For Colnodo, APC member in Colombia, its commitment to the “strategic use of the internet for development” [1] takes a variety of forms: from work with the government in the policy realm, to training for women, and resource exchange with community media. APCNews spoke to Olga Paz, administrative and projects coordinator, about various Colnodo activist campaigns for the democratisation of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The encounter took place in London at the ICT policy portals meeting organised by APC in late June.
Spaces which are won and created
Relations between governments and civil society need not be conflictive. Throughout its 12-year history, Colnodo has shown that working together is possible, and although this relationship is often far from perfect, combining perspectives and joining forces leaves a favourable balance. Olga pointed to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process as a unique opportunity in which spaces for discussion were created by the government.
Colnodo has monitored the participation and position of the Colombian government on the issue at both the summit and the subsequent process being carried out in Latin America through the eLAC objectives [2] .
Recently Colnodo was called on by the Ministry of Communications to participate in a survey carried out by ECLAC on the information society and the eLAC objectives. Olga commented on this linkage: “in general we have a fluid relationship with some of the government’s ICT programmes. We hope this won’t change […] Compared to other times, at least we’ve been able to learn what the government is doing on the issue of ICT policies and to present positions on them…there is not enough space to bring to the table the opinions of different social sectors on the issue; it’s already an accomplishment to have held a few meetings between civil society and the government.”
They were also asked by the Ministry of Culture to take part in discussions on the national plan for citizen and community media. “Since the beginning of the year they have invited us to participate in some meetings; this process has been very important for us because we have been able to place the entire issue of ICT on the agendas of citizen and community media,” Olga reports.
Software for transparency
Although the issue of ICT policies has been important for Colnodo, the development of models and tools that can be shared among governmental bodies and spread nation-wide is also a practical way to influence policies. In this respect, Colnodo and the Corporación Transparencia por Colombia (Colombia Transparency Corporation) [3], have implemented the “Internet for Accountability” project, which seeks to increase transparency in mayor’s offices and treasury inspector’s offices through the installation and use of software for web-page design. This is an attempt to facilitate the dissemination of public information through the internet.
What is interesting about this experiment has been its dynamics and impact. After developing the tool, Colnodo and the Corporación Transparencia por Colombia donated the software to the Colombian government, which has installed it in more than 500 municipalities around the country through the national Government Online project of the Agenda de Conectividad (Connectivity Agenda). Olga tells us: “this is really an achievement because it is a project born of civil society organisations which has been multiplied [by the government].” The tool was developed using ActionApps, APC’s entirely open source content management system software.
Another Colnodo project is the Colombian development portal, ‘avanza’, where information is produced, compiled and shared in three thematic areas: rural development, civil society, and youth. The idea is that gender is incorporated as a cross-cutting issue. A basic component of ‘avanz’a is learning communities: “it offers various teaching and learning strategies which can be used both in person and online […]. This experience has been valuable for strengthening the notion of a community of knowledge using virtual tools such as the Teleduc distance learning system,” Olga explains.
Colonodo provides Teleduc and other open source software tools to the organisations with which it works. In this way, organisations and networks are consolidated through the strategic use of the internet, and knowledge is shared.
Changing views
Training complements and enriches work on policies, the social use of ICT and the development of tools. Olga emphasised Colnodo’s experience in training teachers, using the “Rural Women and ICT” methodology developed by Modemmujer, a member of the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (WNSP). These workshops took place thanks to an alliance with the union of the Federación Colombiana de Educadores (Colombian Educators Federation-FECODE), which approached Colnodo seeking training for female teachers in the social use of information and communication technologies. One of the interesting aspects has been the work around more strategic questions: “what can the internet do for women’s groups and organisations? […] or, how to apply the internet to pedagogical processes?”
The women teachers approached the computers with joy, fear, and self-consciousness. Olga recalls some anecdotes: “the last workshop was wonderful because one of the teachers was so happy. For the very first time she had been able to send an e-mail to her daughter who had been living in Holland for a year.” She also told us that in another workshop the participants acted confident regarding the internet, but actually they were embarrassed to admit, in front of their colleagues, that they had had little (or no) contact with this type of tool. “When we began to hold these workshops the teachers were very resistant,” she said. They were afraid that it was an attempt by the government to undermine them. At the end of the training sessions the result was clear: “the teachers’ views on the new technologies had been transformed.”
1 A slogan of the organisation
2 Regional action plan for the information society, coordinated by ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean).
[3] This Colnodo initiative was supported by USAID through Casals and Associates.