Program :: Mimi Larsson /Thematic Session III
NGO Roundtable

Role of the Civil Society in the Creation of
the National ICT Policy and Strategy

ABSTRACT:

Connecting villages

Hungarian Telecottages: Viewing Rural Citizens As ICT Consumers

Mimi Larsson (etnomimi@yahoo.com)
Consultant
The Hungarian Telecottage Association

The Hungarian telecottage movement is responsible for bringing modern ICTs to small villages all over Hungary, thereby making important information and possibilities available in these communities. The telecottages' activities enhance citizens' ability to take responsibility for their own lives and to shape the future of their local environment. The telecottage association was started as a civil initiative when the first telecottage opened in 1994. Since then they have received support from various foreign development agencies; private IT and telecom businesses; Hungarian ministries; and other state institutions such as the local municipalities and state employment centres.

The key to telecottage financing and success is their multi-sectoral nature, which allows them to operate in cooperation with - but independently from - the local municipality, while also enabling them to interact with private businesses. Therefore, the first part of this presentation will outline the organisational and financial characteristics of telecottages, presenting the ideal and the typical ways of involving all three spheres (civil, state, business) in the establishment and operation of telecottages. The benefits for each sphere are outlined, while paying special attention to the possibilities and problems related to the involvement of telecoms and IT-companies.

The second part of the presentation will demonstrate how telecottages help strengthen democracy at the local level; assist small enterprises becoming more competitive while staying in the village; and develop citizens' digital skills, introducing them to the technologies of information society. It is underlined that such effects are a result of the services offered by the telecottage rather than a direct effect of access to technology: While ICT may be a necessary premise for development, it will only bring about serious changes if integrated in activities that make it immediately useful and beneficial to citizens.