Laura Hosman

Making the transition from pilot to scale: examining sustainability and scalability issues in a public-private telecenter partnership in Sri Lanka

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly the vehicles of choice for the implementation of information and communications technology in the developing world. This is particularly true with regard to locally appropriate, shared-access models such as the telecenter franchise. However, the sustainability and the scalability of such initiatives remain in question. This article examines an innovative PPP project at a crucial developmental point: the period of transition from pilot to scaling stage. It identifies challenges and success factors seldom covered in the literature on such projects, then addresses the question(s) of sustainability and scalability, and explores the advantages of focussing on sub-urban areas and the small-and-medium-enterprise sector of emerging economies.

Policy Considerations from a Nationwide IT-in-Education Initiative: Macedonia Connects

Though information technology (IT) is increasingly touted as an effective tool through which governments may enhance their development efforts, to date, many IT-related deployments have remained in a pilot stage, which does little to aid governments in understanding macro-level IT policy approaches to confronting development challenges. To address this shortcoming, this article presents a unique nationwide initiative: Macedonia Connects, a multipartner, scaled IT-for-education project wherein every school in the country was equipped with both computers and wireless Internet connections and through which the Internet was made available to citizens across the entire country. A number of policy-related aspects of the project are identified and discussed, including the predeployment training of teachers in IT adoption, the equality of technology and training provision across the entire country, the long-term focus on the part of all stakeholders in terms of outcomes, and the business model employed in the public–private partnership. Although it is too early to discuss long-term outcomes, there are many aspects of this case that will be applicable to governments and practitioners alike in future IT-for-development endeavors. Some of Macedonias neighboring states have already indicated interest in following this model.