Connecting communities by creating digital opportunities in rural Rwanda Brussels Policy Briefing Brussels,14 th September 2011 European Commission, Building Borschette, Rue Froissart, 36- Brussels by Paul BARERA Executive Director, RTN ww.rtnrwanda.org

Content 2 1. The face of rural Rwanda 2.Me and Nyamata Telecentre 3. Taking the Nyamata model to 1,000 villages 4.How does our model addresses development challenges of rural Rwanda 5. What I have learned….

Key specifications of a mid- size village in Rwanda Population size:5,000 people Population under 35: 64% Subsistence farmers:89% Illiteracy rate:15% Household with electricity:1.3% Mob phone penetration (General):30% Internet penetration(General):1.8% Pop with less than 2 USD/day:62% 3

Here is where my Ambition started...  2004:Paul is a graduate in Management with a passion to setup a rural ICT enterprise  2004:Paul establish Nyamata Telecentre with the support of AED  In 2004 :it is a small centre with 6 computers,6 tables,6 chairs, all –in- one printer and 2 employees  Today : the centre employs 25 full time staff and more than 100 people visit the centre every day 4 To day the centre operates in its own building

Community product delivery The sustainability and impact are possible due to service diversification 5 Basic ICT services Partner services Non-ICT service Impact at community level Financial Sustainability

We are in partnership with the government of Rwanda to replicate Nyamata model in 1,000 Rwandan villages 6 The 1,000 telecentre project is part of government priorities for NICI The idea is to support local entrepreneurs to deploy and run Telecentres. Telecentres act as act as the first, the last and the most reliable point of delivery of key services to rural citizens. So far 150 centers are operational and each centre employs at least 3 peoples. Our aim is to deploy additional 850 centers in coming 4 years.

Our model contributes to community development and increased market efficiency 7 RTN Telecentres RTN Telecentres Rwandan organizations Community 3) Community development through ICT access 2. Community employment 1) Product, service & information delivery channel for organizations 4 ) Product delivery channel for community

The network of telecentres results in improvements for Rwanda at all levels 8 Local entrepreneur Steady income outside agriculture RTN services increase sustainability and impact of Telecentres Networking increases chance of success Private and civil society organizations Efficient channel to deliver products, services and information to community Efficient channel to procure products from community Government Institutions Efficient channel to deliver e-government services to community Government’s telecentres more efficiently run and more successful Rwandan community Access to information and knowledge using ICT Employment opportunities Easy access to products, services and information Efficient product delivery Rwanda as a country Essential step towards goal of knowledge-based economy Develop rural Rwanda and reduce urban migration

What I have learned…  Natural rural entrepreneurs have huge psychological barriers(lower self -esteem, fear of failure, depression etc…)  Rural entrepreneurs can reach out to villagers who are otherwise inaccessible  Local entrepreneurs can address critical development challenges which cannot be addressed by the government or large organisations  ICT should be viewed as tool and not an end in rural development  Demand driven Services are the key to sustainability of Telecentres  Every service should impact present concerns to become compelling applications 9

THANK YOU AND WELCOME TO A COUNTRY OF THOUSAND HILLS 10