A number of research projects are being run in association with the LINK Centre around issues of universal access. Peter Benjamin and Kgatliso Masetlha of the LINK Centre have been running a research project into telecentre needs and services in the Northern Province with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian donor organisation.

Another study being carried out by Development Research Africa under Aki Stavrou together with Peter Benjamin of the LINK Centre, is comparing the impact and sustainability of different models for public access to telecommunications in South Africa. This includes USA Telecentres, Vodacom Phoneshops, Multi-Purpose Centres, phone bureaux, Dial-Inns and other types. The research is funded by MTN, though the research is independent and all information is public.

The primary research on 25 different sites in South Africa suggests that many of the telecentres established by the Universal Service Agency (USA) are doing poorly for a combination of technical, managerial and financial reasons. One major problem is a lack of connection between telecentre services and local needs - many offer equipment usage rather than information and development services. South Africa is not alone in this regard and the literature review in the report indicates similar problems in other countries.

The research project being run in the Northern Province attempts to respond to the findings of this research by running a community based information needs analysis at six telecentre sites in the Northern Province. The methodology is based on one developed by Polly Gastor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, and used by other telecentres in Mali and Uganda. A major component of this research is building local capacity at the telecentre to run similar research, and LINK is working closely with a team at the University of the North (UNIN), led by Kutu Mphahlele.

Each telecentre has a research team of 3 people: one of the telecentre managers; someone else from the local community; and a senior student from UNIN. In March a training workshop was held for all 18 researchers (3 for each of the 6 sites) and the 3 UNIN staff, IDRC staff, USA staff and people from LINK.

The research is being carried out in three older telecentres at Gaseleka, Botlokwa and Makuleke; and at three newly established ones at Mankweng, Mothapo and Thakalang.

The research is part of a wider process of developing the telecentre. The aims are to:

• Learn what services are most wanted in your area
• Develop new services that are needed
• Build support for your telecentre and involve the community more closely in the running of the telecentre
• Develop a plan that should make the telecentre successful - profitable and contributing to the community
• Establish a 'learning system' to measure the impact of the telecentre, and conitunally adapt it to be more successful.

The reports are now being prepared. These will be translated into the local language and printed to serve as the input to planning workshops held at each of the six telecentres. The aim is for the insights learnt to inform the management plans for the development of the telecentres, and the research efforts to contribute to a local learning system that can continually give direction so that the telecentre can better serve its community.

After all the local workshops, all those involved in the project will come together towards the end of August to work out whether this has been a useful process. Depending on the outcome, a similar form of local research could be applied by the Universal Service Agency or others to help telecentre projects be more successful.

For further information on both projects see www.sn.apc.org/community or contact Peter Benjamin