Empowering the poor through rural ICT centres

1. Empowering the poor through rural ICT centres Dhara Patel Jomiben Rajgor SEWA 2nd December, 2002

2. Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a Member-based Organisation of over half a million Poor informal sector women workers. It is a confluence of three movements- Labour, Co-op and Women’s movement. SEWA

3. Full Employment SEWA’s Objectives • Self Reliance

4. IT and Disaster Management • Prompt relief & rehabilitation • The Communication Centres were set up which comprised of email and internet connections, satellite phones and VSAT equipments. • SEWA used SatComm mode for interactive talk-back sessions for planning with the communities. • SEWA was the first organisation to provide the data on the people effected by earthquake to the GOG

5. Community Learning Centre • At present SEWA’s activity is mainly concentrated at District level. • As part of a wider process of decentralisation, SEWA has developed Community Learning Centre in each cluster (cluster consist of a group of seven to eight villages). • The functions proposed for each centre are - • Information – collection and dissemination • Social Security – through healthcare, housing • Co-ordination – PRI, Block, District, state others • Livelihood support – through developing supportive system at local • Building support – training for the community • Disaster preparedness – training

6. Disaster Preparedness Training • The main aim of CLC is to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen people’s capacity to cope with multi hazard disaster. • This centre comprises of internet and email (24 hours) and will also serve as emergency shelters for the villages during a natural disaster

7. How ICT will help in providing Sustainable livelihood Security • ICT Training- first step towards empowerment • Training related to their skill-base • Software development taking Community Based Approach and economic activity • Training which leads them to greater efficiency and greater productivity • Software development and training in local language • Imparting training to the members as well as to their children and youth • As a model in increasing literacy, SEWA initiated ‘JEEVANSHALA’ life education, which looks after imparting education but related to their skill-base

8. Database Management in CLC • Collecting and maintaining data like • village profile • data on camps, hospitals • population • Socio economic • Environment • Demography • Topography • Occupation • Education • Health • About Panchayati Raj Institutions • Water Land Forest • Providing internet as well as email facility

9. Need for setting CLC • The CLC serves a variety of demands • Clearinghouse for communication and information dissemination -Centre is the communication and coordination hubs of the village -Centre holds imp village information such as the villagewide database, village profiles -Staff members based in centre will coordinate in collection of such info and organise and analyse the data • Coordination of Disaster preparedness activities • Hub for capacity-building and livelihood activities • Provide supportive services • Training to the school children as well as youth. All the activities that are discussed earlier will be integrated in-depth in CLC

10. ICT in Community Learning Centre • Imparting training to our members on basic computer usage • Training on customised software (for respective activities) • Training on using internet • Maintaining data in computer for research/ innovative activity etc. • Providing training through Sat Comm programmes • Integrating Sat Comm programmes with IT (Video Conferencing) • Initiating Tele-medicine by way of linking with different hospitals (video-conferencing) • Collecting relevant content for database and website

11. The high cost of travelling between the district associations and Ahmedabad for meetings, mentor guidance, training programmes and capacity building. The loss in person-hours, especially when travelling between the two distances. The limited outreach of the programme because less participants take part due to the long distances (especially members). The drop in output and efficiency levels of the key development programmes due to inefficient management and monitoring. Networking SEWA: Achieving Rural Connectivity The Issues:

12. Next steps • Upscale and expand to all the 14 districts • Replication via taking the community based approach • Efficient service and content delivery at the grassroots level • Partnering with other NGOs, Academic institutions and Government bodies

13. Thank You