UPDATE, April 11th: Someone from the Kenya ICT Board clarified via the Comment box – you can read the comment by clicking here . Apparently there is not 1, but 2 digital village projects one run by the government and the other by the private sector. The one asking for Ksh 145,000 (see commentator M below) is presumably not the government backed one. The nice person from Kenya ICT Board has promised to publish more details about the project in the next couple of weeks.
I was watching a news item about a new project of the government called “Digital Villages”. The idea seems deceptively simple – fund via soft-loans, the setup by private individuals of cyber-cafes in rural areas (1680 locations to be precise).
However, execution is clearly a different matter entirely. (My problem began, when I read the sentence “conceived by the government”). A blog by someone for the Kenya ICT board has some marketing information, but not much else. The site for the Kenya ICT board does not have much either (in fact it has a lot of dead pages, and the primary news item on the home page is about South Africa). Nor does this site which seems connected in some way. I found an application form for download, which allows you to apply for training as a digital village entrepreneur, but not much else apart from this FAQ (confusion: here it talks about presenting money upfront, what about my soft loan?) in terms of information.
Why does it all look so shoddy? (A matter of important policy, turned into what looks like NGO fodder)
Where are the case studies?
Has there been a pilot done somewhere to demonstrate the concept?
How does the thing intend to sustain itself? (Subsidy…?)
What will be the period of return of investment in a village cyber-cafe?
How will electricity and band-width be provided in the areas mentioned?
What about computer software licenses and such?
How will technical support be provided if the internet link goes down or a computer blows up?
Why would people in villages want to pay and use the internet? (Porn? instant message the next village?)
Where are the e-government services that they can use? (What kind of e-government services can I access from Nairobi?)
Note: I found a presentation about outsourcing on the ICT Board website which claims that bandwidth in Kenya is actually cheaper than India! A bandwidth-support program is mentioned, presumably this is a kind of cost-of-bandwidth subsidy provided by the government (wouldn’t such a subsidy bankrupt anyone? and isn’t the subsidy really the Emperor without clothes?). Here is a cost of bandwidth comparison involving South Africa, Europe, India, Egypt etc…
Note: Its probably a better idea to invest more in ICT departments in Universities, Polytechnics and in Government.
I got an email on the same, encouraging me to participate for a membership fee of only 145,000 bob. Yes, thousand. Mercifully my outlook crashed before my indignant and colourful reply was sent …
145,000 ?! so thats how the bandwidth gets “subsidized”!
This is what the FAQ lists:
Digital Village Enterprise (DVE) – KShs 4,060/- (VAT inclusive).
Digital Capacity Investor (DCI) – Special Package + Extra Options.
Digital Business Partner (DBP) – KShs 81,200/- (VAT inclusive).
Digital Network Sponsor (DNS) – Special Package + Extra Options.
There seems to be quite a bit of confusion and I hope this response will in part clear this up.
1. The Digital Villages project being implemented by Kenya ICT board is completely different and unrelated to the one being run by ICT Village. One is run by a private firm and the other implemented by the government. While I appreciate the confusion ( both are digital villages), it would be worthwhile for you to do a lot more research in order to gain all details on both as this will help you make an informed view point and thus post useful factual addition / comment armed with a wealth of information , both for yourself and others to benefit from.
2. The details of the KICTB digital Villages program will be publicized in the next few days. The same will be on the website ( ict.go.ke). This will help answer a lot of the questions you have raised regarding the KICTB digital villages.
3. Bandwidth subsidy: The presentation that is on the website needs to be read in its entirety. The bandwidth cost being referred to is under the bandwidth subsidy program. With this subsidy, indeed, the cost of bandwidth for BPO companies (specifically) will be competitive (vs India) and thus enable the industry perform better. I would advise that you read the presentation again.
Details regarding how this subsidy will be disbursed will also be made public within the next couple of weeks and made available on the website.
KENYA ICT BOARD:
Thank you for your detailed comment. I shall update the post to reflect what you have said. Finding information seems to be a major problem.
There also seems to be some confusion among media news reports about parallel digital village projects. However, I look forward to the information that you have promised to publish in point 2 & 3.
I read the presentation again, but I am still skeptical how bandwidth can be subsidized cost-effectively, but I will wait until I have seen the information that you have spoken about.
-Midnight
we are willing to promote the rural from grass root level to let the common man learn about ict
Yeah we are all pleased with what the KICTB is doing to open up the rural Kenya to the outside world.ICT Professional are ready to assist in enabling the rural dwellers operate and use ICT facilities to solve various,socio-economical problems through use Computer systems.