Village knowledge centre

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VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE

CENTRE

An innovative strategy for information

dissemination

Praveen .Rapaka ph.D scholar

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Introduction

The Village Knowledge Centre (VKC) is a place to render distant services from a single window point to rural masses especially in remote areas of the country through modern Information and Communication Technology.

The knowledge centre will be connected to a central studio using technologies viz WiMax/VSAT/leased line. There will be live interactive sessions in real time by the central speaker with audience at remote villages or content already prepared on any subject that the rural communities might need or desire, will be disseminated.

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The purpose of setting up of a VKC is to bring access to a range of services, content and information to people living in remote villages or areas which do not provide such access otherwise.

1. The VKC programme is meant for reaching the benefits of the Information Technology directly to the communities at the grass root level.

Objective of VKC

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2.Provides single window delivery of need-based servicesrelating to the life cycle needs of rural population, viz. rain waterharvesting, nutritional information including primary processing offruits and vegetables

3.Promotes rural sanitation, preventive and curative aspects ofhealth and hygiene, skill development and linkage withmarket requirements and demands.

4. capacity building among village based organisations andpeople or on any issue that the rural communities woulddesire.

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1. Inclusion:VKC should be set up in rural areas inclusion ofdisadvantaged communities should be a pre-requisite for theopening of centres in any area .

2. Community monitoring and ownership:The VKC should also address the all important questions ofcommunity monitoring and ownership the monitoring andevaluation of the centre should be undertaken by a jointcommittee comprising of implementation staff and peoplefrom village

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3. Conversion of generic into location specific information andadvice :VKC’s should provide location specific information to villagersrelated to prices of agricultural input ,output, markets,entitlements health care, transportation, weather etc. in order tomake functioning of VKC unique , local community to be trainedto collect and feed in most of the information by themselves .

4. Priority to information related to livelihoods , health ,weatherand market:VKC should provide information based in the need of the localcommunity. Data base should be prepared under variouscategories such as current , long-term , agricultural , healtheducational socio-economic and general information fulfil thevillagers requirement.

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5.Knowledge and skill empowerment:To increase earning potential of the villagers VKC ‘sshould try to empower the rural community by enhancing knowledge level and improving skill of the people , VKC’s may facilitate the formation of SHG help villagers in identification of income generating activities .

Setting up a new village knowledge centre: The Ten Steps

MSSRF based on their experience with the information village experiment have developed a structure methodology for setting of VKC

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Social mobilization and need /demand assessment

Community participation

Connectivity

Content

Hub and spokes model

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Monitoring and evaluation

Services( multi purpose centre)

Partnership

Capacity building

sustainability

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Step 1this is a crucial stage , this is long process of consultation anddiscussion between the agency and the village it commonly takes2 or 3 months sometimes nearly a year for some cases .

Step 2The agency needs to build partnership with a community of groupof stake holders taking care to ensure that these are notdominated by self interests of groups or individuals .

Step 3Technical solution to connectivity problems can always be found.conventional telephony systems are important but often theparticipating community must provide the ‘’ last mile’’ connectionto the commercial network

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STEP 4:Content is defined in 3 categoriesGeneric content such as government employment schemes, health, local news etcDynamic content such as real time market prices, examination results etc.Timely content such as offshore wave height predictions and potential fishing zones for coastal communities

STEP 5:This simple infrastructure model gives great flexibility and expansion potential. At the most 25 to 30VKC’s (spokes) are linked to a single central facility (the hub).The hub in turn linked via satellite linked to the state level hub at the enabling organisation .

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STEP6:NVA is systematically monitoring its activities through an evaluation framework NVA collects data and periodically analyses and communicates to all the stakeholders to take appropriate decisions and make future plans.

Step7this step sets out to ensure that the VKC provides a genuine,relevant range of services to the community. Emphasis is placedon local discussion between the implementing agency and as awide a range of villagers as possible.

Step8the toolkit emphasizes the partnerships between the VKC’s ,localexperts and remote institutional consultants.

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Step9Capacity building for the local communities is one of thedrivers for the establishment of the VKC’s.

Step 10This is key question will the VKC model develop into asustainable system both at its current local level and plannednational level ? The VKC project recognises this and addressesit in two ways .

Firstly it must be of local value driven by local needs.

Secondly the VKC ‘s must have a clear and developing businessplan which includes fee paying and income generatingservices.

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Infrastructural facilities:there should be

1. 3 or 4 computers based on usage density of population and availability of space 2.Notiice board.3.printer.4.Few local news paper5.Wired or wireless PA system .6.satellite receiving antenna .7.communication equipment..

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Space requirement Each VKC work from two locations 1. the originating point of of information dissemination which is central site2.Remote site receives information from central site

At central site a) one room size 20’ x 25 ‘ to install the equipment.b) space to install communication equipment.c) Space to keep diesel generator set.

At remote site a) one room size 10’ x 15 ‘ to install the equipment.a) space to install communication equipment.b) Space to keep diesel generator set.

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Impact of VKC Though the experience of VKC is still young .it foreseesaffecting several social changes , improved access to healthinfra structure , increased exposure of rural youth to computerbase networking increased awareness of ecologically soundtechniques in agriculture and A.H, leading to enhancedproduction, income and livelihood opportunities.

Challenges and obstaclesSustainability –more than financial mattersCooperation and ability to share knowledgeTraining how to train millions of potential telecentres.Up scaling- no pathway , competing prioritiesLocal language issues – how to deliver services and contents inlocal language s effectively.

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THANK YOU