https://www.ictworks.org/building-community-internet-network/
The Community Networks Readiness Assessment Handbook was developed by community networks practitioners in Africa. It is aimed at Africa-based practitioners and organizations who want to expand into community networks. The approach was informed by the challenges faced on the Continent and by the strategies people have used to overcome them.
1. Understand Community Network Examples
What can you learn from other community networks? All over the world, people are coming together to build and maintain their own Internet connections by setting up municipal and community networks, cooperatives, and other complementary access solutions.
2. Identify the Community and Champions
Who is the community you are seeking to serve? Who are the individual leaders or organizations that can help champion your work? Your first task is to clearly determine what exactly is the “community” for your network.
3. Define the Functions and Services
What services and functions can your network provide to your community? These are critical questions to answer as you plan your network.
4. Identify the Regulatory Requirements
What regulations, legal frameworks, and policies will your network need to comply with? Understanding regulations, legal frameworks, and policies that your network will need to comply with is critical for a successful launch.
5. Determine Technology Requirements
What technology do you use to connect your users? To connect to the Internet? Unfortunately, there is no single technology solution that will work best for every community network.
6. Research Financial Sustainability
How do you fund your community network over the long term? You need to develop a successful business model to ensure that the people, technologies, and processes are able to operate over time in a sustainable manner.
7. Decide on Organization Structure
Who owns your community network? Who makes decisions? How you structure your community network is a critical step. Is it a nonprofit organization or a cooperative? Is it part of a local or municipal government? Is it a private company? Does it have an elected or appointed leadership team?
8. Engage with Stakeholders
How can you get your community excited and bought into the launch of your network? Your next step is to plan public meetings and other ways to engage your community.
9. Deploy the Community Network
It’s time to connect! After all the research, planning, and engagement, it’s time to bring connectivity to your community!
10. Monitor, Maintain, and Improve
Are people using your network? How can you improve it? With your network launched, what is working well for your users? What are your users asking for next?