The Community Multimedia Centre Scale-up Initiative in Mozambique

Mozambique was selected as one of three partner countries in an initiative launched by UNESCO and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003. The idea of the CMC scale-up initiative is to move beyond isolated pilot projects to lay the basis for national networks of community-based centres.

Mozambique has significant experience in the field of rural community radio and telecentre projects, and valuable lessons have been learned from the establishment of three CMC pilots in Mozambique. This new programme started up in November 2004, with funds from SDC for a first phase ending in November 2006. By the end of 2005 eight CMCs were established. Ten more CMCs are planned for 2006.

The main goal of the CMC initiative is to contribute to national socio-economic development, democratic participation and the fight agaings poverty by providing local communities with access to ICTs and knowledge, and the means to make theirs voices heard.

What is a CMC?

A community multimedia centre takes advantage of synergies between radio and ICT tools to contribute to rural development, improving access to information and education and providing opportunities for communications, information production and exchange and networking among communities.

A CMC is a cross-cutting service delivery platform for all institutions and agencies operating in the field of local development, both reaching specific target groups and responding to the needs and demands of the whole community through its mix of technologies and people-oriented services. The computers with Internet, e-mail and CD-ROM offer access to national and international news, educational material, advice on agriculture and health issues, weather forecasts, market prices, games and entertainment and much more. CMC volunteers and visitors can access the information directly via computer - or the information can be selected, edited, translated into local languages and broadcasted to a much wider public through the community radio.

The radio becomes a bridge between the information sources and those members of the community who will never think of using a computer - especially those with low literacy levels, the poor, or those living in remote areas. Low-cost and easy to operate, the radio both informs, educates and entertains, and empowers the community by giving a strong public voice to the voiceless, encouraging greater accountability in public affairs. Information gathered by the radio can be adapted for dissemination via Internet. The CMC also generates income from computer training and services such as fax, telephone, printing, photocopying, production of invitations, pamphlets, business cards, radio publicity, etc.

Objectives:

• To establish a sustainable national network of CMCs in rural areas

• To provide communities with information and services adapted to their needs

• To enhance the production of local content, in local languages and in various formats: on-line, off-line, audio, video, electronic and print

• To establish a support centre serving all community ICT and radio initiatives through a ”help desk”, network building, training and promoting information flows

• Long term national goal: An ICT access point in every district of the country

• Immediate goal: To create up to 20 CMCs in Mozambique by November 2006 (six CMCs were established by June 2005)

National ownership and partnerships

The CMC Scale-up initiative is integrated into the Mozambican government’s national ICT strategy, which aims to use ICT tools in the fight against poverty in line with the national anti-poverty plan (PARPA) and the Millennium Development Goals. The project team is embedded in the Eduardo Mondlane University Informatics Centre (CIUEM) in Maputo, which is the national implementing partner.

A Steering Committee brings together key actors in community ICTs, such as the Community Radios Forum (FORCOM), the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National ICT Policy Implementation Technical Unit (UTICT), the Mass Media Institute (ICS), the UNESCO Media Project and the existing telecentres network coordinated by the CIUEM, as well as the main international partners – currently UNESCO, UNDP and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. International partners in Mozambique include telecentre.org Open Knowledge Network, Microsoft and IDRC.

It is hoped that other agencies will participate in developing the initiative at various levels. At community level the CMCs are collaborating with more than 30 local, national and international organizations, governmental directorates, educational institutions, workers’ associations and private enterprises.