IGNOU receives IDRC research support grant to host the Global Secretariat for telecentre.org Academy

IGNOU receives IDRC research support grant to host the Global Secretariat for telecentre.org Academy

International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Crown Corporation and an agency of the Government of Canada has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to host the Global Secretariat of the telecentre.org Academy. With a research support grant of INR 34 lakhs, this activity will help incubate the Secretariat develop its work plan, build and formalise the partnerships with key stakeholders and develop its long term business plan and strategic directions. The Global Secretariat will be advised by a Global Governance Committee which will be drawn in from the expertise and leadership from the telecentre movement.

The world of telecentres encompasses over one million grassroots level knowledge workers, over 10,000 policy makers, over a 1000 network leaders, promoters and advocates and over a billion community members. Telecentres are public places where people use computers, Internet, and other electronic technologies to bring knowledge economy at their doorstep. These stakeholders come together in a network to focus on inclusive development reaching the poor and marginalised using new information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The telecentre.org Academy is a global network of people and organisations committed to making a difference in development by empowering people in communities around the world. The telecentre.org Academy will be establishing appropriate skills development programmes to promote livelihoods and knowledge based practices among the grassroots communities.

Lead Organisations steering the Academy at a global level include the International Development Research Centre, Canada; Indira Gandhi National Open University, India, telecentre.org Foundation, Manila, Philippines; and a consortium of national telecentre.org academies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, East Africa, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Philippines.

University Partners who have formed a consortium to deliver bench-marked international standard courses include University of Brasilia, Brazil; University of La Frontera, Chile; IGNOU, India; Open University, Malaysia; University of Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique; Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru; University of Philippines Open University, Philippines; University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; Sukothai Thammarthirat Open University, Thailand; and Kyambogo University, Uganda.

The strength of these partnerships is evident by the Curriculum Commons website that acts as a repository of the knowledge and training content to encourage use, re-use, translation, and adaptation around the world. Readers are encouraged to visit the website www.telecentreacademy.org and www.ignou.ac.in to learn more about various innovative initiatives.

The Honorable President of India, Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil, in her address to the joint session of Parliament on June 4, 2009 called for “the extension of the National Scheme of Common Service Centres or e-kiosks to be suitably repositioned to be a network of Panchayat level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas”. With infrastructure like broadband connectivity in every panchayat coming up in the next three years, the focus on building capacities of staff in the 240,000 Panchayats will be a key input that IGNOU will extend through customized training programmes for e-kiosk operators and managers under this international collaboration.