Telecentre.org is setting up the first English-language Telecenter Academy in Africa, according to officials.

The academy is being managed through UgaBytes, an East African network for telecenters that will provide telecenter managers with relevant virtual training, according to Meddie Mayanja, Telecentre.org senior program officer.

Africa has one Arabic telecenter in Sudan, which addresses the Arabic telecenters in North Africa compared to Asia and Latin America, which have more than 90 telecenter academies, Mayanja said.

He explained that Telecentre.org's approach has been to create a global community of people and organizations committed to increasing the social and economic impact of grassroots telecenters.

"We provide the resources that telecenters need in order to succeed -- which are locally relevant content and services, support and learning opportunities, and networks that help telecenter activists connect to each other -- but we do not set them up," Mayanja said.

UgaBytes Executive Director Sulah Ndaula said the network has set up a committee with members from national telecenters in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Sudan, Somalia and Tanzania. It is including Zambia so officials there can learn and follow up on activities for the Southern Africa Network of Telecentres (SATNET).

"Our hope is that all the uncoordinated training that has being going on in the region will be professionally coordinated by the academy," said Ndaula.

He described a telecenter as a public place where people can access computers, the Internet and other technologies, and which helps people gather information and communicate with others at the same time as they develop digital skills.

Telecenters exist in almost every country in Africa, although they sometimes go by different names, such as village knowledge centers, info-centers, community technology centers or community multimedia centers.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.