OTTAWA - For more than three years, Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has been supporting various research projects and activities designed to assist Caribbean and Latin American countries in using the Internet as a development tool. A total of 25 projects have, for example, enabled people in villages along the Amazon to overcome their isolation, or helped city-dwelling youngsters in Ecuador to rebuild their lives.
What have these experiences taught us? An upcoming conference will provide the public with an opportunity to hear what the leaders of four such projects have to say.
Friday, September 29, 2000, from 10 am to noon Auditorium of the International Development Research Centre 250 Albert Street, Ottawa, 14th floor
Program:
* Impact of ICTs on Civil Society Organizations - Central American governments are looking at the Internet's penetration of their part of the world with interest in order to develop appropriate policies. A team led by Kemly Camacho of Fundación Acceso in Costa Rica has made a detailed study of Internet use among the key institutions of civil society in Central America (NGOs, student groups, the media, trade unions and so on). Through case studies, surveys, the consultation of databases and an analysis of the context peculiar to each country, the researchers have come up with a complete picture of Web use by these bodies and the changes it has brought about. They offer a core sample showing the impact Web use has had, which will help civil society to make its voice heard in the corridors of power.
* Wireless Internet for an Indigenous Ashaninka Community in the Peruvian Amazon - Mino Eusebio Castro, international relations officer for an Ashaninka community, will explain - among other things - how the Internet can be an important tool, but not a panacea. Although it has given the community at last a feeling that the world knows its existence, the Internet is something that should come after other vital development and communication tools, like roads and telephones. (A 9-minute video in English will be shown; it is also available in BETACAM format.)
* Telecentre Evaluation Network in LAC - Telecentres are sprouting like mushrooms all over the place. What impact are they having? Why do some succeed, while others fail? Karin Delgadillo, of Fundación Chasquinet in Ecuador, and a team of researchers, run a telecentre network in Latin America. She will describe the kind of experiences telecentres generate, and will talk about one that is bringing new hope to street kids.
* RadioNet: Internet and Community Radio Working Together - Lorencita Pinto, of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, known as AMARC, whose international office is in Montreal, has looked into how community radio can exploit the resources of the Internet. Using a tool like the Web, community radio can provide many new services to its audience, offering training and a site where broadcasters can exchange experiences.
Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing-country scientists and communities find their own solutions to social, economic and environmental problems through research.