A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Intercom-Ecuanex

Intercom-Ecuanex was formed in 1990, when a group of twenty NGOs collaborated to create an Internet node to provide connectivity to similar organizations. At the time, there was no Internet connection in Ecuador. In the beginning, Intercom only provided e-mail.

Roberto  Roggiero, Intercom-Ecuanex director.

Between 1996 and 2000 Intercom’s organizational objectives evolved. In the early 1990s providing Internet access -- and especially training -- were critical services. Intercom’s work served to popularize the use of the Internet among the progressive NGOs of Ecuador. Later, however, other Internet providers were established, and Intercom’s attention has shifted to training and providing other services.

The broad ambition of Intercom amounts to nothing less than democratizing communications for the disadvantaged people of Ecuador. In this sense Intercom’s goals dovetail with those of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES). CDES calls attention to the area of human rights not guaranteed by political arrangements: health, education, the right to work, food, shelter, and a clean environment. The Internet can provide remote or underserved communities with a short-cut to better education and health care -- as basic human rights as any other.

Intercom’s three main areas of work today are training and capacity building, information services, and communications support for community organizations. Intercom provides several crucial ongoing services to community organizations in Ecuador and the surrounding region. One of the most important of these is its Internet portal to organizations concerned with sustainable development.

In a working relationship with the Amazon Defense Front (FDA), Intercom gives concrete assistance to saving the Oriente. Intercom has been working for several years In the Lago Agrio area to establish "telecenters" -- remote Internet centers that are available to community organizations and the general public -- designed to connect communities and promote grassroots communication. Ultimately, these telecenters will employ computer-to-satellite "VitaSat" technology to serve remote communities that have no electricity or telephone service.

Today a visitor to Quito can hardly walk down the street in the tourist neighborhood without stumbling over an Internet café. But in Lago Agrio, even more than most other towns in the Oriente, Internet service is hard to come by. A few indigenous and human rights organizations have e-mail addresses in Lago Agrio, and Intercom has helped the Amazon Defense Front set up a connection at its headquarters, but it is very difficult to browse the Internet.

Given the difficulties in communication between Lago Agrio and Quito, Lago Agrio could almost qualify as a "remote" area itself, even though it is a small city with electricity, radio, and telephone service. But the communities where the constituency of the Amazon Defense Front lives are truly isolated. Information from these locations reaches Lago Agrio slowly and in an incomplete form, and there is little or no communication among such communities. They are thus left out of the process of decision-making that affects them so strongly

The Internet could be a lifeline to bring the Amazon into the 21st century without destroying the environment. Roads and telephone lines are a first step in the destruction of the Amazon because they encourage colonization and deforestation. With remote internet access, this destructive development could be bypassed without denying remote communities the modern health and educational services they need to survive. Increasing access to communication throughout the region will empower activists to organize and to fight for their rights.

Today, Intercom and the Amazon Defense Front have developed a realistic, workable plan for wiring up the Oriente. The objective of the plan is to make it possible for FDA’s grassroots member communities to make use of Internet technology in order to strengthen their organizations and defend the environment.

• Intercom-Ecuanex tel: (593-22) 234 447 email: intercom@ecuanex.net.ec
• Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)