The government has unveiled plans to bring information and communication technologies into rural areas
Ngwako Modjadji
After a rocky piloting programme, multi-purpose community centres have received a boost recently after the goverment unveiled its business plan for the centres. Fourteen information technology centres were introduced a few years ago; however, many experienced problems related to a lack of proper management, financial sustainability, training and community participation.
Under the banner of “bridging the digital divide” to facilitate community access to new information and communication technologies the government’s business plan for the centres calls for a holistic management approach that seeks to facilitate this access through integrated service delivery to hundreds of poor and rural communities across the country.
The business plan has four key elements:
An information and service centre that is the cornerstone component of the multi-purpose community centres and involves the provision of government services and information to the community.
A learning centre where the multi-purpose community centre adjoins a community hall or larger boardroom.
An integrated information and communication centre that offers community access to public telephones, the Internet and e-mail, computers and photocopying facilities.
A community economic development centre that adds value to economic initiatives in communities through services such as tender advice to link community initiatives with wider national and regional economic programmes.
A representative for the Government Communication and Information System Nebo Legoabe says the objective of the centres is to ensure that people in rural areas have access to government information and services.
“We want to ensure that there is a multi-purpose community centre pilot project in each district across the country so that people receive quality services.”
She said: “Taking a multi-purpose community centre to each district municipality in the country is a way of making sure that people in rural areas access services such as government information.”
Total infrastructure costs for the 60 centres is estimated at R136,4-million, a bill to be carried by government in the main, whereas operational costs of R28,4-million for a five-year period would come from donors and the commercial activities of the centres.
Coordination and implementation of the multi-purpose community centre business plan is spearheaded by the Government Communication and Information System. A national inter-sectoral steering committee (NISSC) with provincial chapters has been established that brings on board a number of government departments (such as education, health and welfare) as well as several key parastastals such as Eskom, Telkom, the Development Bank of South Africa, local authorities and NGOs.
The NISSC is responsible for conceiving the macro design and implementation plan that includes budgets for multi-purpose community centres, coordination in establishing new centres, performance monitoring and the procurement of funds, both nationally and internationally.
The business plan also outlines a variety of models that would seek to dovetail with the needs and unique conditions in each community:
The under-one-roof model where a community building with a number of offices provides a once-off facility.
The service-counter model where an official in charge has front-line capabilities in the service of other departments or organisations in the centre. This model is best suited to the shared service-delivery approach.
The cluster approach, also called local area, where a number of service providers are housed in separate buildings in a locality. In this category, communal facilities are often stand-alone and need specific security and management arrangements, such as when a community hall has to be accessed after hours.
The mobile capacity model provides for a vehicle facility that will travel from the centre to each of the wards in the district council with outreach, educational and awareness programmes.
Other models include the community-led implementation and local government-led implementation. The community-led model has a management committee, a board and a centre manager employed by the board who is responsible for daily management and operations. In the local government model the centre manager is an employee of a local municipality and performs the necessary management and administration functions.
There is also a provincially appointed manager model where the office of a provincial premier or the director general appoints the centre manager. A community-based management committee is established to work with the centre manager.
Finally, the traditional leadership structures provide for the highest authority to be vested in a traditional leader or chief and the administrative and management structures are set up by a tribal authority.
Meanwhile the NISSC has established a research task team with the following responsibilities:
To assist in monitoring and evaluating services provided at the multi-purpose community centres.
To assist in designing research programmes and managing extensive, country-wide strategic research projects.
To track national awareness and responses to country-wide syndicated surveys.
To provide training to multi-purpose community centre staff according to identified needs.
To identify, obtain and utilise existing relevant research, conducted either in South Africa or in other countries.
In terms of operational risk assessments conducted by the task team, poor communities are barred from accessing these kinds of facilities because of the lack of governmental departments buying into the multi-purpose community centre concept, an inability to effect shared services at these centres, lack of skilled staff at the centres needed to ensure required quality of service as well as high infrastructure costs.