October 12th 2011 –

Niger’s GDP increased by 2% in 2009, nevertheless, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), with a very low Human Development Index making it ranked 167th out of 169 countries in 2010.

Without the international support of foreign governments or NGOs, the country would not be able to meet the basic living needs of its population.

The telecom community centre of Abalak is the fourth centre opened by TSF throughout the world, and the second one in Niger, after Dakoro in 2007. The community centers, located in isolated areas where security conditions are getting worse and worse, provide a constant access to ICTs for the humanitarian workers and local organizations involved in the region, but they also benefit the whole of the community. The coordinators of the centers provide training to the beneficiaries in order to enhance their computer skills and they offer a technical assistance to the partner NGOs.

Discover the two TSF telecom community centers in Niger HERE

THE COMMUNITY CENTRE IN FIGURES SINCE JULY 2010

- Average number of users per month: 105
- Average number of organizations per month: 21
- Average number of trainees per month: 23
- NGO catchment: 38%

TSF MISSION TO REINFORCE THE TELECOM COMMUNITY CENTRE (August 2011)

In August 2011, a TSF team went to Niger to optimize the response capacity of the two community centers of Dakoro and Abalak.

This TSF mission enabled:

-    A technical reinforcement for a more adapted answer to partner NGOs: replacement of the satellite antennas, update of the telecom equipment, optimization of the bandwidth. A new system of stream classification has been implemented; emailing is now a high priority compared with Internet surfing. In order to relieve the bandwidth during the peak hours, the program updates have been interrupted between 8am and 2pm. As for the advertisements, they have been definitively blocked.

-    A training session to the benefit of the coordinators of the centers, which will allow a better maintenance of the equipment and make it easier to manage the different activities. They were principally trained on the new equipment installed, on the backup of access points in case of loss of configuration or equipment changing and on the use of new software to meet the needs and the request of the users.

A reflection between TSF and the different programs began about the implementation of new ICTs applications. For example, the telecom centers could allow the remote collection and dissemination of information via SMS to the community: women, breeders and agro pastoral associations.

TESTIMONIALS

Salifou RABIOU, Coordinator of the Abalak community center (August 2011):
«We attended a capacity building training with TSF in the setting up of new antennas, the maintenance and configuration of the routers. Since this intervention, the connection is more stable than before. The beneficiaries are very satisfied of the services provided. They are very grateful for the creation of the center to the coordinator as well as the initiators ».

Mahabou MOUSSA, Head of Evaluation Monitoring OXFAM Québec, Abalak (August 2011):
«This Internet center is a tool to help local development structures. We thank and congratulate the Sarel project for making the communication easier between partners. We receive the reports of our partner structures located in Abalak on time; Adkoul and TIMIDRIA for example. In the past, we had to wait several days for information to arrive».

Ali MOUSSA, Director, Department of the Community Development    
«The TSF-Delta Partners Centre is a godsend for all those involved in the development. The centre enables us to benefit from computer and internet training. It improves our capacity to communicate with the outside world and do research, as well as reinforcing the efficiency and the impact of our activities in the field».  

Yahia MAHAMAN, ONDPH    
«The training sessions were professional and effective. I learnt many things in a little time».

Mohamed MOUSSA, Timidria Association    
«I don’t know how to thank this initiative. I was among the first to sign up for the training. We have learnt so much».    

Hamed Ibrahim ABDOURAHMANE, NGO Amman Imman    
«Thank you for your help. When we first came, we had no computer and internet knowledge. I would like to sincerely thank the initiators of the project».  

Agali AGALHER, Vice-President, Timidria Association    
«We fully support this initiative. Providing internet connections, training those involved in the development in computer sciences and web browsing is priceless. And everything is free. Thank you».

 TSF IN NIGER SINCE 2005

July 2005

Terrible food shortage in Niger. 3.6 million people affected.

July – October 2005
TSF opens a telecom centre at Dakoro for all NGOs on site and priority phone lines in humanitarian hubs.
Civilian calling operations: More than 2,000 families reconnected.

Early 2006 – July 2008
TSF implements an early warning and disaster prevention system.
34 areas of Niger are connected to Niamey.
Beneficiaries: 11 million people.

July 2006 – now
TSF opens a telecom community centre in Dakoro (collaborating with VSF Belgium)
Users: over 30 organisations and 170 members (local authorities, breeders and farmers local associations, NGOs, United Nations)

Objectives
-    Improve the communication network
* Improved communication with outskirts communities and the outside world
* Better exchange of information between associations
* Improved data gathering 
-    Prepare awareness and response in the event of future crisis.
-    Strengthen existing development projects
-    Help reinforce local capacities
-    Impact positively upon the local economy
-    Improve life conditions
-    Train local people in the use of computers and  the Internet

Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium, via its project PROXEL (proximity to breeders), supports local farmers and agricultural cooperatives’ day-to-day activities as well as financing projects that they have jointly selected. For this second community centre in Niger, TSF pursues its fruitful collaboration with VSF Belgium, to the benefit of local communities and local associations.

Internet, a priority for the development of the region
The centre is providing Internet through a fixed satellite solution (VSAT) set up in January 2010. During the 6 months before the inauguration, the Wi-Fi connectivity has enabled local organizations and VSF to conduct and coordinate their activities more efficiently. The centre was built and computer equipments (desktop computers, peripheral devices) were set up. Local staff and the manager of the centre were recruited and trained in Dakoro. Technical personnel configured and formatted computers and wireless connections, installed office software and will be able to assist with email accounts.

With this centre, TSF, in partnership with VSF Belgium and Delta Partners, brings the benefits of the Internet to very isolated communities.

Due to security concerns, this project implied a secure construction of the centre, which is an annex building of Vétérinaires Sans Frontières’ office.

Computer science and Internet trainings for local participants
The centre offers computer sciences and web utilisation training to all local partners (associations, authorities, community members, students), adapted to their needs, with the objective to help them benefit from the major development capabilities offered by these new technologies. Indeed, to give ICT priority in the development of local initiatives and to improve their coordination also requires an educational support. TSF goes by its former successful experiences in providing training to adults and children in Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Niger and Burkina Faso.

This new initiative is therefore opening up Abalak’s communities with telecommunications; meanwhile TSF ensures to make the project durable through an appropriate handover and building local capacities. All the people who were trained are now capable to write a word document, do calculations with excel, browse the Internet and communicate via email. For the majority of these people, the centre gave them the chance to use a computer for the first time in their life.

Narrowing the digital divide
The centre, located in one of the world’s most remote areas, helps with narrowing the digital divide of the region. The objective is to improve the communication network by providing access to Internet with Abalak outskirts communities – for instance Maradi (the regional capital – 2 hours away by car), Dakoro or neighbouring countries.

It is a priority for local farmers and breeders associations to not only distribute and receive information, but also to lead actions jointly. The centre gathers and centralises the information received from national networks. All kinds of information (agricultural market prices, administrative, judicial, bush fires, epidemics, press releases...) are dispatched via SMS or Internet to collective associations. Price dispatching prevents local speculation. The TSF centre, in parallel, is also able to keep the population informed via community radios. The associations progressively establish the ways and means to better organise the livestock sales channels: quicken the decision processe save time and money (no need to go from one place to another), extension of the network of contacts...

Students are able to broaden their knowledge and skills, in order to continue and strengthen their studies. The connections are useful to the daily lives of the whole population, to increase their global knowledge and communicate with their relatives and friends in the country and abroad. 

 
In July 2010 Niger was confronting another drought, with food insecurity rising to alarming levels. Moreover, the 2009 agricultural season had failed and created widespread cereal deficits, placing many households in dire circumstances. The organisations - working on the ground to alleviate the food distribution and reduce the impact of the crisis on populations’ lives – can now use the centre’s connections to send and receive crucial information and data in real time.

With the support of Delta Partners, we can expand our activities in Niger, the poorest country in the world, bringing together the combined resources of TSF and of a trustworthy international organisation, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières, to effectively address some of the world’s toughest challenges. In the same way that they benefited from Dakoro’s community centre, the objective is to progressively involve in the new program other international organisations active in the field.