Source: St Helena Independent – VOLUME XV ISSUE 48, 6th NOVEMBER 2020
A new Telecommunications company is being proposed for St Helena.
Saintel, A Community-Run Non-Profit Internet Service Provider Designed for St Helena
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Authoropenfalklands
Authoropenfalklands
It would be an odd quirk of history if Portugal, responsible for discovering St Helena in 1502 would be the key to everyone on the island from today having access to discovering the rest of the world. It may well be the authorities will fear such liberty and loss of control. Even today despite some internet access and air-travel in and out, you can see that freedom of information still falls short of desired standards. The recent review of the island’s governance has not explored let alone offered many of the other options working well in many small island states around the world.
This proposal ticks many boxes for a successful Foreign Aid intervention, a rarity for St Helena in decades of its ill-fated and under-achieved projects. I cannot comment on the technical aspects but I can on human development factors. Local people have featured from the outset in the problem analysis and derivation of solution process. They therefore have both an interest in the venture as well as a proper share of ownership. These are key factors in not only making this project work but also to help establish the “self-help” method of working instead of the constant failed externally-led “expert-driven” largely-imposed ways that have cultivated the deep dependency mentality – and one of resignation to fate. Let’s hope that this one does not go the way of previous ideas that have not emerged from the usual inner-circles.