Information, Education & Communication

In June 2005 Conservation Through Public Health opened the first community Telecentre in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The eco-friendly Telecentre features satellite high-speed 128kbps, solar equipment, voice telephony, laptops, scanner and printer. It enables, for the first time, communication between the outside world and the local population regarding conservation, public health, e-business and sustainable livelihoods.

The CTPH Telecentre hosts basic computer training courses for the local community, teaching Windows, Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, Email and Internet use. This joint venture of Makerere University’s Department of Women and Gender Studies (DWGS)and Conservation Through Public Health is strengthening the DWGS Gender and Technology outreach program to benefit some of the remotest communities in Africa. CTPH is working with Albertine Youth Resource Centre and other community based organization to ensure that local residents are mobilized to use the facility and the basic computer training courses.

The Telecentre provides Internet-based information for the local populations through channels like radio, power point presentations, printed materials, DVDs and Direct Satellite TV. School children come to the center to view programs from the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic.

CTPH envisages that this ongoing process of exposing people to the world of information will gradually empower them to identify and solve problems on their own initiative as the CTPH Telecentre simultaneously addresses poverty alleviation, environmental degradation, and public health improvement.

CTPH has graduated over 10 courses, the students of which were awarded a Certificate in Computer Studies by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Makerere University. Sixty community members have been trained with a 40% female attendance rate for basic computer and vocational training.

The Telecentre is a technology hub in Bwindi that enables ecotourists and institutional users, including UWA, local tour operators and schools to connect to the outside world for personal and business reasons.

CTPH Patron - Her Royal Highness The Queen of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda officially launched the CTPH community Telecentre in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on the 14th of October 2005.