Debre Birhan Multipurpose Community Telecentre

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As one of its activities to promote the use of ICTs in Ethiopia, by increasing access, the British Council, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission, manages a British Embassy-funded project, to establish multipurpose community telecentres in selected secondary towns.

The first of its kind in Ethiopia, the Wolisso Multipurpose Community Telecentre (WMCT) was opened as a pilot centre on 26th February 2000, by the former British Ambassador, H.E. Gordon Wetherell, the Commissioner of Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission H.E. Asrat Bulbula and Ms Rosmary Arnott, former Director, British Council.

Extensive consultation with the Regional authorities, and considerations of proximity, available infrastructure, population-size, and its status as a centre for nearby towns, caused Debre Birhan to be selected as the second site for the telecentre project. The Centre has has been providing its services to the community since Janurary 2002. From July 2001 - July 2002,  890 members of the community used the services (Internet, Email, CD-ROM, photocopying etc). Because of the restructuring process in the region, there were temporary closures after July 2002.  British Council Director, Michael Moore will officially open and hand over the Centre to the Debre Birhan Youth, Culture and Sport Affairs Bureau on 20 October 2003.

The third telecentre was opened in October 2002 in one of the historic place at Aksum. By the same project partners, the fourth telecentre in Gondar is expected to start its services within the next three months.

Debre Birhan has a modern public library, established by the Amhara Development Association in 1995. This library, which provides basic library services for the community in the town, has been chosen as the Telecentre site, The integration of ICTs facilities in the library will upgrade the services of the library, as a resource centre for information use and exchange, as well as creating an opportunity for users to access the world’s pool of up-to-date information through the Internet. The library, managed by the Debre Birhan Culture, Tourism and Information Bureau, is an information source for the public at large; professional employees working in different organisations are the major users. The library has a total collection of over 3900 books and periodicals and can serve 70 users at any one time. The premises include rooms for reading, cataloguing, storage and two extra rooms accommodating the Telecentre services.

The Debre Birhan Telecentre is equipped with 4 computers, 1 printer, 1 photo copier, 1 fax machine, 2 UPS with all the accessories and cabling and IT reference books and CD-ROMs.
 
 

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