Bulawayo Wards go online

Written by Lewis Jones - ZDDT Field Correspondent Thursday, 18 March 2010 14:33

ZDDT to help enhance community communication.



Bulawayo, Zimababwe - In a move that is set to revolutionalise the manner by which residents in Bulawayo’s disadvantaged Wards communicate, ZDDT has devised an innovative initiative, which will ensure that people in those areas have easy access to E-Mail.

Mr. Simon Spooner, the Trust’s National Development Officer, revealed this development to staff members during a recent weekly office meeting.

He said that at its initial stages, the plan entailed establishing at least one E-mail address in the targeted Wards.

Thereafter, every one of these would receive appropriate funding, together with a ‘flash drive’ or ‘memory stick’ for data storage. The money would enable residents in their particular areas to utilise 2 hours of online time, each week.

Internet access will be via various internet cafe's in Bulawayo.

Mr. Spooner said that once the scheme becomes fully operational, there would be a good probability for expanding it to the numbers of these convenience centres.

Those concerned would eventually be able to use such facilities for communicating with each other, but more essentially, they’d have the opportunity to pay utility bills and other expenses without having to travel over long distances.

The scheme, which is to be known as “The Integrated CAT Information Centres Programme,” ensues from weeks of careful planning by ZDDTs office team.

Its funding will be courtesy of ECEZ, pending that organisation’s approval of the relevant budget.