Six scale-up CMCs off the ground in Mozambique

5 September 2005: The first Community Multimedia Centre integrated in the scale-up was inaugurated on 9 May in Xinavane. The ribbon was cut by the Minister of Science and Technology, Venâncio Massingue. Two weeks later President Armando Guebuza cut the ribbon of a new CMC in Chókwè. Since then four further Scale Up CMCs have been inaugurated - in Moamba, Ribáuè, Chiúre and Alto Molócuè. With other initiatives and the three already existing pilot CMCs, Mozambique now has twelve members of the CMC family offering its services to rural communities in the country.

...

...

"I see how CMCs can contribute to the fight against poverty in Mozambique”, President Guebuza commented after observing the activities in the computer room and giving an interview to the new community radio in Chókwè.

The CMC scale-up initiative was launched during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003. The initiative aims to move beyond isolated pilot projects to lay the basis for national networks of community-based centres that place the tools of information and communication technologies in the hands of the rural population, to provide services that meet local needs and bring development benefits.

A Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) combines community radio by local people in local languages with community telecentre facilities such as computers with Internet and e-mail, phone, fax and photocopying services. The radio - which is low-cost and easy to operate - not only informs, educates and entertains - it also empowers the community by giving a strong public voice to the voiceless, and thus encouraging greater accountability in public affairs.

By the end of the first phase (November 2006) the CMC Scale-up project in Mozambique aims to establish up to 20 CMCs at district level or below: in some places an IT component is added on to an existing radio station or a radio to an existing telecentre, while in others the CMC is established from scratch The intermediate goal, depending on additional funding, is to have at least 50 CMCs operational.

The Initiative welcomes partnerships at all levels, and the project team can also support and advise bodies developing ICT activities in rural areas that will contribute towards the national target.