CARINET: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FOR THE THIRD WORLD
VIA COMPUTER CONFERENCING
by Linda Maldonado


CARINET has been developed under the aegis of Partnership for Productivity, International (PFP) to serve the economic development interests of the Third World. The story that follows shows the impact of CARINET in successful enterprise development.

A potter in Malawi, Africa, had the idea that he could
make electric insulators to go on the top of telephone
poles. At that time, insulators were being imported,
and costing the telephone company the additional
freight and costing the country the exodus of scarce
capital.

While the potter thought he could make them, he was
unsure of the proper mix and proportion of materials.
The material has to have a low electrical conductivity
to isolate and support a charged conductor--like glass
or porcelain.

Through a PFP project in Malawi, he was able to access
CARINET, ask for help, and quickly receive the correct
technical information on how to make the insulators.

Today, he makes and sells the insulators to the Malawi
telephone system. In addition, Malawi will soon be
benefiting by exporting the insulators to
neighboring countries in Africa.


GENESIS
=======

As Jerry tells it, he was leaving the Caribbean island of Dominica at the end of his PFP field assignment, when he was asked what it would take to get him to *stay* on. He replied, "Give me a good computer conferencing system and I can be anywhere." He later created the first Third World computer conferencing network to make that statement a reality.

CARINET was designed to introduce the communications age to the Third World, creating inexpensive, fast, and reliable data communications for technology transfer among Third World countries and the rest of the world.

Nearly three years old, CARINET has never been subsidized--it is completely sustained by user fees.


MEMBERSHIP
==========

PFP introduces new EIES accounts to CARINET members, providing the value-added service of PFP staff support, network development and management. New users receive support and training in the use of computer conferencing from traveling PFP field staff and from experienced CARINET users. This user support effort is an expansion of PFP's already significant field presence in the Third World.

CARINET is serving the communications needs of over 100 international and indigenous development organizations, making it the largest computer conference of Third World development groups. Its members represent a range of government and quasi-government agencies, as well as private corporations who are in the business of technology transfer for entrepreneurial applications.


FEATURES
========

CARINET members utilize the network for a variety of program coordination and management purposes, saving costs normally expended for telex, phone and travel. Members have access to a number of conferences and databases, as well as a system-wide bulletin board and electronic mail. In addition to technology transfer, typical member applications include:

* headquarters-to-field-office communications

* coordination among affiliated organizations

* writing development project proposals with input and
comment from people at widely dispersed locations

* negotiating and modifying contracts


For more information on CARINET and Partnership for Productivity, International, call 202-483-0067, in Washington DC.

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Author's note: Linda Maldonado is Director of New Technologies
Institute, a division of Metasystems Design Group in Washington,
D.C. She is currently conducting research to develop case
examples of successful applications of PC and communications
technology to the solution of business problems; she expects to
publish the results later this year.