CARIBBEAN INTEGRATION THROUGH INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE (CARITIN) A PROJECT OF THE FOUNDATION NETWORKS AND DEVELOPMENT (FUNREDES) First Draft, October, 7th 1993 1-INTRODUCTION The Caribbean Region is commonly defined as an area of 24 island countries plus 4 mainland countries maintaining close ties with the Caribbean islands (Guyana, Belize, Surinam and French Guyane) N1. The 28 countries represent a total population of 35 millions, covering a total area of 727 000 km2. The population shares a common geographic and climatic area and a complex cultural background where commonalities and specificities are equally important. The relative cultural homogeneity emerged as a product of various factors: -the common climatic conditions, -the remaining pre-colombian heritage N2, -the colonial European history (French, Spanish, British, French and Dutch), -the large forced migrations from Africa, -the natural migrations from other regions (in particular India), and the relatively rapid (although uneven) melting of the various components, from which emerge a culture of "metissage" specific to the Caribbean. There are however large differences between the Caribbean countries: -In term of land area: from Guyana (215 000 km2) to Anguilla (91 km2). The 23 island countries cover only 235 000 km2 (88% of which is shared by the 4 larger islands: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Porto Rico), while the mainland countries cover 492 000 km2. -In term of population: from Anguilla's 8000 inhabitants to Cuba's 12 millions. -In term of political status: 16 independent countries, one territory dependent on the Netherlands (Aruba, Curacao, the Dutch part of St Marteen N5, St Eustatius and Saba), two on the United States (US Virgin Island and Porto Rico), three on France _______________ N1: A larger definition encompasses countries like Venezuela and Colombia which hold tight economic and cultural relationships. A more larger definition incorporates the set of countries around the Caribbean Basin, thus including Centro America and Mexico. N2: Solely in mainland countries survived some original indian populations N5: The other part belongs to the French department of Guadeloupe (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane), and five on the United Kingdom (Caiman Islands, Turk and Caicos, UK Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Anguilla). -In term of level of economic development: from Haiti's US$ 320 GNP per head to the Bahamas US$ 12 000. The Caribbean countries are also divided by several factors: -the geographic factor: island and mainland countries scattered on the vast area of the Caribbean Basin, -the linguistic factor: three main blocks (Spanish, English and French) plus Dutch and Creoles, -the geopolitical factor: influence of the United States and of the European countries, -the economic factor: competition for tropical exports and tourism, lack of complementarity. The current world evolution which shows the emergence of two opposite trends (the grouping of regions within economical common structure and, in parallel, the demand of recognition from cultural minorities) is of particular acuity in that region where the touristic flows increase at the same speed as the volume of emigration. The progress of the NAFTA arises concerns within the region and should also act as an indirect integration incentive. For all countries of the area, the prospect for development lies on a better cultural, economic and political integration. Annex 1 and 2 show, for each country, the political status, the basic indicators and the level of participation in existing integration schemes (Lom‚ IV, CARICOM, OECS, CBI). 2-INTEGRATION BARRIERS A first level diagnostic shows that languages differences are not the mere explanation for difficulties in integration, since divisions exist inside common linguistic areas. The main barrier to overcome the politic and economic resistances and the first obstacle to the Caribbean integration process rather lies in the lack of organized regional communication. The numerous intents to seed the integration process at the cultural level present the characteristics to come short in term of momentum and consequent follow-up. The important efforts made at the economic level (Lom‚ Convention, OECS, and, above all, Caricom) have not yet reach the point of triggering a global integration process (the Caribbean Basin Initiative should not be taken as an integration program but rather as an export and investment development scheme. Beside the Caribbean culture and its natural tendency to make people take their time in every aspect of their social life, apart some understandable fear about regional competition, the weakness of the global outcome of the various actions is better explained by the very poor level of regional communication. Each country is mostly oriented, in term of communication, toward one of the related foreign countries. In term of Science and Technology, little is done to share with the neighbor country (except maybe within the English speaking area, particularly trough the University of West Indies, which have campuses in various places). The existing integration efforts have to struggle against the difficulties for day to day intra-Caribbean communication which represent a painful and critical overhead. At the difference of other regions, the essence of the Caribbean makes the concept of frontier rather inapplicable, thus preventing the natural mechanism which, from commerce and personal direct dealing make two countries sharing a frontier start develop some kind of articulation and feeling of belonging to the same commercial zone. It is significant to observe that the sea and air means of transportation usually show a star topology which makes the travel distance between two countries equal to the diameter of the circle (except touristic operations where the only integration which occurs is that of the perspective of visiting persons, realizing after several stops that, as different as they may appear, these people share, not always consciously, a lot of commonality). The diagnostic is clear and neat: what is lacking is a transport infrastructure! Useless to state the right direction to solve the problem is not necessarily to start by sea or air transportation (forget about terrestrial...), but rather by information highways. The existence of an organized information infrastructure would effect considerably the future of this region and may even drive the launching of more conventional transportation systems... The new information and communication technologies represents a unique opportunity to tight the relationships between Caribbean people, arise consciousness on their common background, level up the motivation for common actions, boost the productivity of current actions, and eventually drive political changes in the common interest of the countries sharing this tropical area. An effective strategy to reach the whole community is to target growing and concentric circles from the intellectual communities (scientists and cultural oriented), to socially important communities (health, education...), the business, the politic, and the rest of the population (somehow like the Internet is emerging). The building of an information infrastructure, by its nature, must go much beyond the scope of the transmission and the transport layer of networks and focus primarily the couple "users/services". The two main priorities, beside the realization of effective and efficient information transport mechanisms, are: 1) to identify, organize and train the information users so that they could gain benefits of the new information era; 2) to organize the information services within the region. The subsequent project, based on field actions already executed in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and supported by an explicit and proven methodology (see references 3), aims to concentrate on the construction of an information infrastructure within the Caribbean with a deliberate focus on users and services. 3-BASICS OF THE PROJECTS The project consists in creating, in each country, a national information network for the research and academic community (extensible to other sectors), with the following main focus: -the creation of open, participative and pluralistic user groups, -the systematic dissemination of the information services and preparation of users, -the systematic organization of electronic conferences and directories oriented toward regional objectives, -the systematic organization of information bases oriented toward regional objectives. The subregional integration factor will be present in each element: -the methodology for creation of user groups integrate as a prime factor the relationship with the other countries of the region (starting by the closest), -the user training workshop are organized for groups of countries, thus allowing contacts and further partnerships, -the choice of applications, conferences and directories is driven by the integration factor. The linguistic factor is clearly a key element of the project. The project has to consider three languages as mandatory: Spanish, English and French. However, in order to go beyond the overhead represented by this point, the project must commit to deeply incorporate the recent developments in automatic language translation (which, by the way, could find in the electronic highways a field of experiment particularly appropriate). The project is divided in five parts (two of which have already been done, and one being under process): A- The elaboration of a specific methodology for building national academic and research networks. This step has already been completed (see references 3). The methodology needs only to be adjusted depending of the most recent technological changes and local conditions. B- The realization of the Dominican Republic national network, with a strong integration factor with Haiti. This step is already done: the user group has been organized, users has received training, and basic e-mail is functioning since 1.5 years. Some further steps are required such as the installation of full Internet capacity and the organizing of the application layer. See references 4.2 and 4. 3 for more details. C- The realization of the Haitian national research network, with a strong integration factor with Dominican Republic. The plan was to do it together with the Dominican network. The political turmoils in Haiti made it very difficult. Few months ago, the project restarted with more strength, the progress are now consistent (a group has be formed with experimental Internet access, an electronic conference started, and soon some 50 users will be installed). A decisive move should be undertaken with the forecasted return of democracy. The project is all set-up but budgets are required to organize the technical solutions. The first level of evaluation of the amount of budget required to cover the full process is in the order of 200,000 US$. The estimated duration for completion evaluated at 6 months. See references 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 for more details. D- The CARITIN project feasibility study. Create the ground for the project: -Establish the criterias for selecting a representative group of countries (it is estimated that the number shall be around 10). -Evaluate the regional integration levels (information, human and economic flows). -Identify the intra Caribbean cooperation institutions, public and private. -Identify the current and planned projects having some level of connexity. -Diagnostic the situation specific to each country in term of research, information, telecommunications, information and transport networks. -Make the appropriate contacts and identify project partners and user group foundations. -Provide a stage plan for the user and services project. Define precisely the budget and the development plan. The first level evaluation for the feasibility study budget turns around 200,000 US$: -Travel and per diems: 40,000 -Expertise: 100,000 -Consultants: 60,000 The proposed team for the feasibility study is (see Resumes in attached document: EXPERTS: Daniel Pimienta, general manager, methodological and technical matters (F,S,E N4) Senaida Jansen, cultural and associative matters, (S,F,E) Pablo Liendo, user and services matters (S,E) CONSULTANTS: Jean Marie Burgaud, economic matters (F,S,E) Michel Perdreau, information and documentation matters (E, F, S) Rafael Colon, networking matters (S, E) Pedro Ure¤a, linguistic and cultural matters (S, F, E) The duration for completion is estimated at 9 months. PARTNERS: Some Organizations have already announce their interest in participating in the CARITIN project (UNESCO/CRESALC, FAO, ENDA-CARIBE, CIECA, CERLAC) and could participate in their respective fields of competence. E-A User group step. In each participating country, help federate the various institutions of the Science and Technology domain into a non-profit association scheme. Help create the conditions for participation of the institutions and the end-users in a national priority task. Duration= 18 months F-An application step. in each participating country, create the conditions for the installation of national data bases accessible from the Internet and start a set of pilot application oriented projects. Duration= 18 months The differences in the step of development of the various countries argue for a moderate level of overlap between the tasks: Year x Year x Year x 1 2 3 ^________._________^_________._________^_________.__________^ AAAAAAAAAA BBBBBBBBBBBBBB CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD _______________ N4: E=English, S=Spanish, E=French 4-BACKGROUNDS/ANTECEDENTS The development of research networks in the Caribbean has not been driven by a pattern of commonality. The main lines are: -Porto Rico started long ago and is now in a very advanced stage (full Internet capability, internal fiber optic, 2 connections at 64kbps to the USA). -Cuba started a decisive effort in 1991 and the network is well in term of user growth. The network is still UUCP only and the experiment is suffering at the level of the external connectivity. There is a strong expressed will for sub regional cooperation. -Dominican Republic started, based on the Redalc methodology, in 1991 and the growth followed the forecasted pattern. Plans are being made to go full Internet and open the room for applications. -For the English speaking islands, there is a project, funded by OAS and executed by the Porto Rico University named CUNET (Caribbean University Networks). The project concentrates in the minimum transport and transmission infrastructure (a UUCP node connected to Porto Rico by dial-up connections). OAS pays for the Porto Rico expertise in installation and training technicians, for the travel expenses of the team and for the dial-up connections. Besides the classical star scheme for the connections, the main limitations of the project is the lack of user and institutional policy. The growth is unpredictable and highly dependent of the personality of the selected technicians. There is no systematic survey of the user base, the impression from the user point of view, is that the user base is limited, except in Surinam, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago where a stronger growth is reported. -Guadeloupe integrated EARN France after a very long and cumbersome process. Also, there is an Orstom Rio connection. Martinique is not yet connected. -In Haiti, following the REDALC methodology, the effort started last May, and is very promising. -We are aware of some efforts based on BBS technology, sometimes with link to the Internet (Ambionet from ECLAC, Jamaica). Caricom is managing, with the support of IDRC a project oriented toward decision makers with an expressed will for the creation of a subregional backbone for network transmissions. -Also there is an active USENET group on Caribbean cultures gathering some 50 people from the region. FUNREDES have openned few months ago three electronic conferences (in CONICIT.VE) which are progressively gaining activities: SALSA@CONICIT.VE, for the whole Caribbean, KISKEYA, for the Dominican Republic, HAITI-L for Haitoi, ECOCARIB (for CIECA), about economical matters on the Caribbean and TRAMIL (for ENDA) about medicinal plants. In term of cooperation or integration from networking the only relevant actions are: -REDALC Workshop, user and institution oriented (concerning Porto Rico, Haiti and Dominican Republic) -REDID project (Dominican Republic) with cooperation with Venezuela, Porto Rico, Haiti and Cuba. -CUNET Workshop, technician oriented -A Caribbean Network Integration Workshop was organized by the Redalc Office in cooperation with Cuba CENIAI and Venezuela (CONICIT). The project was ready to be started (see reference 4.9), but local circumstances in Cuba obliged to cancel. However most of the material is still usable, and it is forecasted to restart the idea during the next LAyC networking regional meeting scheduled in Caracas, October 93. 5-FUNDING STRATEGY. The size of the projects and the diversity of the countries involved call for a non unique source funding mechanism: the EEC (Lom‚ Convention), Canada and the USA should be invited to participate. 6-ANNEX 1: Caribbean countries political status, basic indicators Source: Jean Marie Burgaud ________________________________________________________________________ COUNTRIES POLITICAL AREA POPUL. GNP/ HIGHER STATUS KM2 1990 CAPITA EDUCATION (2) 1990 ENROLMENT US$ (3) (5) ________________________________________________________________________ ANGUILLA UK 91 7000 na na ANTIGUA & BERMUDA IND (UK,1981) 440 65000 4600 na ARUBA NETHERLANDS 250 61000 na na BAHAMAS IND (UK,1973) 13940 247000 4900 4900 BARBADOS IND (UK,1966) 430 255000 6540 5227 BELIZE IND (UK,1981) 22960 189000 1970 na CAIMAN ISLANDS UK 259 27000 na na CUBA IND (SPAIN, 1898) 110860 10608000 2972 (4) na DOMINICA IND (UK, 1978) 750 72000 1940 60 DOMINICAN Rep. IND (SPAIN, 1844) 48444 7170000 820 123745 GRENADA IND (UK,1981) 340 91000 2120 535 GUADELOUPE FRANCE 1779 390000 na na GUYANA IND (UK, 1966) 214970 796000 370 2328 FRENCH GUYANA FRANCE 91000 98000 na na HAITI IND (FRANCE, 1804) 28000 6486000 370 6829 JAMAICA IND (UK, 1962) 10990 2420000 1510 12504 MARTINIQUE FRANCE 1101 360000 na na MONTSERRAT UK 100 11000 na na NETHERL. ANTILLES NETHERLANDS (1) 740 175000 na na PORTO RICO USA 9104 3530000 na na St KITTS & NEVIS IND (UK, 1983) 270 42000 3340 167 ST LUCIA IND (UK, 1979) 620 133000 1900 367 ST VINCENT IND (UK, 1979) 340 107000 1610 736 SURINAME IND (NETH., 1975) 163265 422000 3050 3402 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO IND (UK, 1962) 5130 1236000 3470 4939 TURKS & CAICOS UK 430 12000 na na UK VIRGIN ISLANDS UK 150 16000 na na US VIRGIN ISLANDS USA 344 107000 na na _________________________________________________________________________ (1) Two leeward islands (Curacao and Bonaire) plus three windward islands (Dutch part of St Martenn, St Eustatius and Saba) (2) Source: CELADE (Centro Latinoamricano de Demografia) (3) Source: World Bank (Social Indicators of Development) (4) Global Social Product at official rate of PS 1= US$ 1 (5) Source: Unesco, Statistical Yearbook, 1990 (years 85-86) 7-ANNEX 2: Caribbean countries participation in integration schemes Source: Jean Marie Burgaud __________________________________________________________________ RELATION WITH THE EC CARICOM OECS CBI LOME IV EC TERITORY OCT __________________________________________________________________ ANGUILLA * ANTIGUA & BERMUDA * * * * ARUBA * BAHAMAS * * * BARBADOS * * * BELIZE * * * CAIMAN ISLANDS * CUBA DOMINICA * * * * DOMINICAN Rep. * observer * GRENADA * * * * GUADELOUPE * GUYANA * * * FRENCH GUYANA * HAITI * observer * JAMAICA * * * MARTINIQUE * MONTSERRAT * * * NETHERL. ANTILLES * * PORTO RICO associated St KITTS & NEVIS * * * * ST LUCIA * * * * ST VINCENT * * * * SURINAME * TRINIDAD & TOBAGO * * * TURKS & CAICOS * UK VIRGIN ISLANDS * US VIRGIN ISLANDS associated _________________________________________________________________________ 8-ANNEX 3: LIST OF ACRONYMS BBS: Buletin Board System, structured information consultable by calling a computer via telephone lines. CARICOM: Caribbean Community CARITIN: Caribbean Integration Through Information Infrastructure, a Project of FUNREDES CBI: Caribbean Basin Investment, an incentive exportation system of the USA for creation of plants in the Caribbean CERLAC: Center for Economical Research on Latin America and the Caribbean from York University, Canada CIECA: Centro de Estudio Economico del Caribe, a Dominican NGO CONICIT: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia de Venezuela, Science and Technology Official Council CRESALC: Centro Regional de Educacion Superior en America Latina y el Caribe, a Unesco regional center for higher education. CUNET: Caribbean University Network, a project from OAS EARN: European Academic Research Network, EEC or EC: European (Economic) Community ENDA: ****, a international NGO focusing agronomic and ecologic themes FAO: Food and **** Organization, an Organization from United Nations GNP: Gross National Product IDRC: ********* ISOC: Internet Society NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement OAS: Organization of American States OCT: Overseas Countries and Territories (July 25, 1991 decision of Association of the Council of Ministers of the European Comunities). OECS: Organization of East Caribbean State ORSTOM: ....., a French research institute specialized in tropical matters REDID: Red Dominicana de Intercambio para el Desarrollo, National Research Network of Dominican Republic REHRED: R‚seau T‚l‚matique haitien pour la recherche et le d‚veloppement, National Research Network of Haiti UK: United Kingdom UNESCO: United Nations for Education Science and Communication, USENET: a Unix (Unix is an operating system) based conferencing system UUCP: Unix to Unix Control Program (Unix is an operating system), a protocol of communication 9-LIST OF ATTACHED DOCUMENTS: 1-FUNREDES AND CONSULTANTS 1.1-Brochure 1.2-Resume Daniel Pimienta 1.3-Resume Senaida Jansen 1.4-Resume Pablo Liendo 1.5-Resume Jean Marie Burgaud 1.6-Resume Rafel Colon 1.7-Resume Pedro Ure¤a 2-INTEGRATION TROUGH NETWORKING 2.1-"Integrar la comunidad acad‚mica latinoamericana: un desafi¢ para las redes telematicas", D. Pimienta, pp331-367, en "Calidad, Tecnolog¡a y Globalizacion en la Educaci¢n Superior Latinoamericana", UNESCO/CRESALC, 7/92. 2.2--"La Comunicaci¢n Mediante Computadora: una esperanza para el sector cient¡fico del tercer mundo: la experiencia REDALC en Am‚rica Latina", Taller de Vigilia Tecnol¢gica, Daniel Pimienta, Caracas, 3/93 3-METHODOLOGY 3.1-"Research Networks in Developing Countries: Not Exactly the Same story!", D. Pimienta, Proc. of INET93, San Francisco, 8/93 3.2-"REDALC Methodology", D. Pimienta, Matrix News, 9/93 4-REGIONAL NETWORKING ACTIVITIES 4.1-"Latin American and Caribbean, Networking Perspectives", D. Pimienta, ISOC News, Vol.1, Nø1, 92. 4.2-"The Dominican Network", D. Pimienta, ISOC News, Vol.1, Nø3, 92 4.3-Dossier REDID, FUNREDES 4.4-"A Caribbean Networking Survey", D. Pimienta, ISOC News, Vol.2, Nø1, 93 4.5-"Toward the Haitian Network", D. Pimienta, ISOC News, Vol.2, Nø2, 93 4.6-"Plan for the Haitian Network", D. Pimienta, Matrix News, 8/93 4.7-Document du projet REHRED, Groupe d'initiative R‚seau Haitien, 5/93 4.8-CUNET Brochure, OAS, ******* 4.9-Document for La Havana Caribbean Integration meeting, *******