Smart Community Project

The Information & Communication Technology Division of ESCWA is managing the Smart Community Project (SCP) under the ESCWA initiative designed to promote new technologies for employment and poverty alleviation in the ESCWA member countries. The SCP is partially funded through the United Nations Development Account.

This is a novel approach in community-wide interactions based on two or more complementary and interactive activities; namely a Multipurpose Technology Community Centre (MTCC) with an information technology core, and an Agro-Food Processing Unit (AFPU), which together and within an environmentally sound context, can provide a springboard for developing local natural resources and for opening up a window to the knowledge society through ICT.

SCP aims
SCP set-up
SCP selection
Major Milestones in Syria and Yemen

SCP aims

- Promoting computer literacy, IT and better communication
- Poverty alleviation
- Job creation
- Promoting new technologies
- Redressing gender issues
- Addressing Millennium Development Goals
- Providing an anchor for small and medium enterprises

SCP set-up

In each SCP village, the MTCC and the AFPU will be connected to each other through a simple modem. SCP villages and any other network member can access to the network through this website, as shown below

SCP selection

The selection of the villages to host the smart community project was based on the following criteria:

    - Rural/impoverished areas with a population of around 2,500;
    - The presence of an NGO involved in rural development in the region;
    - The availability of natural agro-food resources which could be potentially exploited under the SCP.


- The villages of Dabab near Taiz and Hadran in Beni Matar valley near Sana'a were selected to host the first two SCP communities in Yemen; while in Syria action focused on the village of Qusaybeh in the Quneitra governorate.


- Implementation of the project was based on several studies and manuals prepared for the SCP during 2005-2006.



Major Milestones in Syria and Yemen

- The first MTCC in Qusaybeh, Syria has been inaugurated and the first AFPU for dairy produce has been constructed in Qusaybeh on land donated by the local community.


MTCC in Qusaybeh, Syria

- The inauguration of the AFPU in Qusaybeh was scheduled for August 2006. A rural water treatment facility for the AFPU is currently under construction.

- Two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoU's) have been signed with Yemeni institutions to establish two SCP's. The first MoU was signed with Attakaful Association, and the second with the National Programme for Capacity Building affiliated to Al-Saleh Social Foundation.

- The first MTCC in Yemen, is being housed in the premises of the Yemeni NGO partner, Attakaful Association in the governorate of Taiz. The second MTCC in Yemen will be housed in a building annexed to the high school in Hadran, in the governorate of Sana'a.