Wireless Africa
Wireless Africa: Towards Sustainability Models for Community Owned Wireless and VoIP Networks |
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Vision
A Wireless Africa built on sustainable Community Owned Information Networks for Rural Development |
Background
The objectives of this project are to:
- Build Wireless Africa capacity and network between organisations in different countries researching and building Community Owned Networks;
- To understand community environments, information and user needs of the poor; and in particular the cultural, gender and social values and priorities of these communities;
- To research business models for Community Owned Networks, and approaches for replication and scalability;
- To embrace and enhance the business models through development and implementation of open source, open hardware technologies and open access infrastructure;
- To identify barriers (political, economic, social, technological and environmental) to a “Wireless Africa”, and propose strategies to overcome these barriers and influence institutional frameworks, regulatory considerations, national policies and telecommunication costs.
This project will achieve these objectives through a well-managed organisation of a number of sub-projects with the various project collaborators in different African countries. Outcome Mapping will be used as a planning and monitoring tool.
Network of Researchers
COLLABORATORS: Partners | |
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IDRC | |
Meraka Institute | Co-ordination |
LINK Centre | Wits University - policy |
Kwantu | Demand-side studies, business models |
IT+46 | VoIP, VoIP-in-a-box |
wire.less.dk | WISP-in-a-box |
Events
Wireless Africa Project "kick off" Workshop
Date: 12 - 15 May 2008
Venue: Cairo, Egypt
Wireless Africa Workshop
Date: 25 - 27 June 2008
Venue: CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa