Wiring sub-Saharan Africa for development

This paper discusses the uses of ICTs, the dimensions of access and the digital divide, and the development of telecentres in the Sub-Saharan African region. It illustrates that the development initiatives perceived technical access to computers and other ICTs as the only prerequisite to economic and social development when in actual fact extremely important social access to literacy, content, housing and health is not given much consideration in the development agenda. Finally, it discusses experiences at one of the telecentres, the Nakaseke Multipurpose Telecentre in Uganda, by drawing on data from the evaluative report of the IDRC-sponsored telecentres in Africa.

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