Subject: [gaia] Mapping and understanding Community Networks in Africa

From: Carlos Rey-Moreno <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 10:27:04 +0200

(apologies for cross-posting)

Dear all!

I'm writing to you because some months ago we did some work to map the
different Community Networks initiatives that have taken place in Africa and
try test the hypothesis that most of them are externally initiated, and if
so what are the factors preventing the development/evolution of this model
in the continent.

That first attempt ended up in a submission for the report of the Dynamic
Coalition on Community Connectivity https://dc3.libre.social/Repor
t01OpenCall

Our paper has been accepted and we would like to make sure that we have
indeed included all the initiatives that have taken place in the continent.
Below are the questions we sent to those we know are (or have been
involved) in community networks in Africa. Please feel free to answer them
or refer me to those who you think can contribute.

Thank you very much,

carlos

--

*Have you been involved directly in the deployment of a community network
in Africa? *

*If yes, Can you please provide a brief description of that community
network? (e.g. how and why it started and when? how was it initially
funded? whether it is still operational and if not what were the causes for
ceasing its operation? how it has evolved in number of users and nodes from
its inception until now or until it stop working?) Please include any link,
or document containing more information about it. *

*Do you know any (other) community network in the continent?If yes, can you
please name it (them) and provide a contact details of a person working on
it (them)?*

*What are the main opportunities Community Networks approach affords in
Africa (if any)?What do you think are the main barriers that are preventing
a faster widespread of the Community Networks approach in the continent?*
*Could point to other people you know could provide valuable answers to the
questions above?*

-- 
Carlos Rey-Moreno, PhD
PostDoctoral Fellow University of the Western Cape
Zenzeleni Networks: zenzeleni.net
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxTPSWMX26M
Cel: +27 (0) 76 986 3633
Skype: carlos.reymoreno Twitter: Creym

---

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 22:39:01 +0100

Thats really cool Carlos -

I am excited by this study - especially it would be good to understand if
community networks is indeed an alternative to side step
regulatory/monopolistic/oligopolistic hurdles in Africa.

My recent interactions with DIAL (http://digitalimpactalliance.org/) and
Internet.org folks tell me they are also keen to understand this.

What will be also great to have is some sort of a framework - say given a
set of parameters (regulation, socio-economics, techno etc) that could
inform whether establishing community networks in a specific region could
be successful or not.

Regards

On 28 September 2016 at 09:27, Carlos Rey-Moreno <[email-masked]
> wrote:

> different Community Networks initiatives that have taken place in Africa
> and try test the hypothesis that most of them are externally initiated,
> and if so what are the factors preventing the development/evolution of this
> model in the continent.
>
> involved) in community networks in Africa. Please feel free to answer
> them or refer me to those who you think can contribute.
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> carlos
>
> --
>
> *Do you know any (other) community network in the continent?If yes, can
> you please name it (them) and provide a contact details of a person working
> on it (them)?*
>
>
>
>
>
> *Could point to other people you know could provide valuable answers to
> the questions above?*
>
> --
> Carlos Rey-Moreno, PhD
> _______________________________________________
> gaia mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/gaia
>
>

-- 
Arjuna Sathiaseelan
Personal: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/
N4D Lab: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/n4d