Connecting Island Communities: the Emerging “Pacific Telecentre Community”

Mathison SR¹*

1. The Foundation for Development Cooperation, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The development of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) has long been hampered by dispersed populations, small sizes and vast ocean distances. These circumstances impose large costs on service provision in education, economic development, social welfare, health, travel and communication and have limited the ability of communities and their peoples to engage fully in economic activities and democratic processes.

Improvements in telecommunications services and information technology now provide increasing opportunities for PICTs to overcome these circumstances by reducing barriers of distance, improving service delivery across countries and the Pacific Community, reducing costs, improving the knowledge, skills and general development of their people, and working more effectively together.

Community-based Multi-media Telecentres are helping to connect island communities with each other, with their Diaspora communities and with the wider world. This paper describes the emerging Pacific Telecentre Community, and discusses some of the development implications and outcomes that are being achieved.

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