The Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme has selected Cisco’s Telepresence Movi to improve its access to key partners, researchers and government bodies across the globe.
ESPA is a programme that delivers quality, research that aims to improve understanding of the way ecosystems function and it ensures that in developing countries, ecosystems are being sustainably managed in a way that contributes to poverty alleviation as well as inclusive and sustainable growth.
Cisco Telepresence Movi, a next generation video collaboration tool, is part of Cisco’s Telepresence Technology Group and offers a high definition, telepresence quality experience, anywhere that has an internet connection.
Movi works on PC or Mac systems turning them into mobile, video conferencing systems and its intuitive user interface makes scheduling and connecting to a conference as simple as a single mouse click.
Movi helps ESPA to connect with remote communities as well as helps to reduce the organisation’s environmental footprint.
ESPA director Paul van Gardingen said ESPA wanted to look at a new way of working that would enable it to still meet face-to-face but would be inclusive for those parties that couldn’t necessarily attend in person.
"While trialling Movi, we undertook an initiative in Argentina that involved speakingwith children at a remote secondary school in Colalao del Valle in Tucumán, to find out how they felt their environment could be improved. The problem was that they had no internet connection in their school. This is a challenge ESPA often faces so, undeterred, we decided to link with the school using video conferencing over a satellite modem," said Gardingen.
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Cisco Collaboration Sales Operations director Andy Chew said Cisco Telepresence Movi was a natural choice for ESPA because it offered such a rich experience that could be used by its partners in developing countries, some of which don’t have the luxury of fixed video conferencing system.
"We are thrilled that our technology is being used for such a worthwhile cause and in such an innovative way. It’s great to see that Cisco technology is supporting the ESPA programme as well as helping to give a voice to communities that are often excluded due to lack of connectivity," said Chew.
