KenTel

From UgaBYTES Collaboration wikipedia

KenTel Status

Kentel was established in February 2008 as a result of the resolution of the 2nd East Africa Telecentre Leaders Forum - EATLF in Kampala in October 2006. Its establishment was supported by UCRC and the UgaBYTES.

Structure

Its structure is composed of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that comprises representatives from telecentres, AGM elects the board and the Board sets targets that are led by the national coordinator, who falls and heads the secretariat. The secretariat being hosted at the UCRC, it has 3 persons including Cleopa otieno, Damas Ogwe, and Rachel Adipo who run the day-today operations of the network.

Below the secretariat, KenTel works with eight regional representatives from each province who liase with the national coordinator to reach out and to serve the telecentres in the country. The coordinator and the support staff of the secretariat are volunteers, who are largely facilitated by UCRC.

Registration status

Currently KenTel is not registered. It had applied for registration as an NGO but the name was rejected by the regulatory authorities. It was non admissible under NGOs requirements. The advisory board recommended the network to register either as a society or a business company or change the name Kentel.

Final the board concluded to register as a society which is less costly and takes less time. The process is a few weeks to completion.

Telecentre inclusion and strategy

So far Kentel is in contact with about 60 telecentres in Kenya. It is also working through regional representatives to identify more telecentres in Kenya using geographical mapping. 300 telecentres have been identified in Central and western Kenya. The network proposed membership fee of 1000 KSH per telecentre although it is not forthcoming.

Financial management

Kentel has a treasurer who is based in Siaya. The network is currently using a lean financial system though. It is depending on UCRC’s system. Due to delayed registration the network does not operate its own bank account or an independent financial system. Currently all activities are majorly funded by UCRC. Most of the Kentel workers are employees of UCRC. Kentel is in talks with Microsoft and IDRC for funding

Services offered

They have so far started consultancy services. They have so far worked with the Sega Silicon Valley project and the Ndhiwa community resource centre. The non commissioned work is support partner institutions to establish new telecentres.

This year, Ken-Tel seeks to carry out a survey to find out if there are any specific needs telecentres faces so that special services are designed at network level.

Other Issues

Kenya has no ICT policy and it is a bit difficult to say where the government stands but the network is in touch with the ministry of ICT officials especially the permanent secretary.