2.1. Queries to the Telecenter Help Desk

We’re developing a set of best practices tip sheets for the members of our national telecenter network. Is there a list of best practices or at least good practices that have been identified across countries? We’re also trying to organize our best practices around themes for training purposes. What are the core themes within which we should identify best practices?
(National Telecenter Network coordinator, Country C)

We’re a large NGO providing health, education, agriculture, and microfinance services to hundreds of small rural communities and the urban poor. I am part of a small group of younger staff members who are more tech savvy, and we are trying to convince our management to set up a small network of telecenters to support our work at the village level. We’ve established an internal working group to start a feasibility study. Where can we find information about telecenter best practices?
(Junior staff, local NGO, Country D)

Most of the literature on telecenters focuses on donor-funded initiatives. To what extent do the best practices emerging from donor-funded initiatives apply to private sector-led scale-ups?
(CEO, rural technology applications company, Country E)

2.2. Background, Perspective, and General Lessons

Objectives of This Chapter

The objectives of Chapter 2 are to:

• summarize the most widely accepted lessons of the experience of the professional community that has worked in developing telecenters—those lessons will be described here in general terms with an occasional example, but the much richer context of multiple examples and case studies will be reserved for the subsequent chapters where the specific topics are taken up;

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