Mosteiros Internet Cafe

Project Title

Executive Agents

Location

Satellite Photo of Location

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Background

In July 2008, the only Internet cafe serving the area of Queimada Guincho closed its doors. This has left roughly 600 residents without any locally available access to the Internet.

A 30 minute walk away in Igreja, three Internet cafes open in the morning and close down at 4pm. Although Igreja functions as the commercial and institutional center of town, more people live in Quiemada and other neighboring areas. When the workday comes to an end, most residents head for their homes and Igreja falls silent.

There is a directly observed need within the community for Internet access. People living in Quiemada can and do travel to Igreja in order to use the Internet at one of the several cafes operating there. And people all over Mosteiros are Internet literate and eager to gather for computer and Internet literacy classes.

For nearly everyone in this area, a computer with an Internet connection in the home is prohibitively expensive. There is no publicly available Internet access in all of Mosteiros after 4pm.

A private enterprise is an agile and effective way to respond to this need. This document proposes a privately funded and operated Internet café for the area of Queimada Guincho.

Objectives

Location of Mosteiros in Cape Verde

• Attain consistent profitability, thus laying the basis for sustainability.
• Create access to the information, learning opportunities, and communications media of the Internet, within the host community.
• Grow community members’ familiarity with abstract computing and Internet concepts.
• Give community members the opportunity to self-teach specialized skills such as academic research techniques, email and instant messaging, and usage of word processor and spreadsheet software.
• Create a physical space for future development projects in the community.
• Enrich communication between residents of Mosteiros and the Cape Verdean diaspora by delivering access to affordable voice calls.
• Generate sufficient revenue to allow physical expansion, offering the potential to replicate the same development objectives in surrounding areas.

Justification

This project brings the community access to a wide array of tools and resources which were previously unavailable. This makes community members, particularly youth, better equipped to seek opportunities for postsecondary education, and to compete directly in a modernizing economy.

The project directly fulfills Business Development objectives of Peace Corps Small Enterprise Development (SED) project framework:

Objective 2.1 (Business management skills)
Advising and training individuals and groups on business management skills.
Objective 2.2 (ICT skills)
Training individuals and groups in ICTs.
Objective 2.3 (Linkages)
Helping establish local, regional, national and international linkages.

The café’s physical space creates opportunities for computer and Internet literacy projects that will transfer more business management and ICT skills to members of the community.

The café will offer affordable international phone calls via VOIP. Along with email and instant messaging, this builds the communication between community members and the Cape Verdean diaspora.

The project creates employment opportunities for local Cape Verdeans and strengthens the domestic economy.

Feasibility is demonstrated by the previous Internet cafe in the area. It shut down not due to its failure as a business, but rather as a result of the owner moving out of the area.

Beneficiaries

Direct Beneficiaries

Indirect Beneficiaries

Duration

Budget

Activities

Create bank account

Validate budget with CVTelecom

Post project materials

Request funding

Choose location

Ship computers

Purchase furniture

Purchase Vonage voip box

Purchase phones

Set up Internet account

Print sign

Set up client/server software

Marketing - Print, radio

Plan, schedule and publicize classes 

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