Strengthening telecentres:
We connect telecentres to the relationships, resources, learning opportunities, and products and services that they need to become more sustainable and increase their community impact.
Based on partnerships and collaboration, our approach is to invest in networks, back-end business services, research, and content. Our work includes:
* Convening events
* Providing services
* Funding projects
* Conducting research
* Supporting publications
telecentre.org funding and services are provided to networks of telecentres working together. We do not provide funding for the creation or maintenance of individual telecentres.
For a detailed description of our work, download the telecentre.org business plan.
Events:
Events are the most basic “ingredient” in the process of creating and strengthening networks. From them comes learning, friendships, trust, deal making, and change. We convene and support gatherings that build bridges between people who work in telecentres. We also provide travel grants for individuals to attend key events. Globally and regionally, we hold Telecentre Leaders' Forums — meetings of telecentre managers who form (or will eventually form) a network.
Visit the events calendar to locate or contribute events in your region. You can also watch videos and see photos of recent telecentre.org events. You can also learn about our approach to facilitating events on the Aspiration Facilitation Wiki.
Services:
Networks need nurturing and facilitation. We provide our partners with a range of services — offered on a no-cost or low-cost basis:
* Event support: funding, travel grants, facilitators from other grassroots telecentre networks
* Training and learning opportunities
* Connections and partnership opportunities through our Telecentre Leaders' Forums, directory, exchange programs, and study tours
* Business planning coaches with experience in social enterprise
* A Communications Toolkit and the opportunity to use the telecentre.org logo
* Editorial and website support, including tools and templates that assist in the creation of online communities
* Funding for projects that build networks, create content and services, share knowledge, and connect people
* A video channel and photo pool
* A Telecentre Knowledge Network and support centre
* Monthly updates, via our mailing list
At a global level, telecentre.org connects national networks to each other, highlights the best telecentre news and training materials, and generally shines a light of the good work of telecentres around the world. This is done through this website, telecentre.org events, and other activities that create stronger global telecentre movement.
Individuals can join telecentre.org by creating a free account. Organizations can join by following the instructions on the partners page. After registering, you will be able to
* Participate in the telecentre.org community — Start a blog, share photos and podcasts, make comments, join a discussion
* Get support — Obtain answers related to running and promoting telecentres, including technical support
* Find resources — Read through resources that will help your telecentre or network to grow
Projects:
telecentre.org projects are funded under our social investment program and financed by our social investors: Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and Microsoft. Our investments provide telecentre people with financial resources to come together, and to build the friendships and trust that make networks possible. The investments also underwrite costs of new network-based services for telecentres: training programs, support lines, knowledge sharing, innovation. Things that make telecentres easier to run, and better for users.
Our projects are designed to support organizations and activities that strengthen the telecentre movement, improving the capacity of telecentres to deliver more and better services to their communities. Specifically, we focus on four areas:
* Building networks — Creating or strengthening networks that provide training, technical assistance, and other services to improve telecentre sustainability
* Creating content and services — Investing in services and content that can be easily offered at the local level: helping telecentres attract users, generate revenue, and increase community impact
* Sharing knowledge — Facilitating materials-sharing to help people working in telecentres learn new skills, adopt innovative social enterprise models, and deliver better services
* Connecting people — Convening workshops and meetings where telecentre leaders can build relationships and learn from each other
Visit the telecentre.org social investment program web site at IDRC to learn more about our projects.
Research:
Our work is based on engagement and research. The face-to-face learning events and online communities supported by telecentre.org offer regular opportunities to tap the pulse of the telecentre movement. Monitoring and evaluation processes provide a chance to collect local stories. We use these processes as part of a continuing learning loop, ensuring that our support team and partners are always in a position to respond to the evolving needs of telecentres.
telecentre.org's research activites fall under four broad categories:
1. Scoping research to learn more about particular networks, issues, or geographic areas
2. Impact studies that examine the success or reach of telecentres
3. Building partners' research capacity so that they are better able to contribute and share their learning
4. Learning studies that focus on assessing and improving our own ways of working
Translating research findings into action is important to us. We support grassroots innovators and young researchers actively engaged in action research as a way to document and share practical telecentre experiences. Our publications reflect some of the outcomes of this work.
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