, depending on connection speed. And that people interested in connecting themselves have to buy their own computers.
It is carnival. People dressed in traditional Andean clothes follow a small group of musicians. Harp, saxophones and violins are the typical instruments. Andean music has something sad and melancholic; for me it is the soul of South America. I came to love that music. In this moment, it fits perfectly the rain falling down on Comas.
Marketing public phones
Change of tune. When we walk to the FITEL phone booth in the village, the rain has stopped, the music has vanished and the phone manager is greeting us with a smile. But Zaida is much more than just a public phone licensee. She runs a simple hostel, a convenient store and the two satellite phones in her house. Her daughter might become one of the local promoters for our project. She studied in the local computer school in Comas. Offline. Internet has yet to be installed. In her house, with the arrival of our project. As Zaida tells us about her phone business I decide that she herself would be a perfect local promoter.
We interview her in her backyard, between the satellite dish that runs the phone, guinea pigs and hanging dried corn cobs. Zaida sells phone cards worth 135 Soles in one day. That is a lot. Comas is on the way to a mining town, Canchapalca, where we will head to later on. “If people want to make a local phone call that won’t cost more than 50 Centimos, I buy the phone card for them and charge them only 50 centimos for it.” After that she reuses the 3 and 5 Soles phone cards for clients alike until the credit is used up. Zaida also distributes the phone cards when she leaves Comas. She seems a brilliant entrepreneur. On our way out, I get a chance to see her in her carnival outfit (to the left in the photograph), heading towards the local festival. “What a role model” I think. “If just all of the local promoters would be that way….” But I know that the nearby mine has a lot to do with the high sales and maybe also the positive attitude of Zaida.
Communication in a mining town
The next stop is Canchapalca. The energy of this little village is definitively a different one. New four wheel trucks come and go, men in working overalls and helmets linger around the central place. Set apart from the village center I picture a bunch of big white tents and bright lights illuminating the scenery. “Mining camps” explains Monica to me. She is the phone licensee in this village. “The mine itself is another hour to go she tells me. It just reopened 2 months ago. But the engineers and workers live in this camp.” Monica sells phone cards for 100 Soles a week. Why less than Zaida in Comas? I can only assume that it has to do with Zaidas more proactive attitude: she distributes her phone cards plus she has a convenient store attached to her phone business. Monicas phones are installed in the entrance room of her adobe house. There is an old Singer sowing machine sitting on a stool and a microphone with amplifier. Even before I can think of asking what purpose the microphone has, I see and hear it. Monica received a phone call for someone in the village. She picks up the microphone, turns on the amplifier and says with an energetic tone “Roman Gutierrez, you have a call in line. Run!” Our project doesn’t provide computers, so we have to check if the villages possesses computers. “Those who belong to the mine have computers,” says Monica, “but the secondary school as well”.
The demand for Internet connections in the village is high. The mining company brings work places and money. It transforms a little village like Canchapalca into a totally different town, something I have never experienced in the 3 years that I have been in Peru. But it has something scary to it, maybe because I read and heard so much about the horrible downsides of the mostly foreign mining companies and their impacts in Peru: the heavy pollution and the social effects like alcoholism and prostitution, to only name a few. Darkness has fallen on Canchapalca when we finish our survey and leave the little cottage. The trucks from the mining company still come and go. Although I haven’t been to Canchapalca before, I can feel how that this is not anymore the isolated village that it used to be.
Cows and wealth
The next day we are off to Usibamba. It is only 1,5 hours from Huancayo and it is a beautiful ride. A valley full of blossoming and flowering fields and meadows. Irma Aquino greets us with the typical coyness of the Andean people. She is the FITEL phone licensee in Usibamba. “I sell phone cards for around 25 Soles a week”, she says. “But I could sell a lot more. There are a lot of people who want to call the United States or Europe. But with a 3 Soles phone card the call timeb lasts very little time. Now all the people go to the Telefonica phone here because there they can use coins.”
This time we have arrived with Gilat technicians in order to see if the Internet connection works. I brought my laptop but Irma has her own new Compac Computer. “I studied Informatics in Huancayo” she explains. “And I heard that Internet will arrive one day. My neighbour with the Telefonica phone will get Internet in September”. She is one of our prospective local promoters.
The installation is not as easy as we thought. The technicians have to make a lot of phone calls to the Gilat office in Lima in order to get Irmas Computer online – network card, proxy server, etc….. After three hours we’ re connected! But only with a slow speed. Due to the contract with Gilat it should be 64 kilobytes per hour, but we only measure 39.
Supposedly because Gilat will only provide that speed if the $50 monthly are paid - that is the official Gilat statement when I talk to them later on. Another sigh. The communication with our private counterpart is somewhat complicated at times.As we go on with our interviews of the potential local promoters, we learn that Usibamba has a lot of livestock, mainly cows. That explains the relative wealth of Usibamba. Some of the villagers sell cheese and yogurt. And that explains also why the community was able to buy 6 computers and antennas for a telecenter at the central plaza. Only that the telecenter never went online. We talk to Benito Huaire, the former community president of Usibamba. He is obviously embarrassed to tells us what happened. They spent almost US $10.000 on computers, satellite dishes and equipment. But the arrival of Internet should have taken place over a month ago. As we revise their documents we realize that nowhere in all of the contracts the actual connection to the World Wide Web is mentioned. It seems to be a fraud. “What a bummer”, I think, “taking advantage of the naivety of rural people… Or maybe they had technical problems that they couldn’t manage and just ran off…” I try to track down the cheater called Engineer Alejandro Mejia. But according to his wife who answers the phone he is hospitalized for a month, victim of a mugging. She knows about the contract and the expired installation dates. But she plays the role of the victim on the phone: we will fulfill the contract, but we are poor, my husband has to recover, than we will install the telecenter. I also know that there are no legal chances to nail them down. The contracts are at their favor.
Overall impression
The villages with the high “traffic”, the lingo expression for the high use of the public phones, got selected to be connected to Internet by Gilat. It seems logical to me to support those places where supposedly exists more purchasing power. But the reasons of the traffic seem to be different ones. Mines, livestock – what might be the background in the rest of the 162 villages? More mines? Will we really support local development if we help mine workers to get online? I am trying to calm the skeptical voice inside of me. I just hope for more examples like Usibamba.
I sense how big of a challenge the project is after this trip. FITEL is working with a consortium of local NGOs that have little or no experience with this type of ICT projects. The highly bureaucratic and complicated system of calling for tenders in the Peruvian public system leaves very little room for a selection procedure based on quality. It endorses consulting companies and NGOs with a high turnover. And I know that I demand too much if I ask for a personal identification with the work of our project in every single participant. I can only try to spread my own personal enthusiasm on to my immediate colleagues and contributors in the project. Against all odds? I don't think so, I just expect a high deserting rate and maybe desinterest of local promotors in some places. I won’t be able to reach out to all 162 villages. The project just started and will last until November of 2006. So this experience is to be continued. In this weblog as well.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Cabinas in the second world
Feels like home! Green fields and hills. Prussian blue lakes. Sunsets at 10 thirty at night. Snow peaked volcanoes? No, they don’t go along with my memories of Bavarian summers. But the setting is almost like my southern German home country. It is summertime in Chile. And vacation time for me. My Christmas trip to Chile and Argentine led me to the neighboring countries of my Peruvian homestead. And although the 2 southern countries are very different from Peru in many aspects, there are Internet cafes all over.
Pucon is our first stop about 8 hours south of Santiago de Chile. Hiking, mountain biking, rafting and skiing during winter are the main attractions of this tourist spot. The streets are a mixture of outdoor equipment stores, trekking agencies and restaurants all made up in a rustic wooden style. A mixture of European ski resorts and how I imagine Canadian lumber jack towns. It has very little to do with what I know from Peruvian province towns and feels very much like a modern industrialized country. So I assume that Internet access is available for almost every home like in most parts of the developed world. But nope, there are “Cabinas de Internet” at every other street corner.
“Hm, must be the tourism”, I think as I enter the first cabina. Flat screens, lots of light, a spacious and clean room. A little less than one and a half US Dollars is the hour. That’s almost triple the price a Peruvian cabina charges. But what a difference in service! Compared to the average Peruvian Internet café this seems a “communication spa”. The place is packed with a mixture of tourists and what seems to be local youth. But the video gamers wear headsets, there is no blasting merengue music and there aren’t clouds of youngsters hanging out in front of one single cabina, invading the space of other clients. I almost feel a sense of awe when I sit down in front of the new and clean equipment. The connection is racing! 2 Megas. Even in my limeñean office I don’t have that connection speed.
I need to recharge the batteries of my MP3 Player. The little black “ZEN” player needs the connection to a computer in order to do this; I cannot just plug it into the wall. And, this copy of the Apple I Pod needs the software installed on the computer for loading it up. An annoying detail I oversaw when I bought it. “OK that is a good test” I think, “let’s see if they can help me in one of those super cabinas here….” Claudios Internet café is just as lofty and modern as the place I entered the day before. The owner is a forty something, European looking guy with thinning dark blond hair. He doesn’t know much about Computers but has a technician coming in every night to help out. It is an additional service to the $50 he pays monthly for the connection. “I started the Internet cafe a couple of months ago,” he tells me. “Actually we are a traveling and adventure tours agency” – “Oh really” I reply, looking around. I notice the posters and announcements for tours, but they could have been there just for decoration. “I decided to invest into the Internet café because my clients would ask for it all the time. When we first started, I only had one PC with a connection. The tourists would ask me if they could use it in order to check their mails so I decided to start an additional business”. And it seems to work. It is five in the afternoon and mostly people in tourist outfits are lining up for one of the 15 PCs. Claudio still doesn’t know if the investment was worth it, but he says that he already makes more turnover with Internet than with selling adventure tours. US $ 1000 he paid for every PC with LCD Screen. I leave my ZEN player with him so he can ask his technician to do the recharging for me. When I pick up my complicated music device 2 hours later, it is fully charged. Neither Claudio nor the technician is there but the assistant hands me my player with a smile “No, there wasn’t any problems at all. No we’re not gonna charge you for that”.
But will the conditions be the same away from the Chilean tourist paths? A short stop on our route to Argentine is Osorno. A middle sized town, seemingly boring from what I see during the one hour stop, with no tourist attraction at all. The houses are not as nice, the landscape doesn’t have the charme of the southern German “Alpenvorland” anymore, obviously we are leaving the tourist area. The Cabina I pay a rapid visit is not as luxurious as the Pucon ones – normal 17” monitors - and the light and space situation is somewhere between the spa version of touristy Pucon and the average Peruvian cabina. Ciber Cochranet only charges 400 Pesos for the hour, which is around 80 US Cents.
My observations do not stop at the Argentinean border but I am not interviewing anymore cabina owners. I am on vacation….. The setting for Internet cafes is pretty much the same in Bariloche than in Chile. Flat screens, service, prices – we are in a tourist spot. The only difference is that most Argentinean cabinas seem to combine with a convenient store – next to surfing in CyberSpace people can usually buy everything from sweets to batteries and newspapers in more or less great varieties. The combination of convenience store and cabina we also find later on our trip in Buenos Aires.
“So, what is so special about Peruvian cabinas?” I ask myself. The long bus rides through the fantastic lakes region of Chile and Argentina give me enough time to reflect. There is quite some grey literature about the supposedly “Peruvian model” of Internet cafes: http://balcon1.tripod.com/apra-cabinasinternet-peru.htm, http://www.yachay.com.pe/especiales/cabinas/1.htm, http://www.aspesi.net/descargas.htm. It all comes down to basically the same statement: Peruvian Internet Cafes provide cheap and fast access to the WWW. They guarantee access for the poor, they are a democratizing factor. Buzz words like that determine the discussion. But I think that discussion is somewhat outdated – in the early days of Internet, in 1998, the first initiatives of RCP (see article about the course in Chiclayo) might have been something really special to a country in development like Peru. But nowadays? They would be special if they would combine community development projects and their contents with the access to Cyberspace. The approach telecenters mostly have. But most cabinas only wanna make profit and understandingly, they don’t care with what kind of content.
These are only impressions from a vacation trip. But I was surprised to find almost as many cabinas in Chile and Argentina as in Peru. And the prices weren’t as high as I expected. All in all I don’t think that Peruvian cabinas are anything special or a role model to be followed - anymore. They will continue to grow in Peru. But as a democratic factor they will only function if they’re embedded in more holistic concepts that consider the interplay of the famous three Cs: Connectivity, Contents and Capacity building.
Pucon is our first stop about 8 hours south of Santiago de Chile. Hiking, mountain biking, rafting and skiing during winter are the main attractions of this tourist spot. The streets are a mixture of outdoor equipment stores, trekking agencies and restaurants all made up in a rustic wooden style. A mixture of European ski resorts and how I imagine Canadian lumber jack towns. It has very little to do with what I know from Peruvian province towns and feels very much like a modern industrialized country. So I assume that Internet access is available for almost every home like in most parts of the developed world. But nope, there are “Cabinas de Internet” at every other street corner.
“Hm, must be the tourism”, I think as I enter the first cabina. Flat screens, lots of light, a spacious and clean room. A little less than one and a half US Dollars is the hour. That’s almost triple the price a Peruvian cabina charges. But what a difference in service! Compared to the average Peruvian Internet café this seems a “communication spa”. The place is packed with a mixture of tourists and what seems to be local youth. But the video gamers wear headsets, there is no blasting merengue music and there aren’t clouds of youngsters hanging out in front of one single cabina, invading the space of other clients. I almost feel a sense of awe when I sit down in front of the new and clean equipment. The connection is racing! 2 Megas. Even in my limeñean office I don’t have that connection speed.
I need to recharge the batteries of my MP3 Player. The little black “ZEN” player needs the connection to a computer in order to do this; I cannot just plug it into the wall. And, this copy of the Apple I Pod needs the software installed on the computer for loading it up. An annoying detail I oversaw when I bought it. “OK that is a good test” I think, “let’s see if they can help me in one of those super cabinas here….” Claudios Internet café is just as lofty and modern as the place I entered the day before. The owner is a forty something, European looking guy with thinning dark blond hair. He doesn’t know much about Computers but has a technician coming in every night to help out. It is an additional service to the $50 he pays monthly for the connection. “I started the Internet cafe a couple of months ago,” he tells me. “Actually we are a traveling and adventure tours agency” – “Oh really” I reply, looking around. I notice the posters and announcements for tours, but they could have been there just for decoration. “I decided to invest into the Internet café because my clients would ask for it all the time. When we first started, I only had one PC with a connection. The tourists would ask me if they could use it in order to check their mails so I decided to start an additional business”. And it seems to work. It is five in the afternoon and mostly people in tourist outfits are lining up for one of the 15 PCs. Claudio still doesn’t know if the investment was worth it, but he says that he already makes more turnover with Internet than with selling adventure tours. US $ 1000 he paid for every PC with LCD Screen. I leave my ZEN player with him so he can ask his technician to do the recharging for me. When I pick up my complicated music device 2 hours later, it is fully charged. Neither Claudio nor the technician is there but the assistant hands me my player with a smile “No, there wasn’t any problems at all. No we’re not gonna charge you for that”.
But will the conditions be the same away from the Chilean tourist paths? A short stop on our route to Argentine is Osorno. A middle sized town, seemingly boring from what I see during the one hour stop, with no tourist attraction at all. The houses are not as nice, the landscape doesn’t have the charme of the southern German “Alpenvorland” anymore, obviously we are leaving the tourist area. The Cabina I pay a rapid visit is not as luxurious as the Pucon ones – normal 17” monitors - and the light and space situation is somewhere between the spa version of touristy Pucon and the average Peruvian cabina. Ciber Cochranet only charges 400 Pesos for the hour, which is around 80 US Cents.
My observations do not stop at the Argentinean border but I am not interviewing anymore cabina owners. I am on vacation….. The setting for Internet cafes is pretty much the same in Bariloche than in Chile. Flat screens, service, prices – we are in a tourist spot. The only difference is that most Argentinean cabinas seem to combine with a convenient store – next to surfing in CyberSpace people can usually buy everything from sweets to batteries and newspapers in more or less great varieties. The combination of convenience store and cabina we also find later on our trip in Buenos Aires.
“So, what is so special about Peruvian cabinas?” I ask myself. The long bus rides through the fantastic lakes region of Chile and Argentina give me enough time to reflect. There is quite some grey literature about the supposedly “Peruvian model” of Internet cafes: http://balcon1.tripod.com/apra-cabinasinternet-peru.htm, http://www.yachay.com.pe/especiales/cabinas/1.htm, http://www.aspesi.net/descargas.htm. It all comes down to basically the same statement: Peruvian Internet Cafes provide cheap and fast access to the WWW. They guarantee access for the poor, they are a democratizing factor. Buzz words like that determine the discussion. But I think that discussion is somewhat outdated – in the early days of Internet, in 1998, the first initiatives of RCP (see article about the course in Chiclayo) might have been something really special to a country in development like Peru. But nowadays? They would be special if they would combine community development projects and their contents with the access to Cyberspace. The approach telecenters mostly have. But most cabinas only wanna make profit and understandingly, they don’t care with what kind of content.
These are only impressions from a vacation trip. But I was surprised to find almost as many cabinas in Chile and Argentina as in Peru. And the prices weren’t as high as I expected. All in all I don’t think that Peruvian cabinas are anything special or a role model to be followed - anymore. They will continue to grow in Peru. But as a democratic factor they will only function if they’re embedded in more holistic concepts that consider the interplay of the famous three Cs: Connectivity, Contents and Capacity building.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
E government for the first world
Ok, it’s been a while I admit. And it is about ICTs but not the rural ones. Anyhow, I had to post what happened to me 4 months ago. It is never too late to share peculiar experiences of my life as a foreigner.
"Germany votes". The Deutsche Welle flickers in my living room in Lima. Only a few more weeks to go till 18th of September, the date for the “Bundestagswahl”. I am an expatriate, as the international lingo call people like me: someone permanently living out of his native country. So I am watching closely as the German governmental television station explains me the latest political debates in the election campaign. Peruvian media don’t cover much of German politics. Internet and international Television are my newsfeed. Who shall I vote for, Schröder or Merkel? And what the heck is this new party “Linkspartei”? But am I going to receive my absentee vote papers on time?
In the beginning of August I got a letter from the German embassy in Lima. It was an official letter explaining me that I had to fill in the form included in the letter and send it to my German voter registration office via snail mail. This way I would get the official forms for postal vote. Ok and they offered to send the letter via the courier service of the embassy. But only if I would provide German postal stamps for the delivery within Germany. German postal stamps in Peru. I read the letter twice. It sounded like looking for elephants in the Andean mountains. How on earth am I going to get German stamps in Peru? Whoever had written the letter had obviously very little practical experience about every day life in a third world country. I sighed. “Looks like I go and mail the thing myself to Germany”, I thought.
Mid August. I am approaching the next “Serpost” office, Peruvian snail mail service. Uups, what is the address of the voter registration office in my last home town in Germany? I decide to put “City Hall, Neu-Ulm, Germany” on the envelope. “You need a zipcode”, the post office clerk says with a stern look. “Could you look it up for me?” I ask her. Why would a Peruvian post office have a registration of German zip codes? I had anticipated her empty gaze. “Do you have internet?” I ask her next, anticipating the following expression in her face somewhere between a lack of understanding and a first hint of nervousness because I am turning out to be a very complicated Gringa customer, demanding impossible things. I don’t have to wait for her reply, the typical “no hay” which means as much as “it doesn’t exist” comes back.
I decide to use the next Internet café in order to find out. There is things I got used to but still dislike severely about Peru– the lack of a service mentality for example. Although I am not sure if a German Post office would have figured out a foreign zip code for me. There are things I love about Peru – the flexibility the informal sector offers. 2 Blocks from the post office is the next Internet Café, its open, its cheap and helps me get the zip code of my German voters registration office fast. I note the paper sign on the wall “SUNAT aqui en linea”. That means that Peruvians can do their tax declaration online. E government has really arrived here I think as I rush out of the door of the cabina publica.
At the beginning of September I start to worry. No news from Germany. I call the embassy, the GTZ office which is my employer’s agency in Peru. The delivery should supposedly have worked through the Foreign Ministry office in Berlin. To accelerate the process. But the secretary at the embassy tells me that the last load of voting papers got to Lima about 10 days ago. The 16th of September I find the envelope underneath my door in Lima. A little late for voting via snail mail. I don’t know – should I be upset or laugh? I decide for the latter.
The German cooperation advises and supports the Peruvian government in e government applications. But the German government isn’t able to implement the logistics of its own election campaign. Or even organize voting in the German embassy in Lima for expats. That makes me laugh. How developed are we?
"Germany votes". The Deutsche Welle flickers in my living room in Lima. Only a few more weeks to go till 18th of September, the date for the “Bundestagswahl”. I am an expatriate, as the international lingo call people like me: someone permanently living out of his native country. So I am watching closely as the German governmental television station explains me the latest political debates in the election campaign. Peruvian media don’t cover much of German politics. Internet and international Television are my newsfeed. Who shall I vote for, Schröder or Merkel? And what the heck is this new party “Linkspartei”? But am I going to receive my absentee vote papers on time?
In the beginning of August I got a letter from the German embassy in Lima. It was an official letter explaining me that I had to fill in the form included in the letter and send it to my German voter registration office via snail mail. This way I would get the official forms for postal vote. Ok and they offered to send the letter via the courier service of the embassy. But only if I would provide German postal stamps for the delivery within Germany. German postal stamps in Peru. I read the letter twice. It sounded like looking for elephants in the Andean mountains. How on earth am I going to get German stamps in Peru? Whoever had written the letter had obviously very little practical experience about every day life in a third world country. I sighed. “Looks like I go and mail the thing myself to Germany”, I thought.
Mid August. I am approaching the next “Serpost” office, Peruvian snail mail service. Uups, what is the address of the voter registration office in my last home town in Germany? I decide to put “City Hall, Neu-Ulm, Germany” on the envelope. “You need a zipcode”, the post office clerk says with a stern look. “Could you look it up for me?” I ask her. Why would a Peruvian post office have a registration of German zip codes? I had anticipated her empty gaze. “Do you have internet?” I ask her next, anticipating the following expression in her face somewhere between a lack of understanding and a first hint of nervousness because I am turning out to be a very complicated Gringa customer, demanding impossible things. I don’t have to wait for her reply, the typical “no hay” which means as much as “it doesn’t exist” comes back.
I decide to use the next Internet café in order to find out. There is things I got used to but still dislike severely about Peru– the lack of a service mentality for example. Although I am not sure if a German Post office would have figured out a foreign zip code for me. There are things I love about Peru – the flexibility the informal sector offers. 2 Blocks from the post office is the next Internet Café, its open, its cheap and helps me get the zip code of my German voters registration office fast. I note the paper sign on the wall “SUNAT aqui en linea”. That means that Peruvians can do their tax declaration online. E government has really arrived here I think as I rush out of the door of the cabina publica.
At the beginning of September I start to worry. No news from Germany. I call the embassy, the GTZ office which is my employer’s agency in Peru. The delivery should supposedly have worked through the Foreign Ministry office in Berlin. To accelerate the process. But the secretary at the embassy tells me that the last load of voting papers got to Lima about 10 days ago. The 16th of September I find the envelope underneath my door in Lima. A little late for voting via snail mail. I don’t know – should I be upset or laugh? I decide for the latter.
The German cooperation advises and supports the Peruvian government in e government applications. But the German government isn’t able to implement the logistics of its own election campaign. Or even organize voting in the German embassy in Lima for expats. That makes me laugh. How developed are we?
