Impact of PFnet Services on Sustainable Rural Development

PFnet in the Solomon Islands is the first attempt to introduce rural e-mail stations in remote rural villages in isolated islands. It was established in 2001 under an UNDP-UNOPS project and was initially partly funded by UNDP. Since then the major funding has come from Japan, NZODA, Britain, Republic of China, AusAid and European Union (Leeming, 2003a). It is managed by the Rural Development Volunteer Association (RDVA), a registered NGO. PFnet has an Internet Café (head office) in Honiara, the capital city and operates a network hub with fourteen rural e-mail stations linked by HF (short-wave) radios with e-mails typed in a laptop and powered by solar energy (Stork, Leeming, and Biliki, 2003). PFnet provides for the information and communication needs of the rural people. It is a source of information (e.g., providing news, Internet access), source of communication (sending and receiving e-mails), and provider of typing, secretarial, and printing services. PFnet has been a success story in improving the information and communication needs of the rural people (Leeming, 2003b).