THE PH Domain Foundation will launch its third community-based free Internet e-mail project in Barangay Minanga Norte, Iguig, Cagayan Province on June 22, in cooperation with the YMCA Women Empowerment and Development Program and the YMCA of the Philippines.

The project aims to provide information services to the rural poor by providing the computers, setting up a local area network, and enabling this with free e-mail access, according to a press statement.

It also hopes to foster a hands-on-learning climate and give the underprivileged population the benefits of Internet connectivity.

Dovetailing with the foundation’s focus on enabling nationwide remote rural connectivity is YMCA’s readiness and willingness to promote e-mail use for the improvement of the quality of life. This improvement is not only targeted at the residents of the particular barangay but other community folk in the barrios and barangays of nearby municipalities.

The foundation’s first two project sites were in Gumaca, Quezon, with the Tañada para sa Tao Foundation as local partner, and in Botolan, Zambales, with the Botolan Credit and Development Cooperative.

The foundation has also identified other remote areas for replication of the project in the provinces of Aurora, Batanes, Mountain Province, Pangasinan and Laguna for the third quarter of this year.

The PH Domain Foundation is an Internet-based, non-stock, non-profit organization set up to provide free unlimited e-mail service to people in remote rural areas. The foundation envisions an Internet market that has more women involved, more rural areas connected, and more people using the Internet. INQ7.net