CISCO sets up pilot internet centres in rural Kenya

There was a wave of excitement in Kangundo, a community of 34,000 people in the eastern province of Kenya, when the country’s first Pilot Pasha Centre (PPC) opened on July 28th. Pasha means ‘to inform’ in Swahili. Six PPCs are now open as part of the plan.
Once connected with each other, the six PPCs will form a “laboratory test-bed” that will run for four months as part of a baseline study to monitor community usage and the demand for types of services. This baseline will be used to help the Kenya ICT Board determine the most appropriate business and operating models for Pasha entrepreneurs and their potential business partners, and also to test the portfolio of solutions that run in each centre. Sites for the PPCs were selected on the basis of geographic distribution as a proof of concept to extend coverage and promote digital inclusion in rural communities. The World Bank has funded £64 million for the Regional Communications and Infrastructure Programme in Kenya. The goal is for Kenya to become a ‘showcase’ for Digital Villages — a vital component of the programme.
The PPC project has been greatly enabled by the SEACOM and Teams submarine fibre optic cable projects, which recently helped connect Kenya and other East African countries to the rest of the continent — and indeed, the world. The benefits of these projects, combined with the EASSy cable scheduled to launch in 2010, will provide the catalyst for African consumers, businesses and governments to realise the benefits of connectivity. It will reduce broadband costs and, more importantly, provide a platform for Africans to collaborate and compete across the region and the world, enabling growth within urban and rural communities.
According to Connie, manager of the Kangundo Pasha Centre, the launch of the Pasha Centres has made a huge difference to the number of local users who visit on a daily basis. The majority of visitors to this particular Pasha Centre have been interested in using the service to access health information on malaria, TB and HIV prevention.
Currently, each customer of the Kangundo Pasha Centre can access email for five Kenya Shillings, or £0.04 per minute. The portal, established by the Kenya ICT Board will enable local content producers to contribute information to ensure the availability of relevant information specific to each Kenyan locality, with news provided by the Kenyan News Agency. It is expected that each Pasha Centre will employ one or two trained staff to guide customers in basic IT skills. Should customers wish to improve their ICT skills, they will be able to access online courses such as ‘IT Essentials’ (part of Cisco Networking Academy curricula). More technical modules are being made available, as well as a range of vocational training courses that will offer students the opportunity to gain practical skills and obtain online diplomas.
Soon it is hoped that people will be able to pay bills and fines, organise licenses, and eventually access land records online. Jamaa, who manages the Pasha Centre in Garissa, believes that services such as e-government (allowing users to obtain a passport at the click of a mouse), e-learning and e-health will be of most benefit to the community.