Fmfi:About

The Project

First Mile, First Inch (FMFI) is a multi-disciplinary series of projects exploring the technological and social consequences of least-cost telecommunications implemented in remote schools, clinics, and telecentres. The research explores how people interact with new technologies and the changes that occurs in their daily lives. The projects demonstrate how the first mile in poorly served rural and marginalized communities can be bridged with WiFi as well as other off-the-shelf DIY technologies.

The Development Goals

Although fixed-line networks in rural communities of developing countries often preclude innovative access, opportunities such as the unbundling of a network’s local loop or “last mile” and the provision of modest Internet access suggest that innovation requires a different mindset - an approach that empowers communities with a sense of ownership and control of communications infrastructure. To that end, FMFI aims to understand and challenge institutional frameworks, regulatory considerations and national policies.

The key long-term goal is sustainability: to help local communities build their own neighbourhood networks and cultivate the skills required to manage and even replicate the networks in the future.

The Context

The end point of large communications distribution networks-often referred to as the “last mile” - is usually the most challenging, most expensive and most difficult part to manage in rural environments. FMFI represents a paradigm shift towards “first mile” (the starting point of a network) and “first inch” (the immediate experience of the end user). The project aims to overcome failures in addressing the needs of rural communities through innovative, inexpensive access in various contexts, and to explore and document the sustainability of such access.

The Impact

At the local level, FMFI targets a variety of identified needs, for example: improving communication between doctors, health workers and clinic sisters in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa; giving students in remote Mozambique villages access to the curriculum for distance education and regular contact with their university tutors; providing ICTs and Internet access to rural schools in Namibia; and providing Internet access through a wireless terrestrial connection to the war-affected town of Huambo in Angola.

Equally important outcomes are the creation and growth of new partnerships with government, private sector, international aid agencies and organizations involved in technology research and development, and the publishing of a reference book for “first mile” and “first inch” implementation in a rural Africa context.