Lighting up the Dark: Telecenter Adoption in a Caribbean Agricultural Community
Paola
Prado
Roger Williams University, Rhode Island
Abstract: This study surveyed the residents of El Limón de Ocoa, a remote mountaintop agricultural community in the Dominican Republic, to examine how the community has integrated the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) since the establishment of a local telecenter in 1997. As the longest continuous-running independent telecenter in the Caribbean nation, this site provides a rich testing ground for the study of the impact of community-driven ICT adoption in under-privileged rural areas of the Western hemisphere. Analysis of survey data found that this remote agricultural community was able to leverage ICTs available at the telecenter in ways that promote social change, foster community prosperity, solidarity, and well-being.
Keywords: digital inclusion, information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D), telecenters, community informatics, Dominican Republic
Introduction
Digital inclusion presents a daunting challenge to governments in Latin America, where longstanding patterns of social inequality and widespread poverty prevail in many areas. In the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation where one-quarter of the population lives below the poverty line of two dollars per day (World Bank, 2009), structural and socio-cultural barriers severely limit the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) outside major urban centers and elite segments of the population. Aware of the negative effects of digital poverty on economic development and social well-being, the Dominican government was among the first in the region to officially embrace a program of digital inclusion as a path to economic prosperity.
Inspired by the joint partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media LAB and the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica to deploy Little Intelligent Communities (LINCOS) in the mountains of Costa Rica in 2000, the Dominican government embraced a national telecenter program that touted ICT adoption as a tool for human development in poor rural areas (Badilla-Saxe, 2008; Granqvist, 2005; LINCOS, 2008). The program now operates 68 telecenters known as Centros Tecnológicos Comunitarios (Community Technology Centers). The telecenters have met with some measure of success, increasing digital literacy, and promoting education, well-being, and health care, as well as entertainment, in the communities they serve (Prado, 2009). This government-run program is funded and managed by the Office of the First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, a recipient of the International Telecommunications Union’s 2007 World Information Society Award, commended for her role in addressing digital poverty among marginalized populations (International Telecommunications Union [ITU], 2008).
In spite of the qualified success achieved by some of the telecenters that are part of this national network, digital exclusion remains the norm for the vast majority of the rural population in the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, as the government gears for a change in political leadership mandated by term limits, the long-term sustainability of the government-funded telecenter network may be threatened. At a time when this and other telecenter initiatives face increased scrutiny from government officials, donors, and scholars in the field, it becomes increasingly important to empirically examine whether telecenters can provide an effective tool in promoting digital literacy and human development.
To that end, this study examines the impact of the longest continuous-running independent telecenter in the Dominican Republic, in operation since 1997. Located in the mountain hamlet of El Limón de Ocoa, this is the first community-built telecenter established in the Caribbean nation, and one of the very first such telecenters established in Latin America (El Limón, 2008). As such, this site, which is not connected to the national network of telecenters and does not receive government funding, provides a rich testing ground for the study of the impact of telecenter and ICT adoption in a remote agricultural location.
This research analyzes the extent to which the residents of El Limón appropriated the use of ICTs available at the telecenter, and how these resources impacted the development, prosperity and well-being of this community. Informed by a development communication perspective, the study examines the impact of the telecenter within a comprehensive, contextual framework that allows for unexpected consequences of ICT adoption to be considered. It measures not only technological benchmarks but also gauges local perception concerning the telecenter’s impact on human development. The topic is important, given that knowledge gleaned from studies of ICT initiatives in the global north (i.e.: Western Europe, Canada. and the United States) may differ substantially from that obtained through systematic mapping of the nuances and particularities specific to telecenters in developing nations (Wilson, 2004).
Measuring the Role of Telecenters in Community Development
Ever since the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) identified digital literacy as a central component in the fight against poverty, community technology centers, also known as telecenters, have emerged as a tool in the quest for digital inclusion (International Telecommunications Union, 2003). Telecenters now operate throughout the developing world under various combinations of ownership and management structures: they exist as commercial or non-profit ventures, franchises, governmental or academic initiatives, or hybrid partnerships that combine some or all of these elements (Prado & Janbek, 2008). Given the varied operational and administrative conformations, telecenters can be identified differently in different countries. Proenza, Bastidas-Buch, & Montero (2001) defined telecenters as public spaces where individuals may access information and communication technologies. This definition, which reduces the telecenter to a location that provides access to specific technological applications, fails to capture an important dimension of the role these facilities play in remote and impoverished rural communities, where they can provide a communal meeting ground along with physical access to communication technology devices (i.e.: telephone, computers, facsimiles, etc.). Therefore, this paper defines a telecenter as a public space where ICTs are accessible (Proenza et al., 2001) in a way that creates a meeting ground where the community can access and produce information that is relevant and useful, in the manner proposed by Schilderman (2002). In this conception, the availability of ICTs may directly contribute to the flow of information into the community, yet new knowledge also emerges from the sharing of information among community members who visit the telecenter and those in their circle of influence.
Scholars likewise disagree on how to best evaluate the contributions that can flow from telecenters to local communities. Several studies link the effectiveness of telecenters to empirical measurement of the number of computers in use, number of people trained and number of jobs created in the general workforce (Anta & Valenti, 2004; Eastin & LaRose, 2000; Figueiredo, Camara, & Sabin, 2005; Gumucio-Dagron, 2003; Gurstein, 2003; Rodríguez Garcia, 2002; Whyte, 1999; Whyte, 2000). Still, some scholars have widened their evaluation of telecenter performance to include the impact on the well-being and human development of users, and the creation of self-sustaining infra-structures that benefit the community as a whole (Menou, 2001; Rothenberg-Aalami & Pal, 2005). The latter studies link individual skills training to overall community development, transcending deterministic benchmarks that merely measure technological competency among individuals trained at the facilities. This approach has led to evidence that telecenters in the developing world can help communities vault capital and technical barriers to benefit from the global flow of information in tangible ways (Baggio, 2008; Blattman, Jensen, & Roman, 2003; Jensen, 2007; Roman & Colle, 2002).
Insofar as the services offered at a telecenter support community goals, they can foster the well-being and prosperity of the whole community, and accomplish results that go beyond merely providing opportunities for individual development through skills training and work force development. A telecenter that provides a meeting place where the community comes together to produce content and collect information that is relevant and useful to its needs can build social capital and effectively strengthen community ties (Schilderman, 2002; Sorj, 2001; Warschauer, 2003). Telecenters that follow this model provide a setting for the kind of learning communities where individuals contribute and interact with each other, working together to collect information and to develop solutions to community problems, learning how, rather than simply learning (Brown & Duguid, 2000; Wilmore, 2001).
Still, after a decade of observations and case studies, it is clear that the effective operation and sustainability of community telecenters can be fraught with substantial challenges. A complex array of structural, cultural, socio-economic or cognitive factors can prevent or restrict individual access to and use of ICTs (Norris, 2001; Servon, 2002). Such factors can present considerable obstacles to digital inclusion, perpetuate existing inequality, and contribute to the reality of digital poverty (Mossberger, Tolbert, & Stansbury, 2003; Norris, 2001; Servon, 2002; van Dijk, 2005). For the purposes of this study, these factors are examined in three categories: 1) structural, 2) socio-cultural, and 3) individual (cognitive-emotional).
Structural Challenges
Various structural barriers can impede community access to and reliance on a telecenter. In rural communities, where obstacles to sustainability differ considerably from the challenges encountered at urban telecenters, the formula for telecenter effectiveness can be elusive. Telecenters situated in remote, impoverished locations, such as the one that is the subject of this study, commonly contend with power fluctuations due to unstable electrical grids, difficult access due to poorly maintained or non-existent roads, and restricted financial resources absent government subsidies (Baggio, 2008; Benjamin, 2008; Hernandez et al., 2007; Mori & Assumpção, 2007; Sorj, 2001).
Technical and financial limits to connectivity represent a common stumbling block to the regular practice of digital literacy among the poor (Roman & Colle, 2002). In the Dominican Republic, inefficient or inexistent telecommunication links represent a major structural challenge. Eighty percent of Dominicans remain disconnected from the Internet and less than three percent of Internet users have access to a broadband connection (ITU, 2010).
Endemic rural poverty also presents a challenge, driving rural migration to urban areas and abroad. Almost half (42.2%) of Dominicans live below the poverty line, a large proportion of them in rural areas (Oficina Nacional de Estadística [ONE], 2004; World Bank, 2008). Basic sanitation is scarce; more than 3.3 million lacked indoor plumbing and relied on latrines in their homes and almost 100,000 people reside in shacks or quarters not meant for human shelter. Such widespread poverty places ICTs beyond the reach of those whose income does not adequately meet basic needs of food and shelter.
In settings where grinding poverty and limited work opportunities prevail, learning is often perceived as a path to potential individual economic gain and digital literacy becomes a job creation tool. More often than not, technology skills training can become an individual ticket to a job in the big city rather than a tool for community-building. Insofar as a telecenter provides skills training that contributes to population outflow in a way that negatively impacts the community’s ability to fulfill its needs, it inadvertently contributes to rural exodus and fuels the growth of urban poverty belts.
Socio-Cultural Challenges
Rural residents can also face socio-cultural barriers that prevent regular use of ICTs. Reduced skills sets, education level, language barriers, and pre-conceptions based on age and gender are only a few examples of why some people remain at the margins of digital society (Roman & Colle, 2002; Warschauer, 2003). Individuals who are functionally illiterate or unfamiliar with the logic of digital technologies may find it harder to engage with the technologies available at a telecenter (Proenza et al., 2001). In the Dominican Republic, where 13% of those over the age of 15 cannot read or write (World Bank, 2008), many people face a particularly steep learning curve for technology adoption. Low student retention past elementary school aggravates this pattern, which prevails in remote rural areas where enrollment beyond grade school requires a daily commute to distant urban centers.
Expectations of conformity to traditional age and gender roles can also lead to self-imposed or societal curbs on educational achievement. Furthermore, in a culture where machismo prevails, rural women who reach the stage of motherhood are commonly expected to stay home and limit their activities to home-making and child care duties. These factors contribute to the challenge of engaging individuals in a learning community, whether or not ICTs are present.
Individual (Cognitive-Emotional) Challenges
At the individual level, competency in the use of ICTs requires a learning process that can prove particularly challenging for those who live in poverty. Obstacles to learning include lack of education or personal skills, the absence of a supportive social network, anxiety or disinterest, as well as the absence of content that is relevant to one’s life (van Dijk, 1999; van Dijk & Hacker, 2003). Another factor that may curtail involvement with the telecenter is the perception that some individuals may stand to benefit more than others from available courses and training, and the conflict that this dynamic may engender among peers in a small community.
Individual self interest has been identified as a compelling driver among social change agents who overcome such challenges and go on to embrace and propel technological adoption in their communities (Wilson, 2004). Indeed, Garside (2009) suggested that motivation, confidence, and trust in the use of ICTs provide useful indicators of telecenter performance. This study borrows from the latter concepts to examine community engagement and sense of ownership regarding the El Limón telecenter.
The Telecenter at El Limón de Ocoa
The setting for this study is El Limón de Ocoa, a rural community perched at an elevation of 3,000 feet on the south side of the country’s central mountain range. This hamlet is populated by a tight-knit group of individuals, the majority of whom belong to one of the four main family groups that settled the area. An estimated 120 adult residents live in the community year-round. El Limón can be reached by driving up the mountain two kilometers on a partially collapsed, pock-marked unpaved road that is often severely eroded by tropical rainstorms. Residents reach the nearest urban center, San José de Ocoa, by driving, walking, or riding pack animals and motorcycles down the mountain to the closest paved road, where bus service is available.
Most of the homes in El Limón are built of wood planks on a cement slab, and a few homes are entirely built of cement block. Almost all are equipped with an outside kitchen and outhouses. Regardless of the building materials, every home is painted in bright colors, as is common throughout the Dominican Republic. The 65 families that live here subsist on a diet of legumes and starch (mostly rice, beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, avocados and plantain) sometimes complemented by sides of animal protein (codfish, chicken, and sausage). Local crops and fruit trees provide for a diet that is more varied and nutritious than elsewhere in rural communities in the country’s arid southwestern region.
The federal government has been mostly absent from El Limón, where the population live in a setting reminiscent of nineteenth century Caribbean rural life. Much of the barebones infra-structure in place originated from foreign donors, not from local government (Luna, 2002). The extent of public service to this area amounts to one crumbling access road and two one-story structures that house a grade school staffed by two teachers on the department of education payroll. The area lacks health clinics and any type of government facility. In this setting, the Centro Tecnológico de Información (Technology Center for Information), the community-built telecenter, provides a public space where Community leaders hold their meetings, and where residents of all ages gather night and day to use the phone lines, charge cellular phone batteries, access the Internet, attend classes and workshops, and find entertainment.
Local residents first connected to the Internet in 1997, when members of the Ecopartners Project at Cornell University visited the area to install a 2.5kW micro-hydroelectric plant that first brought irrigation and electrical power to the community. Under their guidance, local residents pooled efforts to connect pipes, raise poles, and stretch power lines from home to home, at times vaulting over rough terrain by using tall trees as electrical poles. Irrigation pipes now reach most conucos¹, providing a constant flow of water for crops and for use in the homes. Constant irrigation has enabled productive farming on the terraced landscape, and allowed the community to abandon a centuries-old pattern of subsistence based on charcoal-making and other extractive practices. There is a plentiful supply of clean water at each home, delivered outdoors by the same pipes that irrigate the conucos.
In the process, visiting researchers established a small telecenter, donating a laptop and training two young villagers on its use. The electricity, irrigation, and telephone links that ensued substantially altered the life of the community. The 3,000 watts generated by the plant powers each home with 35 watts of energy, which most residents use to light a single fluorescent bulb and a small black and white television set (Katz, 2008). Five hundred watts power the school, the telecenter and its computers, lights, Wi-Fi equipment, and a local area network (LAN) that connects El Limón to the phone landlines in San José de Ocoa.
Scope of Study
This study is informed by Wilson’s (2004) strategic restructuring model (SRS), which defines information and communication technologies as an asset or a resource that is the object of negotiation among political actors. The model, which defines digital poverty as a challenge that is more political than practical in nature, vaults discussion of ICT adoption beyond the challenges of technological diffusion alone. Interpreting the individual actions of social change agents within the context of the structural, institutional, economic, social, and political issues that frame their efforts, Wilson situates the challenge of digital inclusion within a comprehensive framework that eschews technologically deterministic performance benchmarks.
Informed by Wilson’s holistic understanding of the many factors that facilitate or hinder successful technology adoption in impoverished rural communities, this descriptive study examines the extent to which the community of El Limón appropriated the local telecenter, their perceptions of this public space, and their use of ICTs. More specifically, this study seeks to understand whether this remote agricultural community was able to leverage the presence of the telecenter in ways that foster community prosperity and solidarity.
Methods
This research was based primarily on data collected through an interviewer-assisted survey administered to a snowball sample of adults 18 years of age and older in the community of El Limón. Data collection took place over the course of three subsequent days in October 2008, aided by a telecenter administrator who accompanied and introduced the researcher to respondents in their homes, at two colmados², in the evangelical churchyard, and the telecenter itself, which locals refer to as las computadoras (the computers). At that time, the researcher also conducted in-depth interviews with three telecenter administrators and two public school teachers who serve the community. Interviews utilized a semi-structured questionnaire guide adapted from existing literature in the area of technology adoption (Eastin & LaRose, 2000; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2007; Whyte, 1999).
The survey protocol, modeled on Whyte’s (1999) recommendations for evaluations of telecenter performance and Fink’s (2006) guidelines for survey research, captured information about ICT usage, measuring the number of computer users, the skill sets learned in terms of software and applications, and self-described level of proficiency in their use. The questionnaire also inquired about factors considered in the literature as potential contributors or disruptors to sustainable adoption of ICT in rural communities. These consisted of four main categories: 1) perceptions of structural factors that could affect reliable and convenient telecenter access, 2) socio-cultural factors which may negatively impact the sustainability of the telecenter over the long-run, 3) cognitive and emotional reasons why individuals use (or not) the telecenter, and 4) perceptions of the impact of the telecenter in the overall well-being and prosperity of the community. The latter category measured the perceived impact of telecenters on community development and social change at both the individual level (personal development), as well as on the community at large.
This study relies on non-probability sampling to describe how a small rural community appropriated the local telecenter and its ICTs. While its results cannot be generalized, its findings provide insight into the impact of telecenter adoption in this particular rural setting, and may contribute to our understanding of these dynamics in similar remote agricultural communities in the region.
Results
Respondents (n = 47) consisted of 25 men (53%) and 22 women (47%). One-third (32%) of these were between the ages of 18 and 24, another third (32%) were between 25 and 44 years of age, and 36% were age 45 or older. A majority (61%) had not completed elementary school. Among those who did, one went on to finish high school, and four held a college degree. The low educational attainment in this community ranks it below the national average, which estimates 48% of eligible pre-teens and teens enrolled in middle and high school in 2004 (World Bank, 2008).
Twenty-four people among those surveyed had visited the telecenter over the course of the previous month. An almost equal number claimed they seldom went there. Among those who visited, 21 claimed they went to the telecenter to become better prepared for work and to learn new things. Seventeen said they went there for fun. Only 12 used ICTs at the telecenter on a regular basis, three or four times weekly. Nine of these were between the ages of 19 and 25. Five of them relied on ICTs at the telecenter for both work and personal reasons: they surfed the Internet, downloaded music, and chatted online on a regular basis. According to telecenter supervisors it is the underage children who most often use the ICTs at the telecenter. It is important to note that while only adults were part of this survey, children comprise an estimated two-thirds of the overall population in El Limón, (Katz, personal communication).
Those who visited the telecenter did so for work purposes (12 respondents), and to find information about health care (15), child care (12), farming (14), and animal care (12). Thirteen respondents sought out the telecenter for information about water sanitation and emergency preparedness in the event of hurricanes or tropical storms. Only six people used the telecenter to contact the government. Another three learned to read and write at the telecenter.
Some of the individuals who did not visit the telecenter regularly nevertheless indicated they learned how to use ICTs there. Eight of them learned how to use a computer and to find online news and information at the telecenter. That is also where seven learned to access e-mail and chat online, and six learned to download music and photos, and publish blogs or Web pages. The telecenter made it possible for these individuals to practice digital literacy, albeit not on a regular basis. Almost no one used the telecenter to access e-government sites or to purchase goods and services through e-commerce.4
The overwhelming perception in the community was that the telecenter brought positive change to El Limón. Almost everyone agreed that the presence of the telecenter helped locals solve problems and provided a source of news and information. Practically all agreed that the telecenter helped empowered the community, fostered closeness, and trained young people for modern life. Most also agreed that the telecenter brought neighbors together to address common issues, helping them prepare for storms, imparting information about how to keep the water clean, and opening new markets for the goods produced in the area. Many credited the telecenter for providing information about health and child care.
In this setting, few people saw the telecenter as a catalyst for enmity or jealousy. Still, seven thought that the telecenter wasted some of the community’s resources, and four people argued that the telecenter benefited only a privileged few and decreased productivity. On the other hand, everyone was proud of the telecenter and trusted the information they received there.
Although structural factors often contribute to limit telecenter access in remote rural areas, they did not seem to prevent access to the telecenter in El Limón. Almost everyone found it simple to access the building on foot, despite the dismal road conditions in the area. The telecenter staff earned praise for being knowledgeable, keeping computers in good repair, and providing convenient hours of operation in a comfortable and centrally-located setting. A back-up solar panel provided redundancy in the event of power loss.
Discussion
Almost everyone in El Limón shares in a sense of ownership and pride where the local telecenter is concerned. The telecenter has promoted community engagement even among those who do not visit regularly or at all. There was ample consensus that the telecenter had brought great benefits to the community by introducing knowledge, education for the young, and commercial opportunities (mostly in the form of telephone contact with brokers in outside markets which allowed farmers to schedule crop harvests based on market value). There was also widespread agreement that the telecenter reinforced communal ties, bringing the community closer together to solve problems and build prosperity. Everyone trusted the telecenter, and were pleased that most services were offered free of charge. Furthermore, there was little evidence that the telecenter had engendered conflict or envy among individuals or groups in the community.
The use of ICTs is most prevalent among adults younger than 26 years of age. Cultural and societal expectations may play a role in limiting the use of ICTs among women, Haitians, and older adults. A majority of the young women surveyed in this study who reported being adept in using ICTs stopped visiting the telecenter after they bore children. Ethnicity also surfaced as a limitation to ICT use: migrant Haitian farm workers living in nearby bateys³ were under-represented among telecenter visitors.
Older adults who declined to engage in digital literacy and ICT use nevertheless embraced other activities at the telecenter that were not ICT-related: they sought out the telecenter to attend workshops and courses about irrigation, water management, health care, animal husbandry, and farming. Older adults who were reluctant to embrace ICTs themselves nonetheless enthusiastically supported ICT use by children and young adults. They also valued use of the telecenter for non ICT-related purposes, praising it as a meeting ground that benefits the community as a whole. It bears note that the telecenter housed literacy classes for a few adults, and offered a place where many more acquired and eventually practiced digital literacy skills.
The computers attract a constant stream of children to the telecenter day and evening. In a setting where child-rearing is a communal activity, the two telecenter administrators act as surrogate parents, rotating the children to allow each equal time at the computer, coaching them through homework, and supervising their use of games and access to the Internet. Every adult surveyed agreed that the telecenter has been extremely beneficial to the younger members of the community.
Road conditions may be dismal, yet local residents, most of whom reach the telecenter on foot or by motorcycle, almost always arrive to find it open. Two coordinators keep the equipment in order and provide helpful guidance to visitors. Locals found the facilities comfortable and convenient, and identified few structural constraints that would prevent their use. An incident of computer theft a few years back was resolved with some informal sleuthing and peer pressure among neighbors. In this small community where almost everyone is related by family ties, there are few robberies.
It bears note that many residents praised Cornell researcher Jon Katz, who led the installation of the mini hydro-electric plant and the creation of the telecenter. The researcher is widely recognized as the catalyst for social change in this community. According to one respondent, “all we have came about because of Jon.” Social change agents and local champions such as Katz have been shown to be essential in ensuring sustainable ICT adoption among underprivileged populations (James, 2004). In El Limón, where a foreign researcher was the initial catalyst for change, telecenter coordinators culled from the community became the local champions who ensured thirteen consecutive years of sustainable telecenter operation.
The overall sense of ownership and engagement of local residents with their telecenter confirms findings that telecenters that treat stakeholders equitably and operate in a transparent manner from the outset, setting concrete goals with the consensus and participation of community members, are more likely to achieve sustainability (Hosman & Fife, 2008). In El Limón, the positive impact of the telecenter in the community spread beyond those directly involved in using ICTs to include their extended families and acquaintances in a network of beneficiaries of the diffusion of innovation. Information flowed outwards and beyond the computers onto and through traditional oral communication channels in a way that increased the knowledge capital of the entire community.
Conclusion
While only a minority of adult residents in El Limón has embraced the use of ICTs at their local telecenter, many more have found that the telecenter offers news, information, education, and a meeting ground that binds the community together in a way that helps them solve problems, build social capital, and promote well-being. Those who use the telecenter on a regular basis are motivated by a desire to learn and improve their work skills, but also go there in search of entertainment. The Centro Tecnológico de Información in El Limón de Ocoa is unanimously valued by the connection it provides to outside resources as well as for the connection it promotes within the community itself.
There are indications that cultural taboos may limit the extent of digital inclusion in El Limón. Older adults who praised the use of telecenter ICTs by the young balked at the idea of adopting the technology themselves. This finding supports earlier research (Roman & Colle, 2002; Warschauer, 2003b) that found individuals limit their participation in telecenters based on presuppositions about what is considered appropriate behavior for their age or gender. Heeks and León (2009) have suggested that this dynamic may reinforce, rather than redress, existing patterns of inequality in remote rural areas, as younger and better educated members outpace older individuals in digital inclusion. Yet, in a close-knit community like El Limón, where individuals share in a common sense of ownership and goodwill towards the telecenter, youth advancement is perceived as beneficial to communal prosperity. More research is needed to further illuminate the role telecenter adopters play as opinion leaders, and to gauge the overall impact of knowledge that emerges from communal information sharing.
In a nation where institutions remain weak and close alliance with ruling political parties can damage the survival of any initiative associated with previous administrations, lack of government support may have benefited the long-term sustainability of a project that runs independently and receives funding from sources outside the country. Still, its sustainability remains precarious; monthly connectivity fees, equipment repairs, maintenance and upgrades tax the community’s limited resources. Absent a consistent revenue base and continued goodwill from outside donors, the telecenter could eventually fail.
Elsewhere in the Dominican Republic, many telecenters within the Centros Tecnológicos Comunitarios network, fully funded by the Office of the First Lady, have yet to generate the level of local support and participation that exists in El Limón. Free from the fluctuations of political players, committed by ties of kinship and communal solidarity, and supported in part by foreign donors, the residents of El Limón forged a tenuous path to sustainability. More importantly, they have reaped unexpected benefits from a telecenter where effectiveness is evident in measures of human development that transcend the mere number of people skilled in the use of ICTs. Hidden amid the mountains of Ocoa, this telecenter comprises an electronic beacon that lights up the darkness and connects the community to itself, the world, and the twenty-first century.
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Footnotes
¹ conucos. Conucos are small plots of arable land assigned to individual families or homes for the purposes of subsistence farming and small-scale bartering or sale of produce.
² colmados. A colmado is a small market that sells foodstuffs and other common household goods.
³ bateys. Bateys are rural enclaves where migrant sugar cane workers live, often in extreme poverty.
4 The government of the Dominican Republic does not yet offer a wide range of e-government services and the growth of e-commerce transactions has been slow due to the public’s limited access to credit cards.