MachaWorks LinkNet Programme

MachaWorks programming is organised around eight 'focus units', including transport, bio-energy, building, education and health. One of these eight units is LinkNet. In 2003, LinkNet started with a VSAT link that offered download speeds of up to 128 kbps. The system was upgraded in 2011. The required technology is installed in sea containers that are connected to a satellite dish. The internet link is distributed throughout the community via a wireless local area network (WLAN). There are more than 100 wireless access points offering connectivity to both offices and homes. The technological solution offered by LinkNet is simple and based on local needs of the rural community. The infrastructure was chosen because it is cheap and affordable when parts are needed to be replaced in the future.

In 2004 Macha was looking to speed up the process of distributing the information acquired through the internet to all members of the community, particularly those who did not yet have web access. For seven years, they lobbied for a local radio licence. In 2011, the community FM radio station started broadcasting, reaching villages within an 80-km radius. Local people decide what programmes to broadcast, based on the priorities of the day and their own research. Villagers also set up a video channel on YouTube to spread their ideas and successes.

To support the development of skills in the community, Macha Works established a training institute in early 2004. Known as the LinkNet Information Technology Academy, it was initially housed in storage rooms and later moved to purpose-built facilities. The community is also working with tertiary level institutes such as the University of Zambia. This has brought many national and international students to the area to work on applied research projects in various aspects of rural development. There are now projects covering agriculture, energy, engineering, transport, finance, and management.

According to MachaWorks, as well as having a channel to communicate with friends and family outside of the community, access to the technology produced a difference in agricultural practices. For example, one community member found information on the web about sunflower farming, and decided to give it a go. A few years later, sunflower farming has blossomed in the village and it is now the community’s second most important cash crop.

The Macha Works model shows that people’s decisions to stay in rural areas are linked to opportunities to learn and develop. A good standard of education and an entrepreneurial learning environment are key factors that help villages and small communities to hold on to their local talent. The process evolved in three fundamental steps: 1) internet connectivity, which expanded relationships through the ability to communicate; 2) encouraging the use of locally available skills; 3) support of community initiated ideas.

According to MachaWorks, because the whole community was involved, with its health institution, schools, entrepreneurs, and professionals, the high cost of internet connectivity is shared, and the expense becomes bearable. Institutions and donor-organisations came together in public–private partnerships to provide funds for the initial investment. Donors also subsidised the sending of large consignments of second-hand computers for use in health and education programmes. Users pay through a voucher system, which varies according to how much they use. This has enabled LinkNet to break even over the past few years in their not-for-profit-not-for-loss endeavour.

New technologies, Rural Development

Macha, in southern Zambia, is 70 km from the nearest town, Choma, and 380 km by road from the capital city, Lusaka. The village is set in open savannah woodland around 1100 meters above sea level, and receives seasonal rainfall. Traditional villagers live in small, scattered homesteads. According to MachaWorks, surveys and measurements show that Macha has an active internet community of around 200 individuals, 67% of whom are online for more than three hours a day. Half the users access the internet from home, and 71% use it frequently to surf the web for educational purposes.

Seven rural communities in Zambia and one in Zimbabwe have now started their own cooperative activities, including developing rural internet access. These have come about through working with, for instance, the Zambia House of Chiefs, and through an active, open invitation to other communities to be supported and trained. As many as 40 other rural communities in the country are either in the process of learning more about Macha Works, and establishing their own Works, or already developing local skills to put the holistic programme into action.