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This article focuses on the financial and social sustainability of telecentres in the developing countries with special reference to the Akshaya telecentre initiative in Kerala, India. A central argument of this article is that to understand the reality of telecentre activity in rural communities of the developing world and its impact on systems of governance, one need to move beyond the confines of the good governance paradigm that gives rise to them and that continues to frame the parameters used to study these projects. The growing body of work on telecentre sustainability provides a useful starting point for understanding some of the critical issues regarding the survival of telecentres over the long term. The author's case study is the Akshaya telecentre project that was launched in 2002 in Malappuram District, North Kerala, with the specific aim of stimulating rural productivity, income and employment. The author has been involved with this project from its inception together with other telecentre initiatives in India. The scope of this article is to go beyond the "telecentre as good governance" rhetoric and to propose how, why and in what ways telecentres can address governance reform agenda.

This paper uses the experience of a recent programme of action research in Eastern India to reflect on the use of participatory ideals within governance reform. In a situation where there are profound difficulties in local governance, it assesses the potential for participatory forms of stakeholder engagement to begin a process of reform. It criticizes views of reform put forward by both the World Bank and Robert Chambers, and argues instead that critical self-reflection and the construction of alliances among a variety of reform-minded actors are important first steps in building political capabilities to challenge structural blockages to pro-poor governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]