5.2. Services and Sustainability—A Strong Relationship

The sustainability of telecenters is highly dependent on their ability to offer the right mix of services. What that right mix is will depend on the organizational model and local ecosystem, among other factors, which is in turn affected by the goals and target market of the center. In this chapter, we present a typology of services, illustrating the broad range that telecenters can provide. We then follow up with case studies to illustrate different mixes of services addressing specific needs of different local realities. The interplay among the services, the community, and the participating organizations can demonstrate many of the principles of sustainability.

A key differentiating factor between typical cybercafés established in urban and semiurban areas on the one hand and telecenters on the other hand, is the range of services they provide. Cybercafés typically limit themselves to providing access to the Internet and rely on a ready supply of computer-literate clients. The information and communication needs of rural areas are more complex, and telecenters must provide a broader range of locally relevant services to be sustainable and contribute to socioeconomic development. Ultimately, however, “services” consist not only of the activities and content offered at the center’s initiative, but also those things available from the broader web and other institutions.

There are different approaches to service delivery, but within the shared-access model, it is important to differentiate between the “kiosk” approach, favored in India, where a single computer is used by a kiosk operator to provide services, and the multi-PC telecenter approach, which provides shared access to the computers themselves, not just a limited set of services.

5.3. Typology of Services

One way to look at services is to think of telecenters as composite centers, part learning center, part business center, part community center, and part technology center. In different contexts, the appropriate centers will comprise different mixes.

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