The Institute - March 2020 - TI-7

engineering solutions

MARTIN MURILLO
BRINGS BOLIVIAN
VILLAGES THE INTERNET

IEEE Member Martin
Murillo standing next
to the Internet towers
being built as part
of the CamachoNet
project in Bolivia.

MARTIN MURILLO

I

EEE Member Martin Murillo and other
concerned members are leading an
effort in Bolivia to contribute solutions
and processes that are helping address the
lack of Internet access.
Murillo is the lead manager for
CamachoNet, a Bolivian project sponsored by the IEEE Humanitarian Activities
Committee. The project entails connecting 10 mountain villages in the Eliodoro
Camacho Province through a communications network. Murillo oversees about
130 volunteers including IEEE members
and student members from the IEEE
Bolivia Section.
More than half the world's population
cannot access the Internet. There are a
variety of reasons including cost, lack of
infrastructure, and computer illiteracy.
People without access generally live in
poor, rural areas where the government
struggles to provide for even basic needs.
The main contributing factor, though,
is that there's no financial incentive for
private telecommunications companies
to build towers or other infrastructure in
low-density or struggling communities.
CamachoNet received a US $50,000 grant
from the IEEE Humanitarian Activities
Committee, which funds projects that meet
one or more of the 17 U.N. Sustainability
Goals. Bolivian nongovernmental organization Fundación ARU has partnered with
IEEE on the project to provide social-impact
studies, now required by international
development projects.
"The CamachoNet initiative has all the
components of an international development project," Murillo says. "The
difference is that it is fueled by IEEE
volunteers who want to make a difference in their country. This project is an
THE INSTITUTE  |  MAR 2020  |  TI-7

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37403426400 https://hac.ieee.org/ https://hac.ieee.org/ https://site.ieee.org/bolivia/ https://site.ieee.org/bolivia/ https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ https://www.aru.org.bo/

The Institute - March 2020

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