- Community Media Centers

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Gitarama Telecenter

The Gitarama Telecenter is located in the southern part of the town of Gitarama, the second-largest city in Rwanda. The Telecenter provides access to photocopiers, photo scanning, telephones, the Internet, email, computers and computer training.

In addition to these ICT services, the Telecenter has partnered with the United Nations Development Fund for Women through its Digital Diaspora Initiative. The Capacity Building section of the Gitarama Telecenter website says the Initiative seeks:
•    "To build the capacity of Rwandese women's business oriented organizations in the use of ICT in the context of economic empowerment.
•    To generate ICT-related training, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Rwandese women.
•    To enhance Rwandese women's participation and influence in ICT policy formulation and implementation at the national level."

Rape, war, genocide, poverty, and HIV/AIDS have led to particularly brutal lives for women in Rwanda. The Telecenter focuses their efforts on women in order to alleviate their extreme circumstances. From their website, an unnamed woman offers her take on Gitarama Telecenter:

"We started our program in March 2004, since then we have learnt many things on Computer eg Operating system, Ms Word, Ms Excel, Ms Access, Ms Explorer & Netscape , Ms Works, etc. In the course we have learnt so far, I can say that it is quite interesting since we are going to use skills in our daily work activities. Also we met some problems of understanding the English language some members in the group, because some did not have enough knowledge on computer before they came here. I have a suggestion on this issue of language that we will benefit more if you present to us the subjects in all languages in order to facilitate those who can not understand English."

More information about the Gitarama Telecenter can be found at the Academy for Educational Development website.

Urban Voice

Urban VOICE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Emeryville, California near San Fransisco. Their mission is to:

Serve as a video production mechanism for documentaries on social justice issues.
Provide an evolutionary institute for social justice filmmakers to improve their skills and hone their own voices within a supportive environment.
Embrace a self sustaining business model that supports our projects and our filmmakers.

Urban VOICE (Video Oratories Inspiring Common Equalities) is an example of a nonprofit that uses a mixed-revenue model to generate funds for some of their operating costs. In addition to grant writing and fundraising, the group also offers professional media services. The money from these services is then reinvested into Urban VOICE.

In addition to being a model of social entrepreneurship, the CMC also provides entrepreneurship training as part of its economic development efforts.

"Urban VOICE believes that entrepreneurship is not only an essential program particularly for low income peoples, it should become a required component of all progressive educational systems. We consider entrepreneurship as a tool towards social and economic justice. It must be viewed as a right for all individuals to learn and implement the powers of its lessons."

If you are interested in Urban VOICE's work, please see their contact page.

In The Handbook of Community Practice (2005), Marie Weil and Dorothy Gamble offer several models of 21st century community practice within multicultural, feminist and human rights, and globalization contexts.

As an institution, the Community Media Center (CMC) can be situated within either of two community practice models - either as a center for neighborhood & community organizing or as a center for organizing functional communities. The CMC examples described on this page illustrate that a CMC can sometimes fall into both of these models simultaneously.

For example, Weil & Gamble identify the scope of concern for the neighborhood & community organizing model as:

"Quality of life in (a) geographic area; increased ability of grassroots leaders & organizations to improve social, economic & environmental conditions."

The scope of concern for the organizing functional communities model is:

"Advocacy for particular issue(s) or population(s) (e.g. environmental protection; women's participation in decision making."

Gitarama Telecenter spans the scopes of concern for both these models. It provides information and communication technology (ICT) services to the people of Gitarama in order to empower community members to improve social, economic, and political conditions, but it also advocates for Rwandan women in gender inequality issues.

Just as Gitarama Telecenter advocates from a feminist context, Urban VOICE advocates for social justice, especially in interesting economic development spheres. Again, we have a CMC that operates in two community practice models. Urban VOICE is a center for education about economic development issues and it is also a hub for filmmakers in the San Fransisco Bay area.

Other Resources

Urban VOICE

Gitarama Telecenter

Telecentre.org

Promoting livelihoods through telecentres (PDF)

Community Informatics links