While addressing this disparity is far beyond the scope of any one organisation, for the last three years the Cable and Wireless Jamaica Foundation (CWJF) has been endeavouring to make a difference in this area by setting up 'cyberclubs' to provide access to ICT at the community level.  These facilities, which include personal computers equipped with broad-band Internet service compliments of the CWJF, are bringing the information age within the reach of communities and individuals that have been underserved in this regard.

Empowering for positive effect

"We always hear a lot of talk about all the opportunities that are available because of Information Technology, but for it to be of real benefit to Jamaica, then most of the population will need to have access rather than just small pockets of privilege," says Camille Facey, the CWJF's deputy chairperson.

"This is why - although we know there are many other areas of need - the foundation is focused on facilitating the penetration of IT because we know that it can empower citizens and have a positive effect on economic development," she adds.

The first cyberclub was established in late 2003 at the Athlone Wing of the St. John Golding Rehabilitation Centre in St. Andrew.  Since then, similar facilities have been commissioned at the Scouts Association of Jamaica headquarters on Camp Road in Kingston, the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre in Montego Bay, the Grants Pen Model Community Policing and Services Facility in St. Andrew and the Bible Teachers International Church on Victoria Avenue, Kingston.

At the Athlone Wing, which is home to several physically-challenged young people, the cyberclub is making a vital difference.  The residents, who range in age from eight to 22 years, previously had little or no exposure to information technology and were concerned about the implications for their future.

"These youngsters are confined to wheel chairs so they have particular difficulty accessing computers and most of them felt that they were being left behind," said Pete Smith, a C&W employee volunteer.

Smith, who was involved in outreach work at the Athlone Wing, was instrumental in setting up the club there.  "First, the Jamaica Computer Society brought in computers and then, once the Foundation was up and running, we jumped at the chance to give them high speed Internet access and some additional Pcs (personal computers)."

The cyberclub in Flankers has been a godsend for students at all levels and members of the wider community.  "There is a great demand for the Internet here because even our primary school students need it for their assignments," said Marilyn McIntosh Nash, director of the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre.

"If we didn't have our cyberclub, students would have to go into Montego Bay and some of their parents can hardly find lunch money to send them to school much less the taxi fare for them to be travelling back and forth to do their homework," she adds.

At the Scouts Association headquarters, the cyberclub also serves students from several communities in the vicinity of South Camp Road.  Additionally, the Scouts Association has made the facility available for charitable groups involved in IT-related social outreach.

"This summer, Youth Opportunities Unlimited used it to teach students from the inner-city computer skills.  We had children from August Town, Fletchers Land and Mountain View and they spent their summer learning to use the computers," Delva Brissett, who manages the facility at the Scouts Association headquarters said.

The cyberclub at the Bible Teachers International Church on Victoria Avenue, which serves several communities in East Kingston, is attracting another kind of student.  The Club's coordinator, Hugh Walsh, said individuals who were previously reluctant to attend adult literacy classes have been shedding their inhibitions since the church began offering computer-based training programmes.

"Sometimes people are embarrassed about being in a traditional literacy class and they wouldn't come, but when we started using the computers it was more like they were doing a computer course and that made them feel better about themselves," he explained.

In the once volatile Grant's Pen community, where residents recently marked the passage of an entire year without the occurrence of a homicide, Pastor Ian Muirhead, chairman of the Police Community Management Committee and who runs the community's cyberclub, noted that the facility is helping to improve social relations in the community.

Located in the new Grants Pen Community Services Complex, the club, which is housed in the same building as the community police station, has been helping to ease the once strained relationship between the police and residents.

"It is providing a medium for interaction between residents - especially the younger people - and the police, and it's a place where the community members and the police have been getting to know each other better," he said.

In addition to establishing cyberclubs in various communities, the CWJF partners with over 30 community-based organisations involved in community development and Information Technology-based training, facilitating free broadband access and the provision of computers to enhance their existing programmes.

In striving to fulfil its mandate the foundation is aiming to bring additional community Internet facilities on stream by early next year.  The organisation will also continue to offer free Internet service to all primary and secondary schools and work with both the public and private sector as well as other individuals and organisations involved in promoting access to ICT, in order to ensure that a broader cross section of the population is able to benefit from the digital age.

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