In “The Chronicles of Narnia- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, the little girl Lucy discovers an old wardrobe covered with a dusty piece of fabric, in an obscure, out of the way bedroom in the big, stuffy mansion. She cautiously opens the wooden door and slowly steps into the wardrobe. She rummages around in the dark a little, but then walks out of the back and into the land of Narnia, her eyes wide open with a little fear, but a lot of excitement and thrill and a sense of wanting to discover and learn and explore. The wardrobe becomes her gateway- and later her siblings’ as well- in and out of that magical land.

The city of Ta’iz in Yemen seems to have been draped over the mountainous landscape, rising and falling between the peaks and valleys. It is a mixture of ancient labyrinths in the old city and concrete blocks that represent the modern one. The population is a colorful combination including fully-covered women, men draped in traditional fabrics and sporting gold and silver traditional daggers, and of course children running around noisily everywhere.

In this city where the surrounding peaks impart a sense of isolation, even while lending an air of mystery, it is easy to imagine people being born and growing old without ever leaving.

In a small, barely-paved alley that goes off a busy and narrow commercial street, a woman enters the door leading to the recently established Community Access Center (CAC). She is fully covered except for the eyes, emphasizing even more this vital point of contact with the outside world. She is a Trainer who has recently completed a Training of Trainers course on basic and advanced IT, and will very soon begin delivering training courses to her fellow citizens.

ICTDAR (ICT for Development in the Arab Region) is a regional programme of the UNDP that implements projects using ICT for development. Setting up Community Access Centers is one of the main projects that are implemented in various countries, along with others focusing on women’s rights, the visually-impaired, and small to medium enterprises. ICTDAR puts great emphasis on the developmental role of CACs, using them as much more than just ICT training centers. They are meant to become the focus of local development activities using ICT as an enabler. While ICTDAR provides the centers with management training, trainer of trainers, digital libraries, and business models, it encourages the management teams to customize the business plan so it becomes home-grown and strongly tied to the local needs and aspirations. Each center is pushed to become its own small but sustainable business.

The center in Ta’iz is one of three pilot centers that have just been launched in Yemen. They are meant to pave the way for adoption of the concept by the Government and other parties in order to roll it out nationally. The three management teams know a lot depends on their ability to successfully operate the centers and prove their value and sustainability. With ICTDAR’s help, they are all now working on developing their own business models. This is a new chapter that is now just beginning and we are all waiting to see how it unfolds and the impact it will have on the local population.

The hero of our little story, when not teaching others about how to use computers and software, will sit many times in front of a computer to access the Internet for her own needs. In all likelihood, she has never heard of Lucy or the magical land of Narnia.

Yet she is now able not only to access her own magical world and explore its paths, but also to help others in her community to do the same. And regardless of where those newly acquired skills will take them or how they will be used, suddenly the mountains surrounding Ta’iz seem a little less dense. The imagination has been sparked, and the germ of seeking knowledge has been planted.