Introduction                      Draft Agenda                     Asian Telecentre Forum 2007 Report

For a growing number of people in the Asian region, the telecentres has become an important tool for communication and sharing of information and knowledge. The telecentres are being promoted as an answer to the problems of the digital divide as there are still large sections of society that do not enjoy access to ICTs and are therefore at risk of being excluded from the socio-economic benefits that such access brings. Telecentres have been springing up across developing Asia.

In the past six years, the Asian telecentre movement has gained tremendous momentum and a national advocacy campaign in India triggered under the auspices of the National Alliance for Mission 2007 launched by Prof M S Swaminathan, created a ripple effect not only by the stakeholders but also by the different National Governments, extending the idea of national level upscaling to Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, etc. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of the world’s telecentres will be in the Asian region.

The enthusiasm created by the Telecentre Stakeholders Forum 2008 during eINDIA 2008 have created new hopes among the emerging telecentre networks in the Asian region, especially, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and other East and South East Asian Countries.

The Asian Telecentre Forum, third in the series of telecentre forums organised by CSDMS in collaboration with telecentre.org, will focus on the knowledge sharing and telecentres 2.0 among the new and emerging telecentre networks in the region.

The forum will also provide a platform for deliberating on the key issues facing the Asian telecentre movement and the way ahead. Experts will be engaged in close assessment of issues relating to project monitoring steered by external financial support, from international development agencies and governments in Asia.

Richard Fuchs Regional Director East and South East Asia International Development Research Centre Singapore	Florencio Ceballos Programme Manager telecentre.org Ottawa Canada	Basheerhamad Shadrach Sr Programme Officer telecentre.org New Delhi India
Jacqueline Loh Sr Research Officer telecentre.org Singapore	Miguel Raimilla Vice President OneROOF, Inc U S A	Ahmed M M Eisa Chairman Gedaref Digital City Organisation Sudan
Dr Kamolrat Intaratat Thaitelecentre.org Thailand	Nazrul Islam Country Director, Bangladesh Relief International-Schools Online	Allen Bailochan Tuladhar Chairperson Forum for Information Technology Nepal Mission Swaabhimaan Nepal
Sandra Pandi Project Officer ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division International Telecommunication Union	Capt K J S Brar CEO, Designmate	Dhakshinamoorthy Chief Executive Officer Warisan Global Malaysia

Asian Telecentre Forum 2007 Agenda