Designing E-Rural Development Services - emerging trends and approaches S. Janakiram Champion, ICT for Rural Development, E-development and Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Knowledge and Institutions Thematic Groups World Bank Session organized by E-development services thematic group in collaboration with ITSLC Quickstart, ISGIF, and SASKI thematic group, World Bank 23 March 2005 The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are the author’s own and should not be attributed to the World Bank, its management, its Board of Directors or the countries they represent.
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Designing E-Rural Development Services - emerging trends and approaches S. Janakiram Champion, ICT for Rural Development, E-development and Sustainable.
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Designing E-Rural Development Services
- emerging trends and approachesS. Janakiram
Champion, ICT for Rural Development, E-development and Sustainable Agricultural Systems, Knowledge and Institutions Thematic Groups
World Bank
Session organized by E-development services thematic group in collaboration with ITSLC Quickstart, ISGIF, and SASKI
thematic group, World Bank
23 March 2005
The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are the author’s own and should not be attributed to the World Bank, its management, its Board of Directors or the countries they represent.
Overview
• What is E-Rural Development?
• What are the emerging trends in E-Rural Development?
• What are the approaches in E-rural development? – a practical framework
• How to design E-Rural Development Services? – implementation steps
• What has worked and what has not worked – some examples
• What we hope to see in the years ahead? – some suggestions
Take away messages - to design and implement e-rural development services to
- reach MDGs and obtain results on the ground
• Trends– Changing information needs – simple to complex– Changing information and communication technologies
– single to integrated systems– International investment in ICT’s shifting from
manufacturing to service activities• Approaches
– Need to focus more on I and C elements than T in ICT– More emphasis on developing both - Institutions and
Infrastructure – the two I’s
What is E-Rural Development?
What is E-rural development?
E-rural development is the provision of information, knowledge and business services to the people living in rural areas for improving their livlihoods using a variety of electronic means of communication
What are the emerging trends in E-Rural Development?
- three major trends…
First trend….
Changing Information Needs…..
From…
Information needs of ..
• Landless poor– Entitlements
– Employment opportunities
– Social services
– Education and training
– Entertainment
– Health
– Other
• Subsistence Farmers– Technologies to maintain at
least subsistence levels of agricultural production
– Cultural practices
– Prices
– Weather
– Inputs
– Credit
– Other
Information needs of ..
• Small farmer– Same as those of
subsistence farmer Plus..– Market opportunities
• Where to market• What to market• When to market• Developing market niches
– Farm management– Technologies– Agricultural policies– Other
• Medium to large farmers– Same as those for small
farmers PLUS….– How to influence
agricultural policies– Management and
administration– Technologies– Environment rules and
regulations– Other
To …
More holistic information and knowledge – multisectoral and multidisciplinary in nature..
from A….Z– Agriculture– Business - Biology– Culture - Credit– Debt– Education, Entitlements - Entertainment – Environment– Foods – Forestry– Government services, Genetics, GMO’s– Industry– Health, Horoscope– Job opportunities– Land titles, laws, Licenses– Market, Microfinance, Manufacturing, Matrimony– Nutrition– Recreation– Social benefits– Technology, Trade, Tourism– Weather– Zoology
Common theme which emerges is
• Demand for information and knowledge is on the increase, is becoming complex, is a factor of production and is becoming a basic need…
• But must be– Timely
– Relevant
– Easily accessible
– Understandable
– Affordable
even if it is scribbled on the back of an envelope!
Second trend….
Evolution of ICT
Clay Tablets
1800 BC 0 AD 1200 1450 1837 1861 1939 1971 1995
Latin texts
Woodblock printing
Printing press
Telegraph Television
Internet
Photos
Microchip
• Information and Communication Technologies – ICT’s – Are tools that help build human network, increase public
awareness and provide access to information and knowledge for the use of people
– Consists of a range of communication media and devices• Print - Internet• Telephone - Remote Sensing• Fax - GIS• Radio - RFID• Television - and technologies on the drawing boards…• Video• Audio• Computer
Definition of ICT
Emerging trends in ICT – single to integrated, complex systems
• Empowerment– Promote gender equality and empower women
(Goal 3)
• Health – Reduce Child Mortality (Goal 4)– Improve maternal health (Goal 5)– Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other
diseases (Goal 6)
• Partnership– Develop a global partnership for development
(Goal 8)
• Market information to increase negotiating power of farmers
• Information system for flood protection system, GIS systems combat illegal logging, monitoring land use
• School networks, Electronic libraries, digital literacy
• Developing entrepreneurship skills, radio and television programs by and for rural people, building new forms of community networks and alliances
• Bringing latest medical advances to remote areas through tele-medicine, use of PDA’s to improve management and monitoring of health care
• Global communications, internet have helped increase trade in the services sector between developed and developing countries – and created new partnerships and jobs
What are the approaches in E-rural development? – a practical framework
Basic principles..Need to place more emphasis on..
– I :Information - needs assessment, indigenous knowledge, intellectual property rights, freedom of information, and to make it as another BASIC NEED
– C:Improving Communication, Content, Connectivity, Capacity building
– T:Build on existing “traditional” technologies along with “modern” technologies
Objective
• To enable the free flow of information and knowledge to improve decision making and participation of rural households, communities, enterprises, institutions, etc for economic growth
From Simple…
Agriculture - Market prices of inputs and outputs
Ministry of Agriculture
User Information
Needs Assessment
Print
Single Media
Single User
Farmers
Feedback Feedback
Single Source
Single sector &Single area
To
• An increasingly complex…– Modular approach using multi media to develop multi-
disciplinary and multi-sectoral e-rural development services from multiple sources to multiple users with built in user e-needs assessment and feedback mechanisms:
• The Four M modular approach for e-rural development services*
*Approach has been adapted from the approach taken to help develop a rural information and knowledge system in Russia. More information is available in the following link to the case study on Russia - Rural information and knowledge system
Mechanisms for Content Development and Partnership arrangements with Users
Sources
Partners
NGO’s
Academic Institutions
Government institutions
Private sector
Internet
Multi-national Cos
International Institutions
Diaspora
UserInformationKnowledge Capacity
Needs Assessment
Print Radio Video Computer/Internet TV Exhibitions
& Fairs
Multiple – Communication channels
Multiple Users
Rural Households Entrepreneurs Government Schools Hospitals
Framework for E-Rural Development Services
Feedback Feedback
Multiple-sources-partners
Multiple-disciplines-sectors, content
-partnerships
Replicability
Modular nature of the approach taken• Lends itself to the design of the least cost and
most appropriate ways for developing e-rural development service delivery mechanisms
• One which would address user needs of the rural population – ranging from traditional and tested radio, print and television dissemination mechanisms to modern high technologies using high speed computers and internet.
SCALABILITY
Builds on
• Available Information Technology Infrastructure
• Capacity in existing institutions involved with provision of information, knowledge and business services and training
How to design E-Rural Development Services?
- implementation steps
Implementation Steps..• Step One: End user information, knowledge, business, capacity needs
assessment of target users in the rural areas
– farm and non-farm population– Local government– Rural enterprises– Hospitals– Schools, universities and training institutions– others.
• Step Two: Development of appropriate content and partnerships– content and partnerships to meet user needs ,
• Public, private, academic, non-governmental institutions• publicly available content from the World Wide Web and adapted to meet the needs of the
rural population• Other
• Step Three: Dissemination of content and partnership linkages through a variety of information communication technologies
– such as TV, video, CD rom, print, E-mail, internet, teleconferencing, etc.• Step Four: Ongoing feedback for monitoring and evaluation
– for content improvement, selection of appropriate media, cost recovery mechanisms, assessing changing demands for new types of information, knowledge and business opportunities by different types of end-users
Wide variety of e-rural development centers..
• Rural kiosks
• Telecenters
• E-Sewa centers
• Community Technology Learning Centers
• Distance learning centers
• Rural Information and Knowledge Centers
What has worked and what has not worked? – examples
Examples
What has not worked…
Why some IT projects have failed? Some reasons..
• More than half of 134 large companies listed in UK, US, Africa, Australia and Europe surveyed by KPMG* had a failed IT project in 2001-2002– Reasons
• Inadequate planning
• Poor scope management
• Insufficient communication between IT departments
and business• Source: www. computing.co.uk
Mozambique – where the telecenter did not work*
Why?• Because the telecenter was “plagued” by huge telephone bills
and could not recover these from customers– Charges were levied for failed attempts to connect to the internet
via long-distance dial-up – and were slow when connected – the telephone company TDM billed the telecenter for a three minute charge for each attempt made plus a long-distance charge to connect to the POP in Maputo
– ---- Points to the need for effective regulation and demand aggregation – calls for a “critical mass” of telecenters across the country to negotiate better prices for connectivity
* Source: www.cinsa.org.za
Examples
What is working..
E-Choupal – a private sector initiative by ITC, India Building Blocks
One-stop-shop, offering… Relevant and real time Information (weather, prices, news) + Knowledge
What we hope to see in the years ahead? – some suggestions
What we hope to see in the years ahead…
• Establishment of inter-connected rural information and knowledge centers within and between countries providing a range of e-rural development services:– Tailored to meet the multi-sectoral and multi-
disciplinary information needs of local rural population– Providing
• Free and • Fee based information, knowledge and business services
– Using a variety of communication media
What we hope to see in the years ahead…
• Integrated ICT strategies aimed at inter-operability and common technology infrastructure across and within ministries
• Increased role of universities and local population to develop and sharing local content in local languages
• Universal adoption of freedom of information laws
• Protection of Intellectual Property Rights of the poor – and indigenous knowledge as an asset
• Development of information and knowledge markets at the local level
• Increased role of public sector to provide ICT connectivity to central nodes in rural areas to stimulate private sector involvement to provide value added demand driven services
Plenty
WISDOM
KNOWLEDGE
INFORMATION
DATA
Scarce
Data to wisdom…Present…
The future...work towards..More wisdom… and less data…