Telecentres in postal offices: Another innovation of the Philippine Commission on ICT

Deployment of equipment at one of the pilot sites

The Philippine Community eCenter Program, spearheaded by the Commission on ICT (CICT), will be expanding its reach by making use of existing postal offices as telecentre service delivery channels.

This development is a product of the partnership agreement inked by the CICT and the Philippine Postal Corporation during the launch of the “Get Online Philippines!” campaign (inspired by Telecentre Europe's Get Online Day initiative) in June in commemoration of national ICT month in the country.

The partnership agreement covers the piloting of said initiative in six postal offices in different parts of the country. It seeks to promote community development through the use of ICT for effective and efficient governance by making use of existing government infrastructure. As such, the pilot postal offices will serve as telecentres (locally branded as Community eCenters or CeCs) and will offer various telecentre tools and products on top of their existing postal services.

Relative to this, the designated staff of each of the six pilot sites will be made to undergo the necessary training for CeC knowledge workers under the telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy. In addition, the pilot sites will also be provided with equipment and one-year Internet connectivity grants to help the new telecentres get off the ground.

For other updates on the Philippine CeC Program, visit http://www.philcecnet.ph.

Tags: CeC, Commission on ICT, Community eCenter, Philippine Postal Corporation, innovation, philippines