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Colombia
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Category:
A Global Village
Vision, objectives and goals:
The main objective has been to set up "Neighbourhood Information Units" (NIUs) where individuals
and organizations can learn to use the electronic communications to find relevant information and to
participate in local community development. Specific objectives are: - To develop information system
tools. - To create local capacity to run the centers by providing women to women training sessions and
materials. - To design and publish information resources relevant for the local community. - To provide
links with other information systems. - To develop a community-based information system using
Neighborhood Information Units, that through the electronic communications establish contact with
others, both locally and globally. - To democratize access to new communications techNologies, to
strengthen the interlocution capacity of the community based organizations that host the NIU. - To
support the development of each NIUs concrete projects whose most representative inputs and
products contain a considerable information component in development issues such as housing,
environment, peace, health, education and culture, for example. - To strengthen the community's
interlocation capacity, before the local government, other state entities, international cooperation
agencies and/or credit agencies in the country and abroad. - To achieve that the NIUs integrate the
neighborhood and its residents, in an dynamic exchange that makes them visible as services and
information providers to the state, and accessible to organizations that can support their processes,
and at the same time to others whom are interested in their information sources will have easy access
to these resources. We believe this project is inNovative because: - It provides access to new
information and communication techNologies for people generally excluded from their use. - It permits
access to local sources regarding the actual state of the development of the neighborhood (in physical
terms) and social-ecoNomic information related to the population living in these neighborhoods. - Its
oriented towards the development of local information systems for the purpose of strengthening
community participation. The proposed ones are mainly oriented towards neighborhood improvement.
- It provides training for women in male dominated environments, and a place for youth to show their
capability. - It uses low cost high-tech systems such as Linux servers to provide internet connectivity to
the NIUs.
How ICT contributes to the organisational objectives:
Achievements according to International Development Reseach Centre IDRC article written by Luis Barón
"Experiments in Community Access to New Communication and Information TechNologies in Bogotá -
Anticipating the Future to Seize the Present": - Establish and maintain UIBs in peripheral areas of the
city. - Develop a constructive and respectful relationship between NGOs and grassroots organizations. -
Contribute to relations with local institutions and to the internal communications of organizations and
their institutional strengthening. - Provide training to allow the units' teams to master the use of
computers and programs. Although the training process was difficult, it gave its recipients greater skills
and self-esteem and helped them position themselves proactively within their organizations. - Retrieve
and organize information from their organizations for posting on the Internet. - Provide a permanent
opportunity for grassroots organizations to have access to Internet services and email. - Prepare Web
sites for each of the institutions. - Enable relationships with other persons and institutions in the zone.
And the lessons learned: - As pilot experiments that can serve as a point of reference for other places,
other groups and other times, it is important to think about the conditions needed for these
telecenters to be self-sustaining and viable, both from a techNological viewpoint (telephone lines,
electricity supply, servers) and from the cultural perspective (social and historical characteristics,
pressing needs, cultural outlook, space and timing, levels of education and literacy), ecoNomic (income
levels and ability to pay on the part of individuals and community organizations), and political
(participatory mechanisms, political networking and interaction, power relationships). Addressing these
factors is essential to the survival of the telecenters, and to ensuring that they can have a positive
impact. - Experience should be examined to determine what can be done through these units and what
canNot be done. - The need to undertake clearly defined projects for telecenters that will fit into the
broader objectives of the organization. - The need to define the characteristics and profiles of the
telecenters, either as places for public access to new techNologies or as places devoted to achieving the
social, cultural, political and educational objectives of the organizations themselves. - The need to
think about the congruence of social and techNological objectives so as ensure greater clarity about the
impacts, dimensions, challenges, methodologies and indicators from these experiments. - The need to
seek ways to ensure greater autoNomy in designing and undertaking projects of this type by grassroots
organizations. - The need for cooperative relationships with other organizations and institutions
(including NGOs and international cooperation agencies), from a perspective that will strengthen the
autoNomy of the grassroots organizations. - Exploring new proposals for training and capacity building
for internal and external users. As well, seeking various uses for the information carried over the
Internet and by email. - The need to establish more clearly the priority groups to be targeted by this
work. Similarly, the need to introduce information and promotional packages specifically designed for
groups and individuals in each zone. - Exploring other ways of performing community work. -
Recognizing the ability and disposition of youth and children to use the equipment and take advantage
of ICT.
User needs:
4 years ago, we were looking for ways to probe if well-informed communities in richer information and
kNowledge environments would participate more efficently in the construction of cities and citizenships.
Meetings among Fedevivienda and ColNodo were mad
Summary:
Neighborhood Information Units (NIU), are defined as Internet access points in poor neighborhoods
that provide information related to the neighborhood and the urban area to which they belong,
about the organizations that operate the NIU, and about the people that work with these organizations. The
idea is to use these new information techNologies to provide information and communications in order
to benefit local institutions as well as organizations and the community where they are located: to be
able to receive information and to be able to communicate, to access other Non-traditional sources of
information, to consult and be consulted, to be trained and train others, to generate alternative ways
of income.
Competition year:
2000