CALL FOR CASE STUDIES 

COMMUNITY-OWNED NETWORKS, SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has commissioned a research project on community-owned networks, services and applications as a way of extending affordable use and effective access to telecommunications in rural and under-served communities in developing countries. As part of this research, we are seeking a number of case studies examining innovative cases of community-owned networks, services and applications for rural and underserved communities.

The benefits of community ownership and control of traditional infrastructures and development projects (such as water and transportation) are widely recognised as a contributing factor to their sustainability and success. Communities that own their infrastructures are more prepared to invest in them, to maintain them and to make effective and innovative use of them by learning to master them and to shape them to serve their own needs. While many pro-poor and rural ICT strategies have recognised this, action to date has concentrated on promoting community telecentres, which permit ownership of the terminals but not of the networks themselves.

In many currently industrialized countries, community-owned infrastructure and networks played a central role in enhancing rural access and servicing communities that were underserved by national and commercial operators. One of the most successful examples of community owned networks took place on a national scale in the USA and succeeded in establishing thousands of rural telephone cooperatives early in the last century. At its high point, in 1927, there were some 6,000 cooperative telephone associations in the country. Rural telecommunications would not have developed in the USA without these cooperatives and many of them continue to provide telephony and broadband telecommunications access to rural communities. More recently, community-owned networks in a variety of countries, from Poland to Argentina, indicate that the concept remains valid and is adaptable to a wide variety of contexts.

These options have not yet been fully explored in the case of developing countries.  However, a number of examples are emerging and the cost-effectiveness and viability of the options are also increasing as new wireless and peer-to-peer technologies become available.

We are now seeking a number of case studies of initiatives in which:

-          the community (or an association within it) has an ownership stake and is also directly involved in design and/or management;

-          profits go back to the community to decide how to use them;

-          the approaches involve innovation in one or more of the following areas

*        technology, e.g. effective adaptation of existing technologies or combinations of technologies such as VoIP, WiFi, and broadcast radio;

*        investment and financing, e.g. approaches that leverage community resources, public investment or donor support that would otherwise not be available;

*        policy & regulation, e.g. approaches that facilitate licensing procedures or provide access to existing infrastructures.

-          services provided include combinations of telephony, e-mail, web access, SMS text messaging, VoIP, as well as more traditional communication services such as radio, video and television.

Initiatives that grew out of the failure of incumbent telecom operators to provide an adequate or affordable service are of particular interest. So also are ‘telecentres’ that serve as the hub of wider community networking, offering some of the services from locations distant from the telecentre (though ‘conventional’ single-centre telecentres are well documented already). And we are especially interested in services for rural areas and poor communities. An element of empowerment of community members, especially of women, through the process of conceiving, designing, constructing, and or providing the service would also be very valuable. Finally, cases where employment and development spin-offs have been generated are also sought.

At this stage we urgently seek short descriptions of potential candidate initiatives. The most relevant among them will be selected for more in-depth Case Study analysis, working with local researchers.  

Please send a maximum one page description as soon as possible to both Seán Ó Siochrú ([email protected]) and Bruce Girard ([email protected]).  Please also state whether you might be interested in any follow-up research.