Dhanaraj Thakur

The contribution of user-based subsidies to the impact and sustainability of telecenters - the eCenter project in Kyrgyzstan

We examine the extent to which user-based subsidies can promote the sustainability and development impact of telecenters, where sustainability is defined in financial and social terms. We do this by looking at a coupon scheme used by the USAID funded eCenter network in Kyrgyzstan. The network consisted of partnerships with existing commercial computer centers which provided fee-based ICT services to their communities. The eCenter program temporarily provided subsidized coupons for Internet access and computer training to users of these centers.

Post-conflict communications: the case of Liberia

Liberia, founded in 1847 by freed African slaves from the U.S. is a relatively small country with approximately 3.3 million inhabitants (see Figure 1). Unrest has been common within Liberia for more than 25 years, with two major civil wars in this time period. These years of conflict have seen nearly one-third of the population displaced and taken the lives of approximately 250,000 people. Recently, a prominent warlord turned Liberian President, Charles Taylor, ruled with violence both at home and regionally. In 2003, as his government struggled under domestic and international pressure, the civil war entered the capital Monrovia. By the end of that year Taylor was forced to resign and sought asylum in Nigeria. Taylor has since been arrested and removed to The Hague where he faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. With Taylor’s departure, a

The telecommunications policy process in post‐conflict developing countries: the case of Liberia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the telecommunications policy process in immediate post-conflict countries and how that process differs from traditional settings. Design/methodology/approach – The authors consider the case of Liberia, a country that recently emerged from a protracted civil war. The authors focus on the Liberian Telecommunications Act of 2007 and the processes through which this act came about by applying a modified research framework. This framework identifies several factors in the literature that are posited to influence the policymaking process in developing countries. The authors also include other factors based on previous studies in post-conflict countries. The aim is to test the usefulness of this framework using the 2007 act. The authors apply it through the use of interviews with key actors in the government, industry, and international agencies. This was supplemented by secondary data from published reports and other sources. Findings – From the framework the authors identify the main factors influencing the telecoms policy making process in Liberia such as a weak and nascent institutional environment, intra-governmental competition, limited human and technical resources, the supportive (especially initially) role of the international actors such as the World Bank, and the dominance of elite groups in decision-making. The authors then make suggestions on overcoming some of existing challenges to the sector. Originality/value – This paper looks at the intersection of research in telecommunications policy, policy processes and post-conflict countries, an area in which there is currently very little work. The results indicate that several dimensions of the framework are germane to the post-conflict case and that some of these observations are also relevant to the future development of telecommunications in these countries.

Open Access Nanotechnology for Developing Countries: Lessons from Open Source Software

Experience has shown that there is no quick fix that enables developing countries to benefit from technological development. Even strategies designed with specific social goals in mind rarely succeed unless there is great attention to the details. For instance some observers have claimed that tight intellectual property (IP) protection prevents developing countries from accessing the benefits of emerging technologies and they should, therefore, develop other strategies. In this chapter, Dhanaraj Thakur explores one such strategy—an “open access” system of IP in developing countries. He uses open source software to illustrate the range of possible property arrangements.