Financial Vs Social Sustainability of Telecentres: Mutual Exclusion or Mutual Reinforcement?

Abstract

The debate on development‐led telecentre projects revolves around the concept of sustainability. Although it is accepted that telecentre sustainability has both a financial and a social dimension, the relationship between these two sides is sometimes axiomatically defined as one of mutual exclusion. Through the case study of the Akshaya Telecentre Project in Kerala, southern India, we problematize this logic: we individuate a set of mechanisms through which the social dimension of telecentre sustainability feeds the financial one, rather than obstructing it. As such, we propose a new paradigm for telecentre studies, in which social and financial sustainability are interlinked by mutual reinforcement.

Sustainability of telecentres in developing countries: Lessons from Union Digital Centre in Bangladesh

“…The telecentre literature identifies five main types of sustainability: financial, social, policy, organisational and technological. Though it is not clearly discernible as to what leads to what, it is argued that financial and social outcomes are driven by a combination of policy, organisational and operational aspects of telecentres (Ali & Bailur, 2007;Best & Kumar, 2008;Masiero, 2011;Shadrach & Sharma, 2011). Financial sustainability means the ability of telecentres to continue operations based on resources from service charges and/or donations or in-kind supports (Liyanage, 2009).…”

The role telecentres play in providing e‐government services in rural areas

“…From the literature, we see that such an adaptation of the PIAP services, where the local users find locally relevant information, is vital for their sustainability (Furuholt, ; Masiero, ). Prado () shows that the longest continuous‐running independent telecentre in the Dominican Republic (established in 1997) has been sustainable just because of local adaptation and access to relevant public information (health care, farming, etc).…”

“…These two concepts are closely linked, and to the local context where the telecentre is operating. Masiero () defines social sustainability as the capacity to be coherent with the needs and characteristics of the local population in a given context, and she claims that that social sustainability, in its development‐oriented sense, is intrinsically context based.…”

El empoderamiento digital en Ecuador a través de sus infocentros

“…El desarrollo de los infocentros ha estado vinculado siempre a políticas públicas como un argumento para el fin de la exclusión digital en zonas rurales (Benjamin y Dahms, 1999, Breitenbach, 2013. No obstante, desde la década de los 90, la situación cambia, y, aunque muchas redes de infocentros se han reconvertido en modelos más integradores y flexibles, sin ayudas públicas, estos han luchado por sobrevivir y su sostenibilidad ha sido debatida desde tres perspectivas: la económica, la política y la social (Bailur, 2007, Masiero, 2011. En cuanto a las dos primeras, están marcadas por la dependencia de los recursos públicos y la voluntad política de continuar con estos centros.…”