In an article for ICT Update, Tobias Eigen explains how Kabissa has adapted its email services to meet the changing needs of its members. ICT Update focuses on themes relevant to ICTs for agricultural and rural development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, and features four commissioned articles. The printed bulletin also contains a selection of relevant links and projects and a ‘Question and Answer’ section, taken from the website. Read the article at the ICT Update Web site.



It used to be that email was considered simply a tool, like a fax machine. Now, with the proliferation of free email services on the web, each offering its own identity and user-friendly features, email has become much more. It is a safe haven, a home, on the web.


As the nature of email has changed, Kabissa, an organization providing technology assistance to people in areas with poor Internet infrastructure in Africa, has changed its focus as well. Five years ago, email was seen not only as a communications tool, but also as a revolutionary means for accessing essential information on the web. Through services such as Kabissa’s www4mail server, users could email requests for web pages and receive them as email attachments they could view offline. They were therefore able to limit their time online, thus reducing their costs, while still accessing critical information.

In recent years, however, all this has changed as people worldwide are spending more time online. Even development professionals and activists in rural areas are increasingly relying on webmail, a web interface that allows users to read and write email using a web browser. This development is indicative of a major shift in the way the Internet is used. Not only are people spending more time online, but when they are online, their focus is increasingly on email itself. The staff of the 900 civil society organizations that are members of Kabissa’s network are willing to travel several hours on a regular basis to get to a web connection. When they finally manage to get online, the first thing they do is go straight to their webmail, to check whether a friend or colleague has sent them a message. Only after they have taken care of the most urgent emails do they venture out to explore what more the Internet has to offer them and their organization.

Adapting to change

In response to these changes in Internet use, in 2004 we shut down the Kabissa www4mail server after four years of operation. Email is no longer a tool for accessing the web – for many, whether in New York or Lagos, the foothills of Mount Kenya or Soweto, it has become an end in itself. Yet for many, particularly in rural areas, the web remains unknown territory – not everyone knows how to search for the information and opportunities it offers. Although rural professionals have the most to gain, since they have few other reliable channels of information to choose from, it is a challenge for them to learn how to use the web for anything but casual browsing.

Kabissa has therefore developed an approach that capitalizes on the popularity of email, while also seeking to deepen and professionalize our members’ use of the Internet. Because our members have become so comfortable with email, we encourage them to join online communities with electronic newsletters to get timely information by email, and we provide personalized technical support via email for our website hosting services. At the core, however, is our training programme, which combines self-learning materials with hands-on workshops to promote the idea that organizations must gradually build their Internet skills and use those Internet tools most appropriate for their own priorities, communities and environment.

Even in the most remote areas, people are feeling more at home with email. Organizations like Kabissa have an obligation to respond to this new way of using the Internet. Recognizing the priority our members and others have placed on email, we owe them opportunities to become more efficient in its use, to learn to exploit its full potential, and then to venture outside into the wide world of the web, armed with tools and skills appropriate to their communities and their needs.

Tobias Eigen is founder and co-executive director of Kabissa. For more information, visit www.kabissa.org or write to info@kabissa.org.

This project was first featured in ICT Update 10, March 2003


More email solutions
Loband offers those who continue to struggle with slow or unreliable Internet connections with an online tool that simplifies web pages for faster downloading.

Web access via email:www4mail and Getweb allow users with limited Internet access or email-only connections to retrieve specific web pages by email. To obtain instructions on how to benefit from the service, send a message to getweb@usa.healthnet.org or www4mail@wm.ictp.trieste.it with the word ‘help’ in the body of the message.

Javelin combines wide-reach wireless narrowband radio technology with software that makes websites and emails available to schools in Ghana through local mirroring/caching.

Online communities and e-newsletters
Kabissa: Besides training and website hosting, Kabissa’s member organizations can exchange information and learn about ICT news and opportunities around the continent via the monthly Gong Gong Newsletter – visit www.kabissa.org/newsletter.

Pambazuka News is a popular e-newsletter that offers a weekly round-up of news on human rights, social justice, conflicts, health, the environment, development, the Internet, literature and the arts in Africa. Sign up at www.pambazuka.org or send an email to editor@pambazuka.org.