Discussion

Itsoseng has been identified as one of the beneficiaries of the DACST funded project implemented by the CSIR consortium. A ICT Hub has been established and intensive training in PC literacy and business skills has been undertaken with selected community members.

The Itsoseng community will benefit from the ICT revolution by accessing information that is of specific relevance to their daily lives, their overall development process and their small business development programmes. In addition, the project would provide the basis for the transfer of IT solutions for development in rural communities in South Africa.

The key objectives of the projects are to:

• Provide a communications platform for the delivery of local content (such as education, health, agricultural, tourism, SMME's, etc.), Government and private sector information services as well as for health and education applications.
• Develop human capacity in the rural environment following specific career paths.
• Identify and implement business opportunities in order to achieve sustainable, integrated rural development.
• Develop an assessment methodology for monitoring and evaluation of ICT's.
• Develop a replication model for the sustainability of Multi Purpose Community Centres.

• The creation of local content according to community needs and in support of rural development initiatives; web-based content;
• Skills transfer and training (ICT technical skills, business skills, content development skills);
• Monitoring, evaluation, and development of models for replication in other parts of the country, including the SADC region and Africa.

This integrated approach will be the basis for ongoing research, monitoring and evaluation into the application of ICT's in a rural environment. The lessons learned from the project will be captured and a business plan, based on the cost/benefit of ICT's, will be developed for the community. This will form the basis for future replication models.

• Community participation
• Innovative technologies
• Applications related to community needs
• Sustainability
  

Community participation is critical. With established community structures, a management forum and strong leadership the community quickly moves from being a passive beneficiary to an active partner.

Applications related to community needs are developed in order to enhance quality of life. The main focus here is on training and content development. The training is designed to target the needs of differing groups. PC literacy is given to all trainees but individuals with an entrepreneurial flare are given business skills training. This enables the trainees to become facilitators and support other community members in the development of business plans. Examples of business plans developed to-date include:

• An ICT Hub providing telecentre, desk-top publishing services, training and business skills facilitation.

Sustainability is the "acid test" for such projects and the HSRC are responsible for the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the project. This is essential to gather the "learning" and provides an alternative way for the community to provide inputs into the project.

This framework implies an integrated approach to rural development and the