24 July 2002

The Know How is a venue for telling stories, of how women's information and communication organisations have made initiatives to reach out to rural women. This was what some 50 women -participants of both the Women's Worlds Congress and the Know-How Conference found out when they visited the Nakaseke Multipurpose Telecentre in Nakaseke Village and Sub-county, an hour's ride outside of Kampala, Uganda-the venue of the two meetings.

The telecentre itself is a long single-storey structure housing a library and business centre providing information and communication services, serving a largely agricultural rural community. The Nakaseke Telecentre provides the following services: pay phone, photocopying, fax, computer application training, library, secretarial and business bureau, documentation centre for indigenous knowledge, internet access, newspapers, television and video entertainment and adult and continuing education.

A highlight of the trip to the Nakaseke telecentre was a demonstration of the CD-ROM "Ideas for Making Money," developed by the International Women's Tribune Centre. This CD-ROM gives its target users, local women, ideas and information on income generating activities delivered in their native language Lugandan. The navigational interface for the CD-ROM is in audio, so that it could still be used by non-readers. Anastasia Namisango, one of the Nakaseke women who have benefited from using the CD ROM talked about the effectiveness of the CD ROM and the telecentre in general.

The women of Nakaseke and other members of the community expressed their appreciation of the support extended to the telecentre. They capped the visit with a program of dances and songs performed by the village choir.

The Nakaseke telecentre is supported by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Development Research centre (IDRC) and the International Telecommunications Union whereas the CD ROM project is supported by the IDRC East and Southern Africa Office.