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Center for Rural Assistance TeleCenter Programme - Romania

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This programme began in March 2000. It is piloting the establishment of multipurpose telecenters in Timis Country Romania. The telecenters work out of houses donated by the villages they are located in and contain computers, a copy machine, fax machine and telephone. They focus on encouraging individual and group initiatives and helping villagers learn how to act as citizens with rights and responsibilities.

Each telecenter is multifunctional with specific characteristics defined by the village. Functions range from providing public information education, office and community services, consulting, and business management to community service and social care. They also play a role in providing labour force training, job searches, and distance employment.

Two telecenters opened in May and June of 2000 and are now offering computer classes, language training, debating, arts classes and other activities for children aged 5 to 18 and language and computer training for adults. Three more telecenters opened in May 2001.
Communication Strategies
The program uses a ‘Multipurpose Community Telecenter model' which requires initial community involvement (the donation of a house) coupled with external support and investment (provision of leadership, funds and equipment). Over time it is expected that the community will ‘institutionally adopt' the infrastructure and as the telecenter becomes sustainable ownership will be transferred to the community.

The process for integrating the telecenters into communities and going through a transition from ‘mere infrastructure to true community center' is expected to happen in 3 steps over a period of 2 to 3 years:
  1. Acknowledgement - where the community becomes aware of the true potential of the telecenter. At this stage the main users are children and the center is used mostly as a social club and for alternative and vocational training.
  2. Implication - where telecenter activities become more diverse and professional and adults become significant users. This step ‘organises the community to benefit from the telecenter's opportunities'.
  3. Integration – where the involvement of the community exceeds the frame of the activities organised through the telecenter. The community begins contributing to expenses and is active in promoting and initiating activities. At this stage the community considers the telecenter its own property.
Development Issues
Children, Education, Youth, Economic Development
Key Points
Multipurpose Community Telecenters provide communities with public access points to modern communication and information technology like computers, internet, copy-machines and fax. Set up in response to the exceedingly high cost of individual ICT ownership and the need for a communal and public space of learning, teaching and civic activities, these centers afford all, even the poorest and least educated community members access and benefit from ICT based information and learning.

The first initiatives of Romanian telecenters were driven by local NGOs and city hall, primarily in areas with a large number of Hungarian speakers. Since then, the movement has grown significantly, and while still serving the Hungarian minority, it is now seen as a universally applicable and accepted program for rural development and community empowerment.
Partners

United Kingdom Embassy, The Dutch Embassy, The Canadian Embassy, Open Society Foundation, the Soros Open Network Romania and the communities of Ciacova, Dumbravita, Comlosul Mare, Traian Vuia, and Margina.

Sources

Center for Rural Assistance Presentation prepared for UNESCO Regional Seminar on "Digital Opportunities for Central and Eastern Europe - Community Multimedia Centres" Bucharest 3 - 7 December 2001.

See also FLASH presentation on the UNESCO Seminar conference site (requires Micromedia Flash).