A list of ICT4D/digital divide initiatives
highlighted in The Drum Beat - Issue 318 - MDG #8
- Develop a Global Partnership for Development
September 26 2005
from The Communication Initiative
(at least one of which -- and probably more --
has been mentioned on the Digital Divide
Discussion group before)
IT4Youth - Palestine
The International Youth Foundation and the Welfare Association are
offering enhanced education and job training to youth in isolated rural
areas in Palestine. The programme aims to equip approximately 6,000
students and youth per year, as well as teachers, parents, and community
members, with information technology (IT)-related skills. A particular
emphasis is placed on expanding access to IT education and training for
girls. While the use of IT for education, learning, and access to jobs is
a key focus, boys and girls from economically poor neighbourhoods and
refugee camps come to the centre daily to create music and art with
digital technologies.
http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds72004/experiences-2011.html
Contact Patricia Langan [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR Sana Abu Bakr
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
What Works in Youth Employment: The Impact of New Information
Technologies
by Laurie Regelbrugge
"The report examines how information technologies are transforming the
world and employment and livelihood opportunities, and what the
implications of these changes are for young people growing up in a variety of
national and social contexts. It also explores how government,
business, and civil society can and must work together to create more effective
policies and programs to meet the challenge of preparing young people
to fulfill the social, economic, and civic roles they need them to
play."
http://www.comminit.com/materials/ma2003/materials-412.html
Promoting Youth Income Generation Opportunities Through Information
& Communication Technologies (ICT): Best Practices in Asia & the Pacific
by Richard Curtain
Curtain provides a series of best practice examples demonstrating how
young people have used ICT to generate employment opportunities. On the
low-technology end, these include selling telephone-based services,
working as "information intermediaries" and engaging in e-commerce based
activities in rural areas. In the middle-technology range, telecentres
and cable television providers are being run by young people with
equipment such as printers, photo-copiers or satellite dishes. Curtain
emphasises not only many cases of success, but also the barriers that many
developing countries face in realising the potential that ICT offers.
http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1359.html
Indian Villagers Pedal Wireless
by Anuradha Kumar
In 2002, "5,000 young men on bicycles carrying mobile phones equipped
with CDMA Wireless Local Loop rode into 5,000 West Bengal villages. Not
only will the endeavour provide these men with a steady source of
income - they keep 25 percent of profits from all calls made - but they will
also bring telephone services to village doorsteps for the first time.
In a country where just over one phone exists per hundred people in
rural areas, this is a big leap. The group behind the initiative is the
nonprofit Grameen Sanchar Seva Organization, known as GRASSO....'The idea
is to build three networks - phones, Internet and transport - each
sustaining the other,' said [Soumitra Shankar] Das [GRASSO's
chairman]....The third network, one Internet
kiosk for every 10 villages, will keep
farmers on top of which markets offer the best prices. GRASSO plans to
cover most of rural India within two years. The initiative has the
potential to increase rural gross domestic product by 8 to 12 percent!
, said Das..."
http://www.comminit.com/trends/ctrends2003/trends-85.html
Impact of Cybercafes on Information Services in Uganda
by Samuel Gift & J.R. Ikoja-Odongo
"This study assessed the impact of cybercafés on the provision of
information services in Uganda. It focused on café users only. Findings
revealed that 69.8 percent were in the age group of 20-39 years.
Eighty-seven percent were not registered with particular cafés. Fifty-seven
percent indicated they were satisfied with the service. A little over thirty
percent used the Internet daily. All female respondents indicated
e-mail as one of their Internet applications."
http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2004/thinking-48.html
Open eNRICH - Global
The National Informatics Centre of the Government of India, the Open
Knowledge Network (OKN), and UNESCO are collaborating on an open source
community software tool for the exchange of locally relevant knowledge
with other information sources, networks, and communication media. The
vision: a global "network of networks" for the world's economically
poor. These partners are also pooling resources and approaches to develop
training, support, and project evaluation. OKN's partners in Kenya,
India, Senegal, and Zimbabwe are using earlier versions of the software to
create local content in 7 languages - and then to exchange it through
the WorldSpace satellite, dial-up landlines, and mobile phones. "eNRICH
also facilitates research and analysis of its usage pattern to
understand the impact of social and technological strategies in order to
further innovate and align ICT solutions as a tool for poverty reduction."
http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds2005/experiences-2976.html
Refuting Objections to a Global Rural Network (GRNet) for
Developing Nations
by Larry Press
Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, has said that "affordable
technologies, in the hands of local communities, can be effective
engines of change, both social and material"; critics object that a GRNet
project would not be worth the effort and investment. Larry Press
addresses 9 common objections, concluding that "It may sound as though GRNet
would be a charity project for the rural poor...but immense benefits
would accrue in both the developed and developing nations."
http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2004/thinking-861.html
Enterprise Development and Information and Communication
Technologies [ICTs] in Developing Countries
by Richard Duncombe & Richard Heeks
The report illustrates how adoption of ICTs within small enterprise
development (SED) can further international development targets...
http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2003/thinking-161.html
National Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) for Basic Human Needs - India
This Alliance seeks to take the ICTs-enabled knowledge revolution to
all of India's 638,000 villages by August 15 2007. The M.S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation and OneWorld South Asia are leading the effort,
which includes the private sector, academia, and civil society
organisations.
http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds72004/experiences-2020.html
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(posted by the following person who has nothing
to do with the aforementioned initiatives)
--
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Jayne Cravens
Bonn, Germany
Services for Mission-Based Orgs
www.coyotecommunications.com
Open University Development Studies
www.coyotecommunications.com/development
Contact me
www.coyotecommunications.com/contact.html
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