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NABC
Needs: Our client is Intel’s department of health education in developing countries. The Intel HED group’s goal is to bring health education and services to the outer reaches of developing countries around the world. This project is focused on a specific telecenter in Uganda that is owned and operated by UDS. Intel’s needs are to design opportunities for health education in the existing telecenter in Kamuli. Intel is targeting health care workers as well as the general public as the primary audience. The initial market size will be the town of Kamuli and its surrounding residence, Intel would like to keep an eye on further expansion/scalable opportunities to other regions of Uganda as well as other countries such as India.
Approach: We plan to initiate a complete center redesign to optimize the space to include health learning for both group and individual learners. We will restrict the center's footprint to the current real-estate, but otherwise do not intend to limit our creative use of materials, technology, human resources in our design. We aspire to create an end-product that will serve as a point of inspiration for our client, not a final design for wholesale implementation.
Our design focuses on creating four distinct spaces, using the following verbs as our framework: CONNECT, LEARN, CREATE, EMPOWER (telecentre.org, From the Ground Up). For community events and informal gatherings, we will revitalize the courtyard. For individuals who prefer traditional media, we will expand the library to include both health-related material and quiet reading space. The store will serve both in-house customers as well as passing traffic on the thoroughfare. Finally, we will create a customizable learner space that - via a sliding wall - enables simultaneous individual and group classroom use. When the wall is collapsed, the space can be used as an expanded classroom or as an expanded individual computer cafe. Given the sensitivities regarding health content, we plan to include several innovations (e.g. computer monitor shields, headphones) that improve privacy. Additionally the learner space will be designed for comfort and to scaffold tech understanding to minimize barriers to learning about health.
Benefits: Intel will provide improved computing resources allowing users to access more complete health resources. Improvements to technology, aesthetics, and comfort level will benefit all users. Benefits for individual learners include: increased health care knowledge, ability to research health topics in privacy, and increased potential for social exchange and learning around healthcare and other topics. Benefits for groups of learners (especially healthcare workers) include: setup that accommodates large and small class sizes, incorporation of physical artifacts to aid in healthcare demonstrations, and learner-centered classroom design that encourages active, participatory learning.
Competition: While it is difficult to assess the competition in a village and country none of the designers has ever visited, we believe that the combination of services and amenities offered in our design of the telecentre will uniquely appeal to health care practitioners as well as the general public. It is our understanding that at least one other telecentre exists in Kamuli that provides roughly the same services that the UDS telecentre currently provides. In addition, as the telecentre movement grows, other technology organizations, both national and international, are entering the field with a vision to use technology to improve the quality of health care services in Uganda. As a result, our approach to the redesign of the UDS telecentre incorporates flexibility and a wide variety of applications, such as a collaborative learning classroom, a storefront, a library and a communal gathering place. The CHES group has researched telecentres around the world and found that they offer many services, including continuing education, internet access, banking, guest rooms, and tutoring, among others. We believe that by improving the services already offered at the telecentre and introducing a number of new services, we will provide an engaging, comfortable and eminently useful center for our clients.
Competition from other telecentres is certainly one factor that can impact this project. However, we believe that sustainability is an even bigger challenge. A great number of telecentres in Uganda and other developing countries have had to close their doors because of limited funding, high costs, lack of use, staff turnover and limited training, as well as donor/investor pull-out. Since Intel’s commitment to UDS will end after two years, our challenge is to incorporate design strategies that enhance community involvement and participation, thereby ensuring the telecentre’s sustainability after Intel’s departure.