Telecentres in mountain regions — A Peruvian case study of the impact of information and communication technologies on remoteness and exclusion

Abstract

Communities in developing country mountain areas, in part due to their remoteness, find themselves excluded from social, political and economic systems; and excluded from access to resources. This paper aims to study the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on remoteness and exclusion. It utilises two modelsthe resource movement framework, and the "information chain" -to analyse a telecentre in one district of mountainous Huancavelica, Peru's poorest region, set in the high Andes. It finds ICTs enabling new and positive resource flows for the two key user groups: teenaged school students and young farmers. These help to maintain social networks. They also support information searches that have improved agricultural practice where other information chain resources have been available. But non-use and ineffective use of the telecentre are found where information chain resources are lacking. ICTs have some impacts on intangible elements of remoteness. In this particular example, they also offer access to some previously-excluded resources. But they have not really addressed the systematic exclusions faced by mountain communities. And they so far appear to be a technology of inequality; favouring those residents who begin with better resource endowments. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for mountain ICT project practice.

The Influence of Telecentre Components on the Psychological Empowerment of Underserved Community Members in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…Harris (2001) concur with this finding by identifying that motivation of telecentre users can be achieved through staff being optimistic about learning and highly resourceful toward students. Heeks and Kanashiro (2009) further support the finding by confirming that a positive environment motivates telecentre users to learn ICT.…”

Demystifying the Possibilities of ICT4D in the Mountain Regions of Nepal

“…Remote communities of mountain regions in developing countries are among the poorest, most inaccessible and most excluded in the world, though they are rich in natural resources [1,2]. They are facing social, political, and economic exclusion from the key systems of development [1].…”

“…They are facing social, political, and economic exclusion from the key systems of development [1]. The current global information explosion has little impact on development activities and access to practical information for remote communities in developing countries [3].…”

“…Studies show that ICT intervention can serve community development needs [10,11]. It is broadly agreed that ICT can play an important role in the development of remote communities [1,5,10]. Some of the examples are the Kothmale project in Sri Lanka, the ERTIC project in Peru, and the InfoDes project in northern Peru.…”

“…The Kothmale project through ICT is helping remote communities to connect with urban communities [3]. Similarly, the ERTIC project in the mountain region of Peru shows that ICT projects can be instrumental in overcoming remoteness and social exclusion problems [1]. Furthermore, Diaz and Urquhart argue that ICT projects such as InfoDes, can be helpful in creating social capital vis-à-vis human capital in remote communities [12].…”