Friday, June 25, 2004
Raising IT awareness in Brazilian Civil Society
By Steven Lang, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA June 25, 2004 Like many other representatives of non governmental organisations (NGOs) Graciela Selaimen, has come to raise awareness of information technology (IT) issues for the people back home. She is the IT director of RITS, a Brazilian acronym for the Information Network of the Third Sector, but is in Tunis with a mandate from a whole host of affiliated NGOs.
Selaimen says that the main objective of RITS is to strengthen Civil Society in Brazil. She has come to Tunis to make sure that delegates at the World Summit on Information Society Prepcom know about the concerns of Brazilian NGOs, and to share experiences with civil society members from other countries.
RITS uses a four pronged strategy to support Brazilian Civil Society:
1. Online content production – RITS publishes news items, courses and information on how to establish an NGO.
2. Technical services – subsidized web hosting, e-mail services and assistance on how to set up sites
3. Setting up and facilitating mailing lists for NGOs. RITS currently maintains several such lists organized per theme and field of interest.
4. Capacity building through face-to-face training courses. RITS supplies both trainers and he training material.
The Brazilian organization also works with multi-stakeholder partnerships to run tele-centres in various parts of the country. Selaimen cited the example of Greater São Paulo where more than 120 tele-centres have been built in the most impoversished areas of the metropolis. In this project, the local municipality paid for the initial set-up costs and continues to finance the project while the local community is responsible for the daily operations of the centre.
She says that because only people from the immediate community are employed in the centre, there is a sense of ownership. The tele-centres provide employment, and at the same time give the local community access to information and communication technologies.
RITS web site: http://www.rits.org.br
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By Steven Lang, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA June 25, 2004 Like many other representatives of non governmental organisations (NGOs) Graciela Selaimen, has come to raise awareness of information technology (IT) issues for the people back home. She is the IT director of RITS, a Brazilian acronym for the Information Network of the Third Sector, but is in Tunis with a mandate from a whole host of affiliated NGOs.
Selaimen says that the main objective of RITS is to strengthen Civil Society in Brazil. She has come to Tunis to make sure that delegates at the World Summit on Information Society Prepcom know about the concerns of Brazilian NGOs, and to share experiences with civil society members from other countries.
RITS uses a four pronged strategy to support Brazilian Civil Society:
1. Online content production – RITS publishes news items, courses and information on how to establish an NGO.
2. Technical services – subsidized web hosting, e-mail services and assistance on how to set up sites
3. Setting up and facilitating mailing lists for NGOs. RITS currently maintains several such lists organized per theme and field of interest.
4. Capacity building through face-to-face training courses. RITS supplies both trainers and he training material.
The Brazilian organization also works with multi-stakeholder partnerships to run tele-centres in various parts of the country. Selaimen cited the example of Greater São Paulo where more than 120 tele-centres have been built in the most impoversished areas of the metropolis. In this project, the local municipality paid for the initial set-up costs and continues to finance the project while the local community is responsible for the daily operations of the centre.
She says that because only people from the immediate community are employed in the centre, there is a sense of ownership. The tele-centres provide employment, and at the same time give the local community access to information and communication technologies.
RITS web site: http://www.rits.org.br
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