"In 1994 the government established a Telecommunications Development Fund, financed by the national budget, to catalyze additional private investment in payphone service in rural and urban areas with low income and low telephone density. The Fund has been very successful. Between 1995 and 2000 it su
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pported the provision of payphone service to more than 6,000 rural localities with about 2.2 million inhabitants, thereby reducing the proportion of Chile's population living in places without access to basic voice communication from 15 percent in 1994 to 1 percent in 2002. In addition, some 25,000 individual rural telephone lines are being provided. The subsidies awarded cost the government less than 0.3 percent of total telecommunications sector revenue during the funding period, and Fund administration cost about 3 percent of the monies granted. The Fund's success was due largely to extensive reliance on market forces to determine and allocate subsidies, minimal regulatory intervention, simple and relatively expeditious processing, and effective government leadership. Competition among existing and new operators for the rural market and subsidies led to substantial reductions in cost to the government compared to earlier public sector investments in similar facilities. Commercial success has hinged on operators using the subsidized payphone infrastructures to also provide individual business and residential telephone lines and, subsequently, add value through new services (including voice mail and internet access in some areas) over this network. Interconnection was the single most important regulatory factor of commercial viability, with access charges in some cases surpassing 40 percent of rural operating revenues. The design of the Fund proved robust, and remains the leading example of a costeffective slution to reduce access gaps in basic communication in emerging economies. Some questions remain, however, about whether the services can be sustained in the long term, what to do with the small residual rural population still excluded, and whether anything needs to be done in urban areas. These questions-in addition to limited design improvements suggested by the Fund's experience, as well as work still in progress on quality standards and monitoring-are relevant to the Fund's proposed extension into more advanced modes of communication and access to information, as well as to other countries learning from the Chilean experience." (Executive summary)
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"Describes the activities and publications of the innovative Community Publishing Process in Zimbabwe in order to train 7,000 village community workers, the majority of whom were women. Through a community based, participatory process of publishing, the project aims to enable marginalized groups to
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use their creative energies to build dynamic leadership, tackle poverty, take charge of their lives, and make the decisions to shape their future. Representatives of the village readership participated in creating the books and civic education manuals, contributed material orally, and tested and distributed it through local book launches. The project also initiated a series of children’s traditional stories and a book about children’s rights, produced with 500 children aged from three to seventeen. A local leadership programme for writers provides training in journalism and editing, and the publication of a monthly journal from a village publishing house equipped with a computer, duplicator and stapler. The author concludes by stating “as women radically questioning autocratic institutions and processes, we have been able to shape a tool that can be used by marginalized groups anywhere to claim their voice in the public life." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 1731)
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"In the area around Cerro de Pasco, where these interviews were gathered, people’s herding lifestyle has undergone great change, principally as a result of Peru’s most important industry: mining. While it has brought employment and infrastructure to the region, the industry paid scant regard to
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its environmental impact: waste from the mines seeped into the water supply, and polluted the springs that run through the pastures; lakes once full of fish, and a magnet for birds, are discoloured, empty of life and their surroundings silent. Fumes from the smelter and other processing plants have polluted the air and stripped the nearby slopes of vegetation. The health of people and livestock has been badly affected, animal numbers have dramatically declined and few farmers now make a living from herding alone. And, as many narrators point out, working in the mines has weakened people’s bonds with the environment on which they previously depended [...]
The impact of the mining industry underlies most narrators’ stories, which were gathered in 1995. Some stress social and cultural change; others highlight the economic impact. Almost all bear witness to the effects on the land, livestock and people’s health. The focus on industry, and the positive and negative results of being a mineral-rich highland area, is particular to this collection. But as resource extraction in mountain regions accelerates, these narrators’ experiences will be of interest to many other communities. In Peru alone, the area taken over for mining activities had expanded from 6 million hectares in 1992 to 24 million hectares by 2000. As in other areas in the Central Andes, out-migration is a major issue. Young people’s need for education and employment takes them away from the highlands. Some return, but most—without adequate job opportunities in their home area—end up staying in Lima or other cities. But many would stay if they could, say narrators, and faithfully return to celebrate their community fiestas. These testimonies bear witness to a still vibrant culture, mixing Catholic, Andean and other influences, and distinguished above all by a still powerful bond with the land and the mountain." (Introduction, page 1-2)
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"The project ran from November 98 to May 2001, involving 13 rural women’s clubs in the Mpika district of Zambia, 600 km north of Lusaka. The clubs recorded their discussions of development issues or requests for development support; the tapes were sent to a radio producer in Lusaka, who recorded a
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response from a relevant service-provider or politician. The discussion and response were edited into one programme and broadcast as a regular weekly programme by the national broadcaster, ZNBC. The clubs listened to the programmes and discussed them at their weekly meetings. This evaluation assessed the development impact of the project, principally by talking to members of the clubs and others in their communities. An audience survey was also carried out, in three different areas. The main findings of the evaluation were: The project has brought substantial material benefits and new information to the communities. To some extent the clubs and communities have been empowered to access development inputs themselves, though the mediation of the radio programme producer has also been an important factor; The success in achieving material benefits for the communities was probably a strong force in building community support for the clubs in the early months of the project, but now their role in providing information and stimulating discussion is equally appreciated; The Clubs have not achieved material benefits specifically for their own incomegenerating activities, which was the original aim of the project, and which they see (on a video) happening in Zimbabwe. Income-generating is still the clubs’ main purpose, so the project should seek to help them strengthen their income-generating activities; The project has stimulated intense discussions, in the clubs and the communities, about social issues. The clubs’ ability to discuss and present issues clearly is greatly appreciated by men and young people in the communities; There is an emerging perception of a role for the clubs as educators for their communities. They are confidently passing on their own experience, and information from outside sources, as well as “hosting” outside experts in their radio programmes; The programmes are widely listened to and appreciated all over Zambia." (Summary)
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"This paper reviews the rural radio environment in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. It outlines CTA products and services that are geared towards strengthening CTA rural radio activities in these countries. The paper comprises of sections on Rural Radio Resource Packs (RRRP), and Trai
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ning in Rural Radio in terms of broadcasting, audience analysis and training of the trainers. It also includes sections on support to networking activities and the use of radio as a means of disseminating market information." (Abstract)
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"Wie verändert sich ein Dorf durch Prozesse der Technisierung und Industrialisierung, insbesondere aber durch die Verbreitung technischer Medien, vom Telefon über Hörfunk und Fernsehen bis hin zum Computer? Welche Folgen zeitigt dieser Prozeß vor allem für die Häufigkeit und die Qualität/den
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Charakter der nicht-medialen, zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation unter den Dorfbewohnern? Mit der Dissertation von Thomas Muntschick liegt erstmals eine Untersuchung vor, die am Beispiel einer kleinen ländlichen Gemeinde den Weg der Technik in den Alltag der Menschen nachzeichnet. Er untersucht den Prozeß des Wandels menschlicher Kommunikation durch technische Medien und zentriert seinen Blick dabei auf das subjektive Erleben der Bewohner des Dorfes Polle an der Oberweser." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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