Tsena, Botswana Online was and still is Botswana's first online community portal. The project was launched with the aim of promoting ICT usage in the country and was on this reason offered for FREE to all subscribers on the network. The project's goal is to give locals, both citizens and non-citizens, access to a native platform through which they can communicate and interact with each other, sharing information not only with each other, of themselves but with the World at large since it is accessible via the World Wide Web.
Tsena, has not only made advances in achieving this but set new records on ICT penetration locally. For the first time ever, local sport achieved viewership of over 60 000 viewers, online, mostly on mobile and this has made a massive impact on local perception towards mobile media. Mobile user confidence has risen since this achievement and still on the rise, with more production houses also gaining the confidence to invest in this space and offer their services.

https://www.tsena.co.bw

• Botswana

• Youth
• Locals

This project can be implemented in relatively the same manner in any country. he concept of a portal is not new and it's uses momentously vast. It would all however depend on the goal and/or mission behind the project and the promoter thereof.

Though the project was rolled out as a community initiative under Mascom's Corporate Social Investment policy, it has the potential to self sustain. The inception of the project means that it has always been sustained by the company in all it's undertakings, which if continued would be unsustainable.
However, with self sustenance and monetization models employed, the platform can grow into a social or for-profit entity, serving the needs of various stakeholders, further improving the lives of many and diversifying the local economy.

The Tsena project satisfies and promotes a number of WSIS values in the following way: Freedom - the world wide web gives everyone who uses it the freedom to express themselves as they see fit and this is what has been made room for. Emphasis is h0owever, put on the safety around this freedom, not to diminish it but to ensure that freedom for one is freedom for all. Equality - the internet has come to be a necessity in our lives with concepts such as IoT taking lead. The expansion of it and penetration levels have over the years grown and slowly growing in Africa. The younger generations have embraced it and enjoy accessibility through smart devices. However, there are still many populations that are far from enjoying this phenomenon and Tsena is aimed at bridging that gap by being freely accessible to all. Mascom has over the years embarked on a project to cover the entire footprint of the country with 3G network to further support this project amongst other business goals.