Bridging the digital divide: The role of resource centres

If community-driven water and sanitation programmes are to benefit from the vast knowledge base available through the Internet and from the knowledge embedded in communities and local actors, there have to be intermediary institutions bridging the gap. They have to ensure that relevant knowledge is accessible at institutional and grassroots level and that relevant experience from grassroots level becomes available for sharing. It is not random sharing of information that is required, as this may just lead to information overflow. Users, government staff, NGO’s, private sector and communities alike want good quality information that meets their needs.

Some important intermediaries exist already. The Distance Learning Centres (DLCs) established by the World Bank Institute can help agency professionals, NGOs and community workers to benefit from available training materials and expertise. Many global and regional support agencies organise regular workshops and training courses to build the capacity of local-level trainers and field workers. And there are lots of documentation initiatives converting well-established concepts, guidelines and project successes into user-friendly formats for application at international, national and community level.

Interactivity between sources and users

The missing link is interactivity between sources of knowledge and users. It is clearly not possible for those without Internet access to benefit directly from the structured searches and instant links that make the digital highway such a powerful knowledge management tool. One key role of any intermediary institution is to bring its community-based constituents as close as possible to the immediacy of the Internet to help solve their problems or to provide them with tailor made information. Another is to help communities to share their experiences either through the Internet or by organizing workshops or exchange visits.

Building the knowledge-sharing capacity of resource centres (RCs) in the South is a prime focus of IRC’s work and the Streams of Knowledge Coalition. Both foster collaboration and mutual support among many RCs. This is seen as a strong driver in efforts to bridge the digital divide. The kinds of activities that strengthened resource centres could initiate and support emerged from group discussions during WIS6.

They include:

• Regular interaction between those who know the new technologies, systems and trends and those who are familiar with local community needs and contexts.
  Giving NGOs, CBOs, local agency professionals and community workers periodic access to Internet services, with guidance on how to retrieve relevant information and share problems and experiences with others.
• Developing, packaging and sharing information/knowledge products based on local demand to suit the technological capacity of the constituents. - Sharing would use different vehicles ranging from full Internet access, through E-mail, fax, hardcopy (with varying language fluency), TV and radio, newspapers, etc, to posters and street theatre.
• Offering and promoting a problem-solving service or helpdesk in which RC staff will use networks and Internet tools to search for solutions or information and feed them back to users in useable formats.
• Feeding global knowledge networks with local experiences and sector data.
• Promoting and supporting dialogues/fora/networks among community-based workers and linking these to national and regional networks.

Resources needed

For this to happen, the RCs themselves need capacity building. Broadband Internet access with good server capacity is an evident need. Beyond that, the centres need staff skilled in knowledge management approaches and aware of the possibilities in the WSS sector. They also need a good network of contacts with good quality experience. There is already a considerable depth of expertise and experience within the RC partners of IRC and the Streams of Knowledge Coalition. Matching that with the clear focus emerging from WIS6 for concerted action to speed the flow of knowledge to and from the community level, there is considerable hope that the resources will be forthcoming for developing the RC network into a knowledge management hub for the whole WSS sector.