Vol. V No. 4
April 2007
The first monthly magazine on ICT4D
Community radio and freedom of expression AmmanNet radio, Jordan
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network Information for development
www.i4donline.net
Gender scripts, Canada
The responsibility of community broadcasting
ISSN 0972 - 804X
Community Radio and Gender
UNESCO, India
knowledge for change
India's Premier ICT4D event 31 July - 03 August 2007 Hotel Taj Palace New Delhi, India
eINDIA 2007 is an inclusive, consultative and constructive Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) forum - the largest and only one of its kind in India - promoting and propagating the use of ICT4D through its seven seminal, different but interrelated conferences. The event will address the implications of the digital divide and identify and explore opportunities for a resurgent digital India. Along with the conferences and exhibitions, eINDIA 2007 will also host for the first time, the i4d Film Festival. The festival will focus on the visual representation of the impact of ICT4D.
Co-organisers
Supporting Partners
Knowledge Partner
Department of Information Technology Government of India
AG R I
BU SI NE
I NDI AN SO C I E
UN DP
SS P
SI O NALS F ES
knowledge for change
OF
RO
TY
Organiser
ISAP
Media Partners
ov www.eINDIA.net.in
L CATION
From now on, I'll connect... my own way
INDIA
2007 Discuss your stories at mServe India 2007 held along with eINDIA 2007 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi from July 31 till August 3, 2007. Log on to www.eIndia.net.in/mserve/abstractonline.
Subscription Form
EDITORIAL GUIDELINES
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
Information for development www.i4donline.net
i4d contains articles and features on the theme of ‘ICT for development’ and related issues. Authors are requested to follow the guidelines while sending their articles to i4d.
Duration (Year)
Issues
News stand Price Rs.
Subscription Rs.
Saving
Subscription US$
1
12
2400
2160
10% (Rs. 240)
2
24
4800
4080
15% (Rs. 720)
US$ 320
3
36
7200
5040
30% (Rs. 2160)
US$ 400
US$ 200
Please also consult the editorial calendar to choose the theme of your interest. We also accept soft or hard copy submissions of your contributions. We encourage you to share your original research with our readers. The Editor’s decision to select, accept, modify or adjust your write-ups due to space constraints will be final.
Nowribe
Editorial guidelines are available at http://www.i4donline.net/guidelines.asp All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, i4d G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 85 Fax +91-120-2500060 Email info@i4donline.net
sc s u b ne! onli I/We would like to subscribe for (circle as applicable)
1
2
3
years.
First name............................................................................................ Last name .......................................................................... Designation/profession ........................................................................ Organisation ...................................................................... Mailing address ................................................................................... City .................................................................................... State ................................................... Country ................................ Postal code ......................................................................... Tel (o) ................................................... Tel (r)................................................................. Fax .......................................................... Email ................................................... Website ............................................................................................................................. Payments for mailed subscriptions are only accepted via cheque or demand draft. Cash payments may be made in person. (tick one and fill as applicable) Please find enclosed my/our cheque/demand draft numbered dated ......................... for Rs......................................... in favour of CSDMS a/c payable at New Delhi. I am submitting this form in person and paying by cash Please use photocopies of this form as required.
The CSDMS team
i4d, G-4 Sector 39, Noida 201 301, India Tel +91 120 250 2180 to 85 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net
i4d news The first daily news service on ICT4D
Subscribe at www.i4donline.net 4
i4d Editorial Calendar 2007 Month
Theme
January
Malaysian ICT for Development
February
eAsia Conference curtain raiser special + Communities of Practice in Telecentres
March
Human Rights and eAsia conference report special
April
Community Radio and Gender special
May
Promoting innovations, role of ICTs in SMEs
June
Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Technologies
July
ICTs for livelihoods/wealth creation (BPO/KPO/Cyber cafes/Kiosks)
August
Government investments in ICT4D (Review of CSC, India Programme)
September
Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Markets
October
Internet Governance
November
Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Leaders in ICT4D
December
HIV/AIDS
i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
Editorial Information for development
www.i4donline.net
Voices from the margins
ADVISORY BOARD M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d Chin Saik Yoon Southbound Publications, Malaysia Karl Harmsen United Nations University Kenneth Keniston Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Mohammed Yunus Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Nagy Hanna e-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, USA Richard Fuchs IDRC, Canada Rinalia Abdul Rahim Global Knowledge Partnership, Malaysia Walter Fust Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland Wijayananda Jayaweera UNESCO, France EDITORIAL BOARD Akhtar Badshah, Frederick Noronha GROUP DIRECTORS Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Editor G. Kalyan Kumar Sr. Research Associates Ritu Srivastava, Prashant Gupta Research Associate Ajitha Saravanan Consultant Upasna Kakroo Designers Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur Web Programmer Zia Salahuddin i4d G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India Phone +91 120 250 2181-85 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net Printed at Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those interested and involved in the use of Information and CommnicationTechnologies for development of underserved communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up to date on many activities in this wide and exciting field. i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.
The use and control over ICTs is instrumental in solidifying the power configurations of male dominance and could lead to abuse of power. It is therefore indispensable for women to inscribe an equal representation in communication spaces and networks, given the new information world order. Women in the developing world have a gamut of issues to deal with -social and political inequity, neo-conservatism, orthodoxies, livelihood, education, and health. Regardless of the concerted efforts and work on gender and information and communication technology (ICT) issues there is still a lot of inequity as far as a fair participation of women and men in the development, use and control of ICT, is considered. Many a woman still view ICTs as a male bastion. So what can women do with Community Radio (CR)? It is expected that CR will enable women to create alternative media spaces and solidarity networks to contest the ideologies of a male dominated media discourse. It will help them to highlight regional specificities, influence community decision making and policy formulation, advocate womens education and health, and highlight issues relating to child welfare, domestic violence, and human rights. Several Governments around the world are addressing the policy issues surrounding the operations of Community Radio. Already Community Broadcasting is Australia’s largest independent media sector with 460 independent community owned and operated broadcasting services including radio and television stations and remote Indigenous services. Latin America is also witnessing a rise in the number of CR stations and other forms of Alternative media. The Indian Government too has decided to free the airways and implement a supportive policy. It augers well for the womens movement to take stock of this opportunity and mark a strong presence as a grassroots and issue driven media. The Canadian Farm Radio collective, is an example of CRs networking with each other for content sharing and operational support purposes. Ensuring sustainability too is a pivotal task of the CR movement, and this model could be replicated at other locations and will prove to be pivotal in helping community owned stations to self-sustain. The rapidly proliferating telecentres could also be harnessed to enter into alliances with local CRs. CRs run by women can profit by such collaborations which will help them to spread their word to an even larger audience base. It behoves the state facilitators to provide the necessary impetus to this promising and democratic phenomenon by creating support mechanisms and training avenues. We at i4d will be following the developments with a keen eye, hoping for an enabling environment, for relaying the voices from the margin.
Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, 2006 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
i4d is supported by:
March 2007 | Vol. V No. 3 | www.i4donline.net
Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in
5
A MMAN N ET R ADIO , J ORDAN
Community radio and freedom of expression The use of community radio in the Arab world is a revolutionary development idea. “The idea occurred to me during a conference of the International Press Institute(IPI)”, says Daoud Kuttab, the founder of AmmanNet.
Introduction Being one of fifty recepients of the ‘Freedom of Press Heroes’ award by (International Press Institute) IPI, Kuttab was invited to attend a regional conference entitled ‘Freedom of expression and Media’ in Jordan, which was held in the capital, Amman, on 5th of February 2000. One of the speakers at the conference was the Minster of Information, Saleh Qallab. He spoke about the reforms taking place in Jordan and he mentioned, among other things, that his ministry had succeeded in removing all roadblocks, that were being faced previously, for the dissemination of Internet technologies. Kuttab stated that he had previously helped to establish a unique Arab web site, amin.org. This site was based on the concept that only through the Internet can one break the physical obstacles that Arab regimes place on print materials, especially because the press in most Arab countries is free about the news of all other Arab countries except it’s own. Using the Internet to break up the radio monopolies in the Arab world intrigued the award winning Kuttab. Radio in the Arab world has been a state monopoly since the proliferation of radio and the independence of most Arab countries. Radio and TV stations are well protected by national forces because in many cases in the past, when a coup took place, radio was one of the first institutions to be taken over and used to issue the first communiqué of the new military power.
In-built obstacles Daoud Kuttab Director and Founder AmmanNet Radio Jordan dkuttab@ammannet.net
6
Over the years the Arab public has also lost much confidence in radio because of the abuse that successive governments have inflicted upon it, using it strictly for governmental propaganda and as a mouthpiece of the ruling parties, unmindful
of the truth. The case of Egypt’s Sawt Al Arab (Voice of Arabs) during the first days of the 1967 War is a case in point. During these first days the radio station was gloating over the success of the Egyptian and other Arab armies, broadcasting outright lies, while the reality was quite the opposite. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century the relations between Arab radio and the presidential palace (by way of the national security apparatus) became obvious and therefore added to the loss of credibility of this medium. What was needed was a credible radio network that people could trust. State run radio stations (as well as TV stations) rarely used live interviews and actualities because of the difficulty of controlling the content. By having an announcer read a text prepared under the supervision of political powers, ruling parties were able to control the flow of information and guide the ignorant public to whatever direction they preferred.
Overcoming barriers Kuttab believed that one of the ways that journalists, and the Arab media can begin reclaiming credibility, was to introduce actualities and live interviews into current affairs radio programmes. Unlike the existing media mouthpieces in which controlled news is read over the air, what was necessary was to introduce credible journalists and to strengthen them, by having them use original sounds of people from all political persuasions. In response to an inquiry by Kuttab, Steve Buckley of AMARC, the world federation of community radio i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
stations was helpful in introducing technical support to the idea of setting up an Internet radio station in Jordan. Buckley was puzzled because most people create a regular terrestrial station first and then, if they have additional funds, try to stream it on line. There was no reason why Internet live streaming could not be done without terrestrial broadcasting, so long as one had the chance to upload audio on the Net. Later in the same conference all attendees were received by the Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II. Mr. Kuttab asked the King the following question: “ If Jordan foreign stations like BBC, MonterCarlo and others are allowed to rebroadcast their programmes on FM from Jordan, when will the local public be allowed to hear stations established by local Jordanians?” King Abdullah II responded positively to the question, assuring all attendees that he believes in a free media, including radio, and that he hopes what he called the ‘privatisation’ of the audio visual media, to take place within a couple of years.
Building confidence So with the assurances by the King that locally owned FM radio had to eventually develop, and having heard the assurances of the Minister of Information about the removal of obstacles, Kuttab began the process of creating a local radio station that would initially be broadcast on the Net, with the hope that soon it will be aired on FM as well. UNESCO which has always been supportive of community radio along with other international donors, most prominently the Open Society Institute, contributed for the training phase and the set up of the new on line station which was decided to be called AmmanNet. The relations Kuttab had in Palestine, where private radio has been operating since the mid 1990s, helped find some key staff (Fadi Abu Saada became the first radio manager), and also aided in another important area. The physical distance between Jordan and Palestine is very small. So after the training of the first phase of online broadcast, a successful experiment was launched by having Palestinian radio stations download programmes from the Net, and then rebroadcast them on air . The Palestinian station Radio Bethlehem 2000, and the Ramallah based Amwaj can be heard in many parts of Jordan, including in Amman. So within a few months the young Jordanian journalists instated not only the first Arab radio station on the Internet, but were able to practically break the state radio monopoly, by having audio programmes created in Amman and heard on the radio by Jordanian citizens living in Amman. All this apparently illegal work was, in its actualisation, absolutely legal. They operated entirely overboard with a license from the Ministry of Trade to engage in Internet production. The creation of the free media zone a year later allowed the use of satellite broadcasting through Nile Sat, to send an even cleaner audio feed to whoever wanted to listen to or rebroadcast the content. Not only were the young journalists in Amman able to use modern technology to broadcast programmes but were also able to make good use of some of the new portable recording equipment. Minidisks, small mics, mixing software and laptops meant that one can produce high quality audio at almost any location without having to spend a lot of money. Initially they did not even have a studio with most of the recording and editing done digitally using nonlinear software. April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
Breaking the monopoly What was done in those early 21st century years was new and slightly dangerous in the Arab world. It is not sufficient to be legally legitimate . In the Arab world there are many unwritten laws, especially when you deal with sensitive issues in a public space. To provide the new on line journalists with the confidence to do their work properly, they were put to work on two fronts. First they sought and received public sponsorship to the project from the Amman office of UNESCO and from the Greater Amman Municipality. Nine months after the IPI conference, on 15th November, 2000, the mayor of the capital, Nedal Haddid, and the director of UNESCO in Amman, Martin Hadlow, clicked the mouse publicly, celebrating the launch of the first Arab radio station on the Internet - AmmanNet. At the same time the founder of the station, Daoud Kuttab worked very hard on developing the journalists’ professionalism, using the concept that one of the best protections for journalists is absolute adherence to truth and impartiality. A good journalist who covers both points of view can reduce a lot of potentially negative reactions that often come up when one side is not contacted. This was applied to the stories and statements of the opposition to the government- by getting progovernment views-, as well as to the statements of the government that similarly needed to be balanced
http://bluegumpictures.com.au/images/99h32.jpg
by representing the reactions of the opposition. Being heard throughout the world on the Net and on Satellite, as well as in the rebroadcast back to Amman from Palestinian radio stations, did not mean that the young journalists would fall into the trap of running away from local issues. The escape from dealing with local issues is one of the reasons why Arab countries continue to suffer internally. The internal approach to current affairs meant that content is created almost exclusively regarding local issues, and from local sources. AmmanNet journalists were instructed to stay away from covering the situation in Iraq or Palestine, which may be of interest to many people, unless a local angle is found. When a truck driver from Jordan was killed in Iraq it became a local story. Similarly when a Jordanian soldier was killed in Haiti, covering his family’s reaction was AmmanNet’s story, and not the situation in Haiti.
7
Developing internally In dealing with local issues AmmanNet began with the Greater Amman Municipality. It gave an extensive coverage to issues of municipal interest, at times leading the organisation into conflict with the mayor, who was unhappy with some of the Internet radio’s critical reporting. They had a number of success stories in which AmmanNet’s coverage of municipal issues, as well as local cultural issues, produced tangible results. Exposing the municipality’s attempts to close down street vendors in the poor district of Wihdat, AmmanNet produced a series of audio reports which succeeded in the municipality finding an amicable solution with the vendors. A run down neighborhood of Ein Al Ghazzal received quick attention when journalists visited the area and broadcast a strong feature story about it. The attempts to broadcast live the monthly sessions of the city council were barred by the mayor. This negative intervention was done basically because of the ability of the municipality to control what is published in the print press (due to the high number of ads published in the newspapers), while they would not have been able to control what is broadcast live on any medium. Notwithstanding the situations the broadcasters have continued extensive coverage of municipal issues.
Some credits Relations with the Jordanian parliament were not so restrictive. This began with an attempt to give a voice to the parliament members who are, by and large, sidelined by the conventional media. Unless the country’s ruler is giving a talk at the national parliament, the regular sessions are rarely covered by the state media. Most MPs are not known to the public, nor is their voting record made available to the public. A special web site was created to monitor the information about all MPs and an opportunity for the public to communicate with them. A select few representing all political directions were highlighted, with more detailed information about their own election platform and regular updates on how they vote on various issues. A weekly radio programme was also initiated. Entitled ‘Rua Baralmania’ (Parliamentary Views), this programme focused on the most crucial issues discussed in parliament. Not only was the audio stream made available on line, but the text of the interviews was transcribed and made available to the local press. The inferior state of the media in Jordan and nearby Arab countries was the focus of ‘Eye on the Media’, a programme that critiqued the media in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan, using internationally accepted professional standards. This programme was rebroadcast on terrestrial radio stations in Lebanon and Palestine as well. Another programme highlighting success stories of Jordanian women, provided positive role models, and honoured hard working and creative women. Also, an Oral history of Palestinian refugees was documented in a weekly programme entitled ‘Diary of a refugee’, where older refugees told their own stories in their own words. Other programmes were created to provide public service. Haqi, a legal awareness programme, enabled the public to communicate their legal problems and receive answers, both on line as well as in one of the local papers. School radio empowered high school students to express themselves freely without coercion by school teachers or
8
other forms of censorship. Much needed local cultural programmes featured new artists and literary talents, and local sports and music also received coverage.
AmmanNet’s voice accentuated In 2005 AmmanNet was finally able to realise its original dream of broadcasting terrestrially as well as on the Net. Experimental broadcasting began in the summer and by the fall of 2005, AmmanNet’s regular programmes as well as regular news broadcasts quickly won the trust of Jordanians of all colours. Senior opposition members as well as government officials and experts became regular guests on many of the station’s programmes and newscasts. Live broadcasts of the Jordanian parliament in December 2005 made history, as AmmanNet became the first Arab radio station to give the representatives of the people an uncensored voice. A special campaign in the fall of 2005, highlighting the travails of Jordanian prisoners still held in Israeli jails, 10 years after the peace agreement between the two countries, won public support and was picked up by the local press. In December the government of Dr. Bakhit included the demand for their release among its priorities. Other successes include the defeat in parliament of a temporary tax law that was highly favorable to the rich and unfair to those of lower economic status.
Expanding networks A content sharing agreement with the newspaper rated second in Jordan, Ad Dustour, has already produced a more professional coverage in the paper, allowing its readers to access many of the ground breaking reports, that were previously available exclusively on the net and on local radio. In the years 2000-2005, the experiment of AmmanNet became the focus of many inquiries. On two occasions UNESCO asked the founder of AmmanNet to be an international expert in conferences in Iran, focusing on using the Internet to create alternative media. Three workshops about on line journalism using the AmmanNet experience took place in Amman, allowing over 35 Arab journalists to learn from this important experiment. Internet radio stations in Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia have sprouted up in the past few years driven by individuals who participated in these workshops. Many more are slated to get on line soon.
Conclusion While Internet radio is still a long way from becoming the tool of the masses, it provides a number of important breakthroughs. It helps provide a unique alternative to conventional media, especially in closed communities. The aspect of original audio on line gives this medium a high degree of credibility. On line radio programmes are also easily transferable, with the possibility that terrestrial stations (and even NGOs) can easily download them and rebroadcast them. But perhaps the most important lesson of the AmmanNet experience is that the creation and success of an Internet radio station in a country that only has state run monopolies, provides a major source for activists, liberal minded politicians, and government officials to help the press to reform, and allowing terrestrial radio to broadcast with freedom. Courtesy: World Bank i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
A GRICULTURE B ROADCAST
AND
CR, I NDIA
Serving tool for the farming communities ‘If the lapwing, a local bird found by lakes and rivers, lays eggs on the river bed that is dry, there is going to be scanty or no rain’ …a local folklore
New signal on the block From November 2006, registered non-profit organisations can apply for a license to operate a Community Radio Station (CRS). But there is much more to a CRS than just having a license. There is the operational part that includes ‘what’ to broadcast, and then there is the non-operational part, which includes project planning, execution, and sustenance. Each one of these has subassignments like community-institutional or vice-versa partnership, management, funding, training, and so forth. All these at the end should converge into a policy document agreeable to all those involved in the community radio projects. This article is about agriculture broadcasting, that can be done easily through community radio by both government and non government agriculture institutes, at a micro level, which was not possible earlier.
Matching the frequency
Mahesh Acharya (VU3MBV) Freelance consultant and trainer in community radio, India Mahesh4acharya@gmail.com
10
There are two methods to get started with the broadcast of agriculture programmes (AP) through CR, and the popularity of AP among agriculturists depends upon the partnership between the two methods. One method is the Institute-Community Approach (ICA), and the other is the Community-Institute Approach (CIA). The difference is at the level of initialising the process of establishing CR. In both the cases, 50 per cent participation should be from the community, in this case that of agriculturists. In ICA, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Krishi Vigyan Kendra or State Agriculture University can approach the community, stating the objective to launch a CR and soliciting participation at different phases of CRS planning, wherever deemed necessary. In CIA, community members can request the institute to set up a CR for mutual benefit. In both methods
the objective is to start a dialogue, to sign an MoU, and to execute projects.
Agriculture institutes and CRS Policy guidelines for CRSs clearly outline Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) as being eligible to start a CRS. ICAR alone can theoretically establish or support approximately 500 CRSs all over the country. Through its 38 State Agriculture Universities, 39 Central Research Institutes, 18 National Research Centers and 415 Krishi Vigyan Kendras, ICAR supports agriculture, horticulture, resource management, animal sciences, agricultural engineering, fisheries, agricultural extension, agricultural education, home science and agricultural communication, making it a potent candidate for the CRS projects.
Agree ‘culture’ In what I call as ‘radio ecosystem’, it is possible to scale the dynamic flow of agriculture dependent, socio-economic and cultural activities of people in one crop cycle. The new information thus obtained can be used by development agencies to implement projects with a greater success rate. CRS should also be equally open to other broadcasts such as folk songs, folk stories, drama, skits and other creative programmes that would entertain the listeners. India is an agrarian country, and some issues that affect an agriculturist’s livelihood and well-being are, crop production and protection, irrigation, yield, pest control, rainfall, and bank loans to buy agri-tools or animal stock. In this context it makes sense to broadcast programmes that inform, educate, set up an exchange of ideas and experiences, and consequently allow the agriculturist to decide what is good for him/ her. CRS by its very nature is participatory, i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
unlike the conventional means of communication. This is because programmes can be broadcast in the local dialect.
No rocket science this The CR technology is very simple and skill oriented. The three stages of recording, editing and broadcasting, make CR peoplefriendly, as no special qualification is needed, except to be able to read and write. CR works on the principle of one-to-many, thereby offering an opportunity for knowledge sharing. • Recording equipment, which includes, the microphone, portable field recorders and a studio recorder. Microphones are needed for specific purposes; the uni/bi-directional mike for interviews, omni directional/flat mike for discussions/music or song are very important for good recording. Other equipment includes portable tape recorders for outdoor recording, double sided audio cassette player, preferably with a compact disc CD recording for play back. • Editing equipments like studio console/mixer and/or computers. • Finally, transmission equipment, comprising of FM transmitters. There should be two-transmitters, with the second one serving as a back up in case of breakdown. The transmitters and audio equipment could be purchased from agencies within India, or imported from abroad.
Guides: online/offline There is lot of information available on the Internet on audio equipment. Transmitters of effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 Watts are legitimate. If the terrain so demands, transmitters of ERP of 250 Watts are approved on case-to-case basis. • For transmitters, one can log on to http://www.fmtransmitter.com • Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, manufactures transmitters for radio stations.For more information log onto http://www.belindia.com/Website/Asp/ProductDetails.asp? CategoryId=61&SubCategoryId=79&ProductId=95 or to www.bel-india.com • Computer software for editing and mixing is available for free, on the Internet. One such software is available at http:// www.pctip.ch/downloads/dl/14320.asp; and http:// audacity.sourceforge.net/ • Select Cool Edit 96 and start downloading. Cool Edit 2000 however does not have the facility for saving edited programmes, so it should preferably not be downloaded. • During a power break, an inverter to supply back up electricity is a must, or use solar power to run the equipment. • Application to obtain a license for CR is available at the site http://mib.nic.in/CRS/ApplCRSFM.pdf. A one-time processing fee of INR Two Thousand Five Hundred (USD 55) will be charged from the applicant. There is no license fee, but a bank guarantee of INR 25,000 will be charged to the holder of letter of intent to be issued by the Government.
Programme formats There are so many issues related to agriculture and they will vary from region to region. All these issues can be discussed through different types of formats that are outlined below. April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
Drama: It combines education and entertainment on a specific topic for example a case study of new way to cultivate crop. The duration of the programme can be fifteen to twenty minutes. Features: They are short programmes which approach everyday themes like health or nutrition, pest control or fertilization, in a creative and artistic way. The duration of the programme could be five to ten minutes. Interviews: These are radio programmes that include a dialogue between a host and a guest expert. The expert could be anybody; a local farmer with specialised knowledge of traditional practices, or an agriculture scientist from the university. Panels and discussions: These are perhaps the most interesting of all the radio programmes, and involve demonstrating different perspectives on an issue or question. For example organic versus inorganic farming, or traditional versus modern agricultural practices. Documentary: A documentary is an issue based programme that may or may not involve testimonies of people on a particular issue of public interest. It introduces the listener to an issue that is well researched and analysed before being broadcast. Editorial: An editorial is a broadcast on radio that presents the opinion of the owner, manager, or the editorial team, and this gives an opportunity to highlight and analyse issues of a crucial import. Vox Populi: This is the ‘Voice of people’, an expression of popular opinion. It is different from the editorial, in the sense that the recording is done outdoors.
Programme ideas about agriculture broadcast Low external input and sustainable agriculture, farmer-scientist discussion on issues, animal husbandry, community development, crop production, environment, fisheries, food processing and storage, gender & development, global issues, home science, health & nutrition, livestock & beekeeping, pest management, rain water harvesting, small-scale enterprise, social issues soil conservation, soil fertilization, trees & forestry, water management.
Minimum equipment list for CR broadcast Production Equipment: Studio console (multifunctional equipment) with an in-built telephone hybrid to receive calls from listeners, talkback microphone (to give instructions during recording of programs), mono or stereo inputs and outputs, two studio monitor speakers, two dual auto reverse cassette deck, one CD changer, five headphones, five dynamic microphones with windshields, two utility mixer, 3 microphone stands with flexible arms, two microphone desk stand that is flexible, five portable cassette recorders with XLR (a connecting cable) mic inputs. It is cheaper to have MiniDiscs (small palm size field recorders) but reproduction of recorded music is slightly affected. Good for outdoor recording, Five Dynamic Microphones for the cassette recorders, Automatic voltage regulators for equipment and computers, Two computers, with digital editing software, Digital Wall Clock, Telephone connection. Transmission Equipment: Two 100-250 Watt FM Stereo Transmitter, One Wide band Omni Directional Antenna, Antenna Cable, One Channel compressor and limiter, Antenna Mast and anchors height specified by WPC (Government wing allocating frequency)
11
List of ICAR supported Institutions Institutes • Central Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair • Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, Rajasthan • Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh • Central Inland Fishries Research Institute, Barrackpore, West Bengal • Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra • Central Institute for Research on Goats, Farah, Uttar Pradesh • Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra • Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh • Central Institute for Arid Horticulture, Bikaner, Rajasthan Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hissar, Haryana • Central Institute of Brakishwater Aquaculture, Chennai, Tamilnadu Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, Orissa • Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, Maharashtra Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering & Technology, Punjab • Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochin, Kerala
Bureaus • National Bureaue of Animal Genetic Resources, Karnal, Haryana • National Bureaue of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh • National Bureaue of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi • National Bureaue of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Nagpur, Maharashtra • National Bureaue of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Distt. Mau, Uttar Pradesh
National Research Centres •
National Centre for Agri Economics & Policy Research, New Delhi • National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh National Research Centre for Cachew, Puttur, Karnataka
12
• National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan • National Research Centre for Coldwater Fisheries, Bhimtal, Uttaranchal • National Research Centre on Equines, Hissar, Haryana • National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune, Maharashtra • National Research Centre for Groundnut, Junagadh, Gujarat • National Research Centre for Medicinal & Aromatic Plants, Boriavi, Gujarat
• National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi • National Research Centre for Mithun, Nagaland • National Research Centre for Mushroom, Solan, Himachal Pradesh • National Research Centre for Onion and Garlic, Rajgurunagar, Pune, Maharashtra • National Research Centre for Oilpalm, Pedavegi, Andhra Pradesh National Research Centre for Orchid, Pakyong, Sikkim
Indian Agriculture Universities contacts • Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) Rajendranagar, Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh Email: angrau@ap.nic.in Website: www.angrau.net • Anand Agricultural University (AAU) Anand Gujarat Email: vc@aau.in Web Site: www.aau.in • Assam Agriculture University (AAU) Jorhat Assam Email: vc@aau.ren.nic.in Web Site: www.aau.ac.in • Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishva Vidyalaya (BCKVV) Haringhatta PO Mohanpur Nadia West Bengal Email: root@bckv.wb.nic.in • Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) Ranchi Jharkhand Email: root@bau.bih.nic.in Web Site: www.baujharkhand.org • Central Agricultural University (CAU) Iroisemba, Imphal Manipur • Ch. Sarwan Kumar Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (CSKHPKV) Palampur Himachal Pradesh Email: vc@hillagric.ernet.in Web Site: www.hillagric.org
• Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculrure & Technology (CSAUT) Kanpur Uttar Pradesh Email: csauknp@up.nic.in Web Site: csauk.ac.in • Ch Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) Hisar Haryana Email: root@hau.pnp.nic.in Web Site: www.hisar.nic.in/ccshau.htm • Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (KKV) Dapoli Maharashtra Email: root@kkv.ren.nic.in Web Site: www.dbskkv.org • Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (PKV) Krish Nagar Akola Maharashtra Email: vc@pdkv.mah.nic.in Web Site: pdkv.mah.nic.in • Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry,(YSPUH&F) Solan Himachal Pradesh Email: vc@yspuniversity.ac.in Web Site: www.yspuniversity.ac.in For more details please visit our website i4donline.net and get the complete listing of the Agricutlure Universities in India i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
G ENDER S CRIPTS , C ANADA
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network Introduction ‘Developing Countries Farm Radio Network’ is a Canada-based not-for-profit organisation with a network of about 300 radio broadcasters in 39 African countries, committed to fighting poverty and food insecurity. Founded in 1979, it was built on the strength of Canada’s rich history in farm radio, to provide a unique international development programme. The mission of the network envisions certain values while broadcasting to ensure sustainable development and equitable growth of communities. • Equitable development: Encouraging social and economic change that is gender inclusive and benefits all members of the community, especially small-scale farmers and their families. It seeks to foster innovation, experimentation, local solutions, learning and progress based on a commitment to equitable development. • Integrity and solidarity: It encourages journalistic activity that is characterised by accuracy, fairness, balance and integrity. It advocates media freedom and network support for partnerbroadcaster’s right to communicate without undue constraint. • Community self-reliance and respect: It seeks collaboration and partnerships based on the participation of all stakeholders and respect for cultural diversity. It believes that the broadcaster’s role is to be a voice for the community, responsive to its needs and concerns. • Sharing knowledge: Its work is about sharing both indigenous and nonindigenous knowledge and experiences for rural communities to develop local skills and solutions they deem appropriate. It also supports the April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
•
integration of radio with new media technologies that increase access to information and content sharing. Environmental sustainability: It supports agricultural practices, policies and technologies that are environmentally sustainable and promote equitable economic development. It promotes the management and conservation of natural resources and bio-diversity for the benefit of all.
Reach of ‘Farm Radio Network’ Radio is a trusted source of information. Farmers can listen to radio in the privacy of their home, in a language with which they are comfortable. It requires no special skill. For women, especially in rural areas of developing nations, radio is an accessible communication tool. A survey of farmers in West Africa revealed that radio is the most welcome source of outside information. The radio programmes of the ‘Farm Radio Network’ proved to be efficient to counter
The mission of the network envisions certain values while broadcasting to ensure sustainable development and equitable growth of communities.
declining agriculture extension services and limited education opportunities in rural areas. Radio is thus the most cost-effective, accessible information/communication technology for developing countries. Radio reaches more people than any other mass medium – people who are isolated by illiteracy, distance, conflict, gender, class and poverty. It can be easily adapted to local language and culture. The materials of ‘Farm Radio Network’ are available electronically to broadcasters and to rural development organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Promotes gender equity The radio is also sensitive to the issue of gender inequality that is universally pervasive. When women lack control over resources such as land, they are unable to make decisions which improve family income. Without real control over family income, women do labour only to maintain subsistence levels, and are more severely affected by poverty than men. And cultural traditions, which bar women from activities
13
such as tree planting, limit their ability to conserve and promote environmental sustainability. Gender equality is a human right and at the heart of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality means equality at all levels of education, in all areas of work, equal control over resources, and equal representation in public and political life.
Gender scripts ‘Farm Radio Network’ produces scripts that address gender issues (www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/gender.asp). Farm Radio Network also researches and writes radio related scripts covering many topics like crop production, environment management, farm and household management, food safety, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, agriculture, children on farms, farm safety, youth in rural areas, farm income, women farmers, and more. These scripts are given free of charge, in English, and French, to the partner organisations in sub-Saharan Africa, where they are adapted to local conditions, translated into hundreds of languages, and broadcast to a potential audience of several hundred million people.
Conclusion Most farmers in developing countries do not have Internet access. Because of its unrivalled access and its low production costs, radio is the technology that best meets the information and communication needs of farmers, world-wide. Radio can reach communities at the very end of the development road – people who live in areas with
no phones and no electricity. Radio reaches people who can’t read or write. Even in very poor communities, radio penetration is vast. That is the reason why Developing Countries Farm Radio Network has adopted radio as a medium of choice in its mission to share knowledge to contribute towards developing a better and equitable world. For more information please visit www.farmradio.org
Business women have voice on radio and Internet Wise Women Group (WWG) provides an avenue for radio exposure to women achievers; a mall for women all over the world who have products to sell. Wisewomengroup.com has recently partnered with the American Heart Association’s ‘Go Red For Women’ campaign and the Fort Worth Women’s Business Center (FWWBC) . This online women’s movement to promote women’s business ownership, provides access to valuable products and services to all women in one online community. A first of its kind, the Wisewomen community brings a woman everything she needs into one convenient place - like other women to learn from. The FWWBC educates and supports over 6,000 entrepreneurs every year. They offer classes, seminars, certification, and mentoring programmes. The partnership with the American Heart Association is to spread the message, that heart disease is the number one killer of women prone to risk. Kicking off with a radio broadcast featuring these partners, and giving an in-depth and interactive opportunity to women to be educated on heart disease by the experts at the American Heart Association on the website,WWG is bringing vital health information to women who want and need it. Wisewomen Radio showcases women achievers on Dallas radio and is available 24/7, and in depth, through streaming media on
the web. Broadcast on KEOM 88.5 FM, the interviews are also available through the wisewomengroup.com website. Women who have been interviewed on the programme get exposure on the website, not only through the website and podcasts of their radio interview, but are also through their blogs, Wisewomen Speak, and RSS feeds. Wisewomengroup.com is an online women’s movement. This website has been over two years in the making and it brings unique software that allows interaction, collaboration, and multigroup connection. Wisewomengroup.com offers mastermind support groups to a variety of likeminded women; experienced women have a voice through Wisewomen Speak to offer leadership and advice; information and resources are available for women in life transitions; WWG is an avenue to radio exposure for women of achievement; a mall for women all over the world who have products to sell; it offers certified online classes; corporate training; a jobs board; marketing exposure through a business directory and access to a personal blog. Thus Wisewomen Group is utilising the world wide web to connect women to a world of opportunity. For more information please visit: http://www.wisewomengroup.com/
The article is reprinted from PR Web (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/10/prweb446851.htm)
14
i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
INDIA
2007 31 July - 03 August, Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi e-Agriculture 2007 is introduced as a new track in the country’s biggest ICT event, eINDIA2007. The event seeks to provide a national level platform to policy makers, corporate stakeholders, researchers, ICT professionals working in domain of agriculture and allied fields, and farmers. The conference is conceived as an opportunity of great importance in light of improving progress of our economy and still more important in context of our primary sector as it faces a host of challenges ahead. It will be instrumental in the development of an approach, to make best use of the contemporary breakthroughs in ICT, for an integrated development of the sector. With rapid structural changes happening in Agriculture, the focus is shifting from production to technological interventions, management of finance, capacity building, and marketing. Developing farm-level information systems to fulfill these needs is a major challenge, which calls for a paradigmatic shift in strategies.
Conference Key Topics
Call for Papers
Policy paradigm in India Second green revolution ICT for well-informed decision-making in agriculture Who owns the productive lands and natural resources? Role of ICTs - land records, mapping, and conflict resolution, etc. Agri-Marketing Agriculture marketing and ICT Accessing global markets through ICT Agriculture Extension Transfer of technology- concept of knowledge systems (Local and Global) Development of ICT sector for agriculture and role of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Agriculture Production Food security through ICT Precision farming- optimum use of available resources Agri-Finance Agri-finance management with ICT Innvoative Financial Products: Agriculture credit and insurance solutions with ICT Agri- Education and Research Making ICTs usable & useful in context of Indian Agriculture Higher Education in agriculture - are they ICT ready?
We invite you to participate actively in this event and send us relevant papers for presentation. Submit your abstracts online at www.eIndia.net.in/eAgriculture/abstractonline Abstract submission : 25 May 2007 Abstract Acceptance : 6 June 2007 Full Paper Submission : 30 June 2007 Contact Details: Anaam Sharma anaam@csdms.in or call at +91 9910597744 Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) G-4, Sector - 39, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 Phones: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: 91-120-2500060
www.eINDIA.net.in/eAgriculture
CR, A SIA -P ACIFIC
Women demand equal access to leadership Bianca Miglioretto Community Radio and Alternative Media Officer, Isis International Manila, Philippines bianca@isiswomen.org
Survey over eMails In 2006, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), Women’s International Network (WIN), Asia Pacific, and Isis International, Manila, conducted an eMail survey among women community radio broadcasters in the Asia Pacific as regards their situation and needs. Out of the twenty three respondents from twelve different countries in the region, eighteen were women. These twenty three radio stations or production groups employ between 2 to 41 people, wherein gender balance is close to equal among the employees (see table). A community radio in Fiji is an all women’s project and another station in Indonesia has only male staff, but does not call itself an all men’s station. However, a closer gender look at leadership and technical positions in these radio stations reveals a different picture. Women make up only 28 percent of leadership positions, which is comparatively better than in mainstream media where women occupy only 3 to 5 percent of leadership positions, as reported by the International Federation of Journalists in 2001. Still, women lack access to decisionmaking in the community radio sector. Almost all the radio stations (21) have between one to five hours of weekly programmes by and for women. These programmes cover issues such as womens rights, health care, violence against women, literacy, and success stories of women in society.
16
Most of the respondents had very positive experiences on community radio work. For example, after listening to a programme on the discrimination of widows, Nepali widows in one community changed their white saris to red (a garment worn primarily by Hindu women which can be draped in various ways). Culturally, widows may never wear red clothes or sari, because it is a symbolic representation of marriage. Housewives are no longer afraid to talk about issues that were taboo before. A woman got land and property from her ex-husband who left her, thanks to a radio programme.
POSITION
TOTAL
Overall staff
291
Leadership positions
• Production and technical skills including ICT; • Journalistic skills (e.g., interviewing, script writing, anchoring, reporting); and • Management, administration, sharing of decision-making. All the respondents supported programme exchange with other radio stations. The topics they are most interested in are gender and women’s issues, the protection of women’s rights and women’s success stories. Furthermore, they all want to join the Women’s International Network of AMARC, Asia Pacific. Interestingly enough, five of the respondents are
WOMEN
IN %
MEN
IN %
130
45%
161
55%
75
21
28%
54
72%
Technical staff
54
15
28%
39
72%
Administrative staff
61
27
44%
34
56%
Programme producers
108
47
44%
61
56%
Volunteers
315
137
43%
177
57%
Suggestions Among the most important changes the women community radio broadcasters want to bring to their radio stations are: • Womens access to leadership, decisionmaking and management; • Access to all aspects of radio production, especially technical tasks; and • More gender-sensitive and feminist programmes and perspectives in community radio programming. The most important training needs that the women broadcasters mentioned are:
current members of AMARC, but said that they did not know about the Women’s International Network (WIN). This article was first published in WE! by Isis International-Manila AMARC is encouraging more women community radio broadcasters to participate in the survey. Please contact the WINRepresentative for Asia Pacific, Bianca Miglioretto (bianca@isiswomen.org), or the Regional Coordinator Suman Basnet (suman@wlink.com.np) for further details. i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
UNESCO, I NDIA
The responsibility of community broadcasting The culture of listening to the radio has almost disappeared. To revive it every CRS will have to think about innovative ways of programming that will draw and keep its listeners
The plurality imperative From the time that the Government of India released the Community Radio policy in November 2006, I have received many calls/ mails from people telling me, “I want to start a community radio, or my NGO wants to start a radio service for the community”. My humble advice is to please substitute the word ‘I’ with ‘we’ and ‘my NGO’ with ‘our community’. The plurality of the words ‘we’ and ‘our’ is what signifies the philosophy of CR and differentiates it from the state and private owned media. This philosophy of democracy and representation makes running and sustaining community radio stations (CRSs) a difficult task. It requires for the defined community to understand the responsibility that they need to shoulder as active stakeholders and assess their readiness and commitment, whether it be as fundraisers, as management, as programmers, as listeners, or as participants. Community radio is not a project that can be implemented within a time-frame either. It is a process of constant engagement and participation that local citizens should be in charge of.
Instances
Seema Nair Consultant and Coordinator Community Multimedia Centre Project in Asia UNESCO, India s.nair@unesco.org
April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
In a dialogue with members of a federation of Self Help Groups in Bhanaj, Mandakini Valley, Uttarakhand, I inquired as to who would pay for the repairs of the satellite receivers, which were broadcasting some of the programmes they were producing. After a short and what seemed like an intense discussion in Garhwali (Language spoken in the area) they replied, “of course you, since your organisation is the one providing us with the receivers”. I was just about to delve into a long monologue about ownership, when I noticed that all the women were smiling and soon broke into a roaring laughter. Later, the president of the group
asked me teasingly, “if you gave us the cow, it is our responsibility to milk it, no?” At that meeting, the same group of women discussed, decided and noted in their ledgers a small amount of money that they would put aside for the community radio station equipment repairs. There are many other instances where local communities have contributed wood to build the studio, rice to meet the annual budget expenditures, money for special functions etc. While fund-raising may not always meet the entire expenditure of running the community radio stations, it is a good indication of how seriously the community takes its station, and the level of participation and endorsement of its programming.
Listening to listeners My other favourite question to potential community radio broadcasters is why they want to start a community radio station. The usual answer is, ‘the people in this area are poor, marginalised and community radio is the best way to develop them’. Whenever people tell me this, I try to rationalise and tell myself, that either they too are struck by the disease of political correctness, or they say this because I am representing UNESCO. Community Radio is not child’s play. It is broadcasting minus the glamour and money of private broadcasting and the security of a cushy job in All India Radio. And if development messages and programmes are the only reasons you want to start a community radio station, then you might hit some early roadblocks. If a CRS wants to develop a loyal following of listeners, some intelligent strategic thinking needs to go behind the programming. Ask Sunil Wijesinghe, station controller of Kothmale community multimedia centre,
17
what the primary duty of a station manager is, and he would tell you to: “Satisfy your listener. If as a radio broadcaster you are not enjoying making your own programme, how can you expect the listener to like it?” Thanks to the penetration of satellite television to almost every nook and corner of our country, the culture of listening to the radio has almost disappeared. To revive it every CRS will have to think about innovative ways of programming that will draw and keep its listeners. A study commissioned by UNESCO on Local Information Networks in 2004, analysed patterns of programming in Namma Dhwani cable community radio station in Budikote, in the state of Karnataka, where local community members have been producing programmes from early 2003 on a day-to-day basis. The study positively concluded that the most popular and effective programmes were the ones which were interactive, and catered to the timely information needs of the community with an element of ‘fun’.
Prudent questioning So while or before you apply for that CR license, do begin a process of introspection. Some questions that may be worthwhile trying to answer are: • Does my community need a community radio station? In what way could my community benefit from a community radio station? • How is the CRS going to facilitate participation of the community? - As owners, managers, producers and recipients. • If my NGO is the license holder, how am I going to ensure that the community has an independent right to decision making as far as the community radio station is concerned? • Does the CRS mission promote inclusiveness and fair representation? • By what vital principles is the programming to be guided? Once you get though the ‘Kafkaesque’ process (as termed by Lawrence Liang in the recently concluded National Consultation for existing and potential community radio broadcasters) of obtaining the licence and setting up the most suitable broadcast technology, be ensured that it is a good indication of your determination required to be a community broadcaster. Because like I mentioned earlier, community radio is not child’s play. It is a continuous concept that evolves like the community it is serving. So, there will be hard times, like when the thunder damages your transmitter, the one and only mixing console breaks down, when volunteers hardly come by, when the partner organisation or the local politician begins to play unfair games, and when equipment mysteriously disappears from the station. But there will also be times when a shy volunteer speaks into the mike like it was an extension of herself, when there are so many letters flooding the mail box, when a programme has created the change as was intended, when the poorest person in your community will contribute a part of her wage to the station, when the social capital that the community radio station has invested in, will begin to reap a harvest.
18
Through the i4d archives Community radio is not only an interesting development and communication tool but also speaks of a democratising process, which promotes community participation ensuring improved information flow of relevant issues. The challenges faced by many of the community radio projects are not only on how to run the projects effectively, but also to fight the archaic bottlenecks of bureaucracy, including the licensing system. While the national broadcasting agencies are opening up the waves for the public, challenges being faced are also immense. i4d print magazine has given a good coverage on the topic in one of its previous issues dated August 2004. This issue was produced in collaboration with UNESCO. You can view this issue online: http://www.i4donline.net/ aug04/contentimg.asp
i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
INDIA
2007 31 July - 03 August, Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi
Call for paper/proposal India is trying to achieve the 'Education for All' goal in one hand and investing in building infrastructure and initiating programmes to build a world class human resource capacity on the other. The National Knowledge Commission has emphasised the need for extensive use of ICTs for research, collaboration and university networking for building ICT skills, sharing education resources and reaching the un-reached in higher education though distance learning. Digital Learning India 2007 will take on the existing debates and provide a platform for all stakeholders to deliberate on the issues of enabling and strengthening capacities to achieve the national goals of education.
Digital Learning India 2007 The government has increased the allocation for education in this year's budget by 34.2 per cent to INR 32,352 crore, providing a much needed sense of stability to the education industry and boosted confidence to all stakeholders, investors. It has also increased the teacher training allocation from INR 160 crore to INR 430 crore. By 2012, India will require around 5 lakh professionals in the IT exports market, 1.11 million in the domestic IT industry and around 2 million in the ITES sector. Taking a cue from the global trends in education and capacity building, India's progress as the driver of the knowledge revolution through its human capacity is possible only through sustained efforts by the government, global assistance and collaboration and partnerships with private sector and civil society. Conference papers are solicited from all individuals and organisations interested in information and communication technology and its educational application in the developing countries like India and others. Decision makers, practitioners and all stakeholders of education, industry, and government - the key areas driving technology adoption and innovation in education. • Officers from Government Departments and International Development Cooperation Agencies • Programme Managers and Education Administrators • School Principals and Administrators, Teachers and Trainers • Directors, Researchers and other representatives from Universities and the Higher Education institutions • Corporate Training and Development personnel • IT Managers and Human Resources Executives • Technology and Service Providers • Publishers and Content Providers • Training Consultants and Company Representatives, etc. Discussion of conference themes with conference organisers may be made by email.
Key sessions • ICT in Education Policy • School management with ICT • Teachers' capacity building in ICT: The role of pre-service and in-service professional training • Pedagogical & curriculum reform in ICT enabled education • E-Readiness of higher education: Challenges and way forward • Web education and e-pedagogy- The future • Content development and instructional designs • Open educational resources: Possibilities • E-Learning in workplaces • Research and innovation for learning • Showcasing new tools and technologies in education We encourage you to make your presentation interactive through the methods: Tutorials and workshops/Informal and interactive sessions - posters, round table discussion, exhibits/Formal presentations of papers
Important Dates: Abstract Submission : 25 May 2007 Abstract Acceptance : 06 June 2007 Full Paper Submission : 30 June 2007
Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), G-4, Sector - 39 Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301, India Phones: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: 91-120-2500060 Send your papers/proposals to: manjushree@csdms.in Submit abstract online at www.eINDIA.net.in/digitalLEARNING/abstractonline.asp
www.eINDIA.net.in/digitalLEARNING
INDIA
2007 31 July - 03 August, Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi
Call for papers mServe India 2007 After liberalisation, the Indian sector has come to boast of the highest growth rate in the world. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said the total number of telephone subscribers in India had hit 189.9 million, of which 149.5 million are mobile customers. The mobile phones apart from bringing in the aspect of mobility in connectivity have an inherent ease in terms of usage, unlike computer-based connectivity, which requires people to be literate and e-Literate at the same time. The immense growth has also meant that the cost-per equipment has also come down drastically. This growth though, has been lopsided and the mobile revolution has been limited primarily to urban areas. The rural areas have remained untouched and in a nation which is plagued by connectivity lapses, mobile technology may well emerge as the key to bridging the digital divide. mServe India 2007 will showcase the immense potential of mobile technology in the implementation of existing and future m-Government, education, agriculture and other applications.
Key Discussion Themes The conference will be divided into several thematic tracks such as: 1. Wireless and mobile policy and regulation 2. Muni Wi-Fi/ WiMax (m-Governance, m-Health, Case studies) 3. Mobile Handsets (Barriers to entry, Low cost handsets, Market scenario, Dual mode handsets, Market wrt Chinese/South East/South Asian market) 4. Mobile operators and service providers- CSR 5. Mobiles for sustainable development (m-Biz, m-Livelihood, m-Learning) 6. m-Content 7. University- Student Forum 8. Web 2.0/Mobile 2.0- Telling stories from the development community- Net Squared The implementation process, successes, failures, key issues and future plans will be discussed through panel discussions, workshops and presentations of case studies and best practices.
Image source: www.Indiadaily.org
Individuals working with IT/Telecom companies, central/state government departments, national/international government agencies, bi-lateral/multilateral organisations, research and academic institutes, development organizations, NGOs doing ICT projects, technology development, policy research, implementation etc. are encouraged to submit a 200 word abstract. The abstract should clearly define the aims of the project and indicate the key research/points to be further presented and discussed in the session. After evaluation of abstracts, selected authors would be asked to send the full paper. Submit your abstract online at www.eINDIA.net.in/mserve/abstractonline
Important Dates: Abstract Submission : 25 May 2007 Abstract Acceptance : 06 June 2007 Full Paper Submission : 30 June 2007
Contact Details Himanshu Kalra (mob: +91-9818485406) email: himanshu@csdms.in eIndia 2007 Secretariat Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) G-4, Sector 39, Noida, India - 201301 Tel. : +91-120-2502181- 85, Fax: +91-120-2500060
www.eINDIA.net.in/mserve
I NTERVIEWEE , K LAUS P ENDL
FP7 endorses EuroIndia ICT research ?What are the goals and objectives of ‘European Research Funding’? EU research funding primarily aims to improve the competitiveness of European industry and to enable Europe to master and shape future developments so that the demands of its society and economy are met.
Klaus Pendl
?Please specify the main programmes
interest and mutual benefit. Thematic areas such as ICT are fully open to third country organisations, and organisations from low and middle income countries receive funding in the same way as European project partners. In addition, the programme foresees ‘Specific International Cooperation Actions’ targeting cooperation with specific countries or groups of countries in areas of mutual interest.
around which the new Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) is structured? FP7 is made up of 4 specific programmes plus a fifth programme on nuclear research, as well as funding for the EU’s Joint Research Centre. The four main programmes are ‘Cooperation’ (collaborative research), ‘Ideas’ (frontier research actions implemented through a new ‘European Research Council’), ‘People’ (human potential and mobility), and ‘Capacities’ (research capacities such as infrastructures).
?How does Euro-India ICT Co-operation
followed by Health, Transport and Nano production.
?How can NGOs and similar enterprises
seek to enable collaborations among various partners? Euro-India ICT Cooperation is a project funded under the EU´s Research Framework Programme. It aims to promote ICT research cooperation between India and Europe and bring partners from Europe and India together. It is organising – in cooperation with Indian partnersa series of workshops in India. The last of this were held at the end of March, at the Indian Institutes of Technology in Kanpur and Madras.
In an exclusive interview to i4d, Mr. Klaus Pendl outlines the future ? What are the core thematic areas ?What has been the response of the R&D opportunities for ICT supported by FP7 funding and the average sector in terms of cooperation in research corpus earmarked in each area? on ICT, especially from India? projects within the EU’s The overall budget from 2007 to 2013 is In the last years we saw a strong increase in more than 50 billion •. The Cooperation interest of Indian organisations in Seventh Framework Programme is the biggest programme participating in projects. In FP6 (2002with more than 32 billion •. It includes 2006) we had 101 Indian organisations in Programme for research 10 thematic areas: Information and the Information Society Technologies Communication Technologies is by far project proposals, of which 22 were (FP7, 2007-2013) the biggest with more than 9 billion •, successful and became project partners. Klaus Pendl Project Officer, International Relations Unit, Information Society and Media, European Commission, Belgium Klaus.PENDL@ec.europa.eu April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
?Can organisations from outside Europe
participate? Yes. The Framework Programme foresees developing research partnerships with third countries and addressing issues of common
leverage this support? Participation is open to all legal entities, including SMEs and NGOs. These organisations are often strongly involved in activities such as demonstration and dissemination.
21
?How do you join a project consortium? ?What are the main parametres under First of all, activate your existing contacts in Europe. You may be surprised how many of them already have experience in Framework Programme projects. Make your organisation visible, enter your profile on the Euro-India ICT Cooperation website and use partner search mechanisms on CORDIS and IDEALIST.
which you select winning proposals? This is basically done by a very strict, transparent and fair peer-review process.
Proposals submitted following calls for proposals are evaluated by independent experts. The evaluation criteria are published with the call. They include scientific and/or technological excellence, quality and efficiency of the implementation and management, and the potential impact through the development, dissemination and use of project results.
Strategic outlines for FP7 FP7 is an acronym for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. This is EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe and it will run from 2007 to 2013. FP7 is also designed to respond to Europe’s employment needs, and improve competitiveness and quality of life. FP7 is also designed to support a wide range of participants: from universities, to public authorities, small enterprises and researchers in developing countries. A section of the CORDIS FP7 service is intended to provide an introduction to EU’s next research Framework Programme, tailored to the questions of key groups of potential participants and interested parties, starting with: • Private companies: such as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), private research institutes or other industrial participants. • Public organisations : public universities, regional authorities, public research organisations (PROs). • Individual researchers : from both the public and private sectors. • Researchers and organisations outside the European Union: from candidate countries, associated states, developing countries, emerging economies or industrial nations. Under the specific programme, ‘Cooperation’, the implementation of FP7 (2007-2013) of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities, as agreed by the Programme Committee of 2007-08, would prioritise ‘ICT’ for the call for proposals and set it as the criteria for evaluating the proposals. It was standardised as per the inputs being received from the Programme Committee, the IST AdvisoryGroup (ISTAG), the European Technology Platforms in ICT and other preparatory activities including workshops involving the main stakeholders. The work programme is also in line with the main ICT policy priorities as defined in the i2010 initiatives - a European Information Society for Growth and Employment. The work programme will be updated on a regular basis.
Project types Project types describe the nature of funding open to participants in FP7. Not all project types apply to all programme areas. The applicable project types are published in the Work Programmes and the Calls for Proposals. Partly as a result of simplification measures, project types have been rationalised. The project types are • Collaborative research projects: These fund projects on the basis of innovative research outputs described in the form of project deliverables. The equivalent FP6 Financial Instruments were Integrated Projects and STREP • Networks of excellence: As with FP6, the main aim of a Network of Excellence is to integrate research at a European level. Thus, participants are paid on the basis of degree of integration achieved rather than research outputs. • Support actions and coordination actions: Support Actions (SA) fund studies or other measures in support of the relevant Work Programme. Coordination Actions (CA) fund networking research that previously was primarily carried out at national level. SA and CA were separate actions in FP6. • Marie Curie actions: This project type applies to projects within the People Specific Programme. They fund research training and mobility of researchers. The ICT Work Programme falling under FP7 is divided into seven challenging areas of strategic interest to European society, plus research into ‘future and emerging technologies’, and support for horizontal actions, such as international cooperation. They are as follows: • Pervasive and trusted network and service infrastructures • Cognitive systems, interaction and robotics • Components, systems and engineering • Digital libraries and content • Sustainable and personalised healthcare • Mobility, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency • Independent living and inclusion of future and emerging technologies (FET) Source: ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ict-wp-2007-08_en.pdf
22
i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
Vol. V No. 4
April 2007
Information for development www.i4donline.net
Agriculture
Online monitoring of fertiliser subsidy will start soon in India An online system to monitor subsidy provided to fertiliser companies will be launched soon in India to remove distribution bottlenecks. The Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan has said that an online system will monitor from Delhi, the subsidies being given to fertiliser companies to avoid problems being faced in distribution. The Minister said that monitoring would take place even at the district level to avoid bottlenecks in the movement of fertilisers. Indian Express
Community radio
IGNOU plans to set up new radio stations in Northeast India Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced plans for coming up with new radio stations in various parts of India. The plan proposes to set up new stations in North East Region at Agartala, Aizwal, Gangtok, Imphal, Itanagar and Kohima during the 11th Plan Period to facilitate rural students through community radio programmes. pib.nic.in
Radio dramas help in combating HIV/AIDS Listening to radio dramas, it is claimed, has raised the level of awareness among women folk in the region of Mekong, in warding off HIV/AIDS, and fighting trafficking and drug use etc. April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
The minority women belonging to the ethnic groups of the Thai-Myanmar-LaosChina border regions are vulnerable to sexual exploitation because of their limited education, and lack of knowledge about how to protect themselves. Radio dramas are thus found to be an effective vehicle for reaching out to the young people who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Native speakers write the dramas in the local languages and the dramas are based on intensive research on life stories, issues and concerns.
upgrades to schools’ IT infrastructure along with associated professional development for staff. The Learning with ICT project also involves the provision of additional computers to schools, electrical upgrades, network cable upgrades and professional development of staff. DET has already provided computers with Windows/Intel to 96 percent of government departments, while four percent have Apple computers. www.zdnet.com.au
www.adb.org
Education
Global launches cultural e-Learning portal in India Global Adjustments, a cross-cultural education and destination services company, has launched an e-Learning portal, www.globalindian.com, which is to be India’s first web-based cross-cultural educational portal. The portal is specifically designed for professionals seeking to function effectively in a global environment. Dayanidhi Maran, union minister of IT formally launched the e-Learning portal in Chennai. The e-learning portal is designed in such a way that it offers the learner an ample space and time using innovative multimedia technology. www.efytimes.com
Australia’s DET provides ICT skills to 100 schools Western Australia’s Department of Education and Training (DET) has provided a technology infrastructure upgrade at an initial total of 100 schools in Australia. DET has already completed its first phase of ‘Learning with ICT’ project, including 14 schools in the Albany area in January. ‘Learning with ICT’ project involves key
Health
Canada is going to support health research in developing countries Canada’s Government has recently announced that it will spend CA $ 20 million for doing research on health, along with developing countries. The grants will be given via the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI), along with Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Health Canada, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). There are 13 research teams who are going to receive more than CA $20 million in funding through the Teasdale-Corti Team Grants. The researchers, policy-makers and practitioners, will work together to find solutions to the world’s most pressing health issues. www.idrc.ca
Nutritional support to HIV positive children in India The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has cleared a new programme to provide nutritional supplement to children
23
The i4d News
Philippines, the first country in Intel’s e-Learning project Philippines will become the first recipient country for the multi-million dollar Intel Microelectronics’ e-Learning project, which aims to provide a holistic learning environment in public high schools. Intel’s ICT for Education project would be unfolded in partnership with the Department of Education (DEPED), Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (GILAS), and the Foundation for IT Education and Development (FIT-ED). The ICT for Education project is part of the Intel World Ahead programme, which is designed to provide computers, Internet access, and educational content to schools worldwide. Intel will donate 100,000 Intel-based personal computers for the entire World Ahead programme, some of which will be sent to the Philippines. Intel has allocated $1 billion for the next five years for Intel World Ahead. The Specific programmes will be - the ‘Teach to the Future Programme’, DEPED’s PCs for Public Schools, and GILAS’s donation of Internet connectivity to public schools. Teach to the Future Programme has already trained 74,000 teachers in the Philippines with another 7,000 to be trained by the end of the year, while GILAS has provided Internet connection to over 1,000 high schools. www.asianjournal.com
enrolled under their Anti-Retroviral Programme (ART). Under the ART, the nutritional needs of 3,000 children will be covered. Children would get fortified with food supplements, free of cost, along with the ART medical support. The supplement under ART is expected to take care of 60 percent of the child’s calorie, protein and micronutrient needs per day. The new programme will get technical support from several international agencies including Clinton Foundation and World Food Programme. According to the views expressed by the experts, an HIV-infected child with no symptoms needs 10 percent additional nutritional input per day and the requirement increases with the presence of an infection. www.hindu.com
General
Malaysia’s MDeC keen to promote ICT industry in Brunei Malaysia based Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) is eager to cooperate with the Brunei Government to promote the ICT industry in the country. The cooperation is expected to offer tremendous opportunities for both countries. Cayzer, the leading MDeC business mission to Brunei is keen to promote Malaysia’s strategic strengths, capability and infrastructure besides encouraging Brunei based ICT companies looking for
24
expansion to consider Malaysia as a viable location for their further growth. Malaysian companies are particularly interested in exploring opportunities for developing eLearning solutions, Internet services, shared services and outsourcing in Brunei. The Brunei Government can learn from Malaysia’s experience and knowledge in implementing the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiatives and various eGovernment projects. www.bernama.com
Livelihood
Credit lessons for rural folks: RBI The Reserve Bank of India is planning to start credit counselling to the poor. It is also coming out with more material on financial literacy in rural India as a part of its financial inclusion strategy. Capacity building of poor and rural people is essential since they get into debt out of ignorance or bad luck. RBI is in the process of preparing reading and visual material. economictimes.indiatimes.com
UN food agency chief tells Washington officials to conquer hunger James T. Morris, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme
(WFP), has said that conquering hunger is critical to peace and prosperity. www.un.org
mServe
Japanese will pay their McDonalds bills from their mobile phones Japanese are leading their way in the direction of mobile payment solution. Now Japanese people will use their mobile phone to pay their McDonalds bills. Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo announced that the company has teamed up with McDonalds to offer electronic bill payments and special offers for mobile phone users. McDonalds will use the company’s mobile phone services to distribute e-Coupons and gather customer information for marketing. The company is expecting to send e-Coupons through eMail or having customers access its website from their mobile phones. This joint venture will benefit companies, to track their customers, and their eating habits. NTT DoCoMo has already set up a service, which allows customers to use their handsets as a credit card. news.bbc.co.uk
Mobile phone: public health tool for developing countries Now mobile phones are not only means for communication but are also helping developing countries to deal with their health-related issues. An America based company, Voxiva, is using technology to assist government services in Rwanda. The World Bank and the United States government helped the company to expand the technology. Voxiva has been working with the Government of Rwanda for about three years. The company has developed an information technology system for health workers to collect and share information about HIV/AIDS. Every week, the Rwanda health centres feed information about HIV/AIDS into the system. Citizens can use various sorts of technology, including the Internet to connect to the system. Most of the health care centres are using mobile phones for transferring the data. Users can receive the information by just one click of mobile phones. Ther Government of Rwanda has spent one million dollars to develop the TRACNet system. Rural health centres in i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
The i4d News the Amazon Basin of Peru have been using a Voxiva system for more than five years. They are using mobile phones for sending information about cholera, measles and other diseases. Indonesians are using Voxiva technology to follow cases of bird flu. www.voanews.com
Indians can search for jobs on their Reliance mobile phones Reliance Communications, India’s leading CDMA operator is offering more features to its customers. Reliance Communications announced that the company has tied up with Naukri.com, India’s largest job site to help job seekers to explore jobs, while on the move. Reliance Customers can use this service by registering themselves at naukri.com with a username and password, entering their Reliance mobile number in the online registration form, and search the job based on the category, experience and location. Customers can search for jobs based on skills in the fields of IT/ITES, telecommunications, finance, banking, call centres, government, health, hospitality, human resources, insurance, law, marketing, research, sales, and many other lucrative areas. This facility will allow job seekers to search with easy menu-driven navigation of the application on Reliance Mobile World. Reliance customers can also access Real Estates, Automobiles, Local Jobs, Used Items, and Matrimonial classifieds. According to Mahesh Prasad, President - Applications, Solutions and Content Group, Reliance Communications, this application allows customers to post, search and apply for jobs from their mobile phones. www.indiaprwire.com
Open Source
CPM asks Indian Govt. to implement open source software in e-Government applications The Communist Party (CPM) of India has asked the Central Government to switch to free and open source software for all its e-Governance applications. The party is also expecting the Government to introduce free and open source software in the curriculum from the school level. According to CPM Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury, the April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
Europe, Brazil and China joined for open source Europe, Brazil and China have teamed up to launch a global platform to promote the adoption of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) by businesses, governments and academia. The project, named QualiPSo (Quality Platform for Open Source Software) is designed to make open source a formidable lever to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness, accelerate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) growth, and implement the i2010 policy for growth and jobs. The project hopes to achieve these aims by developing FLOSS into a low-cost and flexible alternative to proprietary software. The project will boast of technology specialists, government departments, and academic institutions, amongst its 20 founding members. It includes the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOCUS), INRIA (The French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control), the State University of Sao Paulo, South China University of Technology/Guangzhou Middleware Research Center, the French Gendarmerie (military police), Bull, Siemens and Thales. www.cordis.europa.eu
monopoly of knowledge has become the avenue of earning profits and there is a need to liberate the stranglehold. The free software movement can go a long way towards bridging the digital divide. www.andhracafe.com
All books available at the NSA, and IASc journals are configured for open access. NIC and MedKnow are bringing out 78 OA journals. Institutes like IISc, RRI, NIO, NAL, NCCR, and NIT-Rourkela have accepted the open access of books google.com
South Africa plans to switch to open source software South Africa is planning to switch all Government departments over to open source computer software instead of Microsoft systems. The cabinet will use the open source Linux operating system to enhance local IT skills. The open source software will bridge the digital divide and facilitate people who are computer illiterate. The Government has also joined other governments, including Brazil, China, Spain, India and Malaysia to adopt open source software. This initiative will help schools, homes and community centres. za.today.reuters.com
Microsoft and Google to support open access to books Microsoft and Google both are supporting open access to books from major libraries of the world. Both companies are digitising books in very large leading American and European libraries. Prof. N Balakrishnan is working for digitising a million books in different libraries in India in different languages.
SME/SMB
Dell launches low-cost PC in China to capture market Dell Inc, the world’s second-largest personal computer maker, has unveiled a low-cost personal computer (PC) on March 21, 2007 for China. China is the fastest growing market for Dell Inc. The price range of the newly launched personal computer varies between 2,599 to 3,999 yuan (i.e. about US$ 335 to 520). Dell had reported that it faced a sharp decline in quarterly profit while revenues fell short of Wall Street expectations. However it expects to revamp its business in the near future. Dell Inc. had lost a part of its market share to global industry leader Hewlett-Packard Co. during the fourth quarter and during January 2007. Dell may open up another factory in China seeing the fact that it is the second largest producer of PC and ranks third after Lenovo Group Ltd. and Founder Technology York Li in China. economictimes.indiatimes.com
25
The i4d News
NCR becomes first to deploy wireless network in Columbia The National Capital Region (NCR), which includes the District of Columbia and 18 other jurisdictions in Virginia and Maryland, would be the first in the nation to establish a public-safety regional wireless network at 700 MHz. NCR has selected Alcatel-Lucent as its equipment infrastructure vendor to deploy the new Regional Wireless Broadband Network (RWBN). It will provide a seamless interoperable, redundant wireless broadband www.cs.columbia.edu/ network with the capacity to transmit video, data and voice communications with peak speeds of nearly 5 Mbps, using only a paired 1.25 MHz channel. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy 1x Evolution-Data Optimised (1xEV-DO) Revision A (Rev A) equipment with initial phase delivery by March 31, 2007. This solution delivers the economy of scale of commercial cellular technologies with public safety grade construction and reliability. www.public-cio.com
Technology
Satyam launches virtual learning world, SLW in India Satyam Computer Services Limited has implemented an organisation-wide virtual leaning environment called Satyam Learning World (SLW), in India. It will assist in critical processes like induction, entrylevel training, continuous competency development, performance evaluation, and career-path development. SLW is also designed to prepare Satyam professionals to excel at project and service offering levels, and to work more effectively with partners and customers. Satyam will invest more than $8 million in the comprehensive programme over the next five years. Investments and assets will include tools and technologies like a learning management system, a content management system, a virtual classroom tool, a performance evaluation management tool, and a networking and blog OCR tool. Other tools will handle attendance, library management, web radio, web television, and mobile learning. www.business-standard.com
Telecentre
Mahavilachchiya, the first eVillage in Sri-Lanka Soon children of Mahavilachchiya, a village in Sri-Lanka, can check their eMails, do research for their homework assignments, and read local news on their computers. Mahavilachchiya has become the SriLanka’s first e-Village and boasts the highest computer density than any other village in the country.
26
The Horizon Lanka Foundation, a local NGO, has made the Mahavilachchiya project possible. The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), through a partnership with Enterprise Technology (Pvt) Ltd (ETPL), and a grant from the Pan Asia R&D Grants Programme, was responsible for the implementation of the project. In Mahavilachchiya, the Horizon Lanka Academy has provided numerous students with access to ICT. The Foundation also installed laptops, Internet connectivity and an extensive computer lab; resources found in less than 10 percent of Sri Lankan schools, and previously only available in affluent areas. The e-Village project aims to increase opportunities for growth and provide a better quality of life for people in rural communities.
available to the citizens with broadband availability. The government would lay special emphasis on North-Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir. The government will also cover secondary and higher secondary schools, public health care centres, and Village Panchayats in the year 2008. Additionally, BSNL will aggressively roll out high speed broadband services like Wi-MAX and allow integration of multiple access technology like ADSL 2 +, VDSL 2, fibre-home, Wi-Fi, Wi-MAX, 3G, CorDECT, etc. http://pib.nic.in
Wireless
A satellite radio policy for India Under the satellite radio policy, broadcasting news and current affairs programmes will be permitted, though with several restrictions. Foreign direct investment of upto 26 percent will be allowed in satellite radio companies. However, these companies should have resident Indians as their Chief Executive and Chief Marketing Officers. Formation of Indian joint ventures is essential for foreign companies. News and current affairs channel will not be allowed on the satellite radio platform unless and until they have Indian advertising and content designed for Indian audiences. Private FM radio companies also expect to get the government’s approval to raise the foreign direct investment cap from 20 to 26 per cent. www.businessstandard.com
www.icta.lk
Telecommunications
India targets for 20 million broadband connections by 2010 Indian Communications and Information Technology Minister announced India’s intention to provide 20 million broadband connections by the end of year 2010. While speaking on the agenda item ‘Initiatives on Broadband’, he said that the new disruptive wireless broadband technology like WiMax would add more than a million broadband connections by this year-end. Wireline and wireless broadband are to co-exist and expand together. New applications like tele-aid medicines, IPTV, video conferencing, eGovernance, e-Commerce, etc., will be
Douglas County, the first courthouse in Metro Atlanta to offer Wi-Fi Now the Douglas County Courthouse is the first courthouse in the metro Atlanta area and in the state of Georgia to become completely Wi-Fi enabled. The Wi-Fi is a wireless communication network, which will allow the citizens to access the Internet inside in the courthouse. The service is provided free of charge to the public as a courtesy. The service will assist attorneys to access Internet in the courtrooms to help in their cases; businesspersons to access information to apply for occupational tax/business licenses and building permits. The county Information Services Department has designed and installed the Wi-Fi system. www.govtech.net i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
S USTAINABILITY , CRS
Sustaining community radio stations Financial sustainability is possible, but the most important ingredient for this to happen is that the development of community radio stations (CRS) has to be organic, arising from the community radio stations themselves
Introduction Sustainability is high on the agenda for community radio stations. With an international decline in donor funding, community radio stations are constantly searching for other ways of sustaining themselves. Some community stations are cooperatives and have raised funds through shares. Radio Lumbini in Nepal is a cooperative of 95 members who all bought one share of USD 40. Many stations also sell memberships, with members being offered the right to receive transcripts of popular programmes. Membership fees are collected by religious community radio stations of South Africa, which serve specific audiences (Christian or Muslim), and appeal to a sense of cultural identity. Audiences feel a sense of vested ownership, local advertising is easily obtainable, and the stations are thriving financially. Local churches raise money for the station, and local businesses owned by members of the religious community purchase advertising. This is a model that could be transferred to other geographically based stations as well.
The role of projects and partnerships
Tanja E. Bosch Former station manager of Bush Radio and trainer for UNESCO community radio, South Africa Tanja.Bosch@uct.ac.za
April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
Projects can be effective in generating income and Bush Radio in Cape Town provides a good example. They run a daycare centre, a children’s radio programme, school outreach programmes on AIDS and drug awareness, and an alternative education programme for youth. All these are funded by local corporate entities. Many other stations have started such activities that subsidise their non-profit operations. Kothmale community radio plans to put unused land to work by building a greenhouse and growing saplings for sale to the community. Bush Radio also participated in several voter education
programmes sponsored by the Netherlands Institute for South Africa (NIZA), and encouraged voter registration and political tolerance. Community radio can draw interest from community based organisations and NGOs, and partnerships could be developed whereby stations may then use the resources of these organisations to support their developmental programming.
Advertising Although commercial advertising often runs contradictory to the norms of community media, it is often a valuable source of funds. In South Africa, community radio only attracted approximately R7 million (USD 1m) out of a total gross radio ad spend of about R795m (USD 113.5m). This certainly may have something to do with the ‘small’ audiences attracted by community stations. But it may also have to do with a perception that community radio is poor radio for poor people. Classified ads can be purchased by individuals, small groups, or businesses. Bush Radio runs an online Job Shop, where employment agencies pay a small fee to advertise. Memorials and similar messages could also be sent, as Nepal radio entertains condolences or other personal messages.
Social marketing Many stations in South Africa focus exclusively on obtaining advertising, and so compromise their role as small media. These stations often emulate their commercial counterparts in order to compete for advertising with slick music driven programming. One alternative might be to explore revenue-generating opportunities based on the concept of social marketing. Social organisations, NGOs, and the government pay for production and/or
27
airtime to create and run short social messages. When cigarette advertising was banned on electronic media in Nepal, the health ministry offered funds to stations to run health warnings about the dangers of smoking. Radio Sagarmatha and other stations in Kathmandu also ran short, creatively produced messages that were underwritten by a public health company, to create public awareness about HIV. In Chimoio, Mozambique, the day after a community radio station broadcast an interview with a person living with HIV, 32 people went to the voluntary testing and counselling centre double the daily average.
Airtime sales and trade exchanges Another strategy that has worked well for South African stations is airtime sales, where blocks of airtime were sold to another organisation. The local university law programme ran an on-air legal aid clinic; and the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa (Idasa) slotted a programme on democracy and local governance. In these cases the presenters and producers would become members of the station, and receive technical training before going on- air. However, the station should make sure that the content does not come into conflict with the station’s principles. In cases where there is potential mutual benefit, media and business can barter or trade their services without any cash changing hands. Bush Radio runs trade exchanges with local newspapers– advertising them on air, while the papers print programme schedules.
In-house infrastructure and potential Community radio stations can use the in-house infrastructure in various ways. Bush Radio has successfully run training courses on ‘How to use the media effectively’ for various organisations. Stations could also consider equipment rental, studio and premises rental, and consultancies to business and social organisations. The other innovative income generating projects are as follows: • Community events and remote broadcasts: Funds can be raised by bringing together members of a community for specific events e.g. Community Radio Madanpokhara sponsored a folksong festival in which competing groups paid a fee to perform. Bush Radio offers exclusive advertising to local companies who fund outside or remote broadcasts in specific areas. For example, during the summer, cell phone companies sponsor broadcasts on the beach to promote safety (high alcohol consumption often results in drowning). • Promotional items: Items such as T-shirts, caps, and bags may not generate huge amounts, but can generate publicity. During the war on Iraq, Bush Radio printed a T-shirt, which carried the slogan ‘Bush Against War’ (pun intended). The T-shirt was so popular that several new batches had to be ordered. Bush Radio also sells a wire radio to international supporters, produced by a local women’s cooperative and dubbed ‘The Bush Radio’. • Internships: With a growing scholarly interest in community broadcasting, Bush Radio ‘sells’ internships to foreign (predominantly European and North American) journalism students, who have to conduct a mandatory internship as part of their studies. Similarly, Kothmale CR is the site of regular internships from university journalism departments in Columbo, and the station receives payment for internships.
28
Donor funding and the role of governments Given that the shortage of funding is often used to justify the centralised broadcasting paradigm, participatory broadcasting should leave room for third- party and non-governmental assistance with funding. The operative condition should, however, build enough tolerance into the budgetary assistance process to allow the recipient community radio stations to eventually appropriate the financial management of the outlets. Remarkably, South Africa’s fledgling community radio sector has attracted the interest of a consortium of local and international donors, whose funds have sponsored start-up budgets, training, and the purchase of broadcast equipment. The Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) is credited with having given the utmost support to the sector. Between 1995 and 2000, OSF-SA gave a grant support of about R 15 million (USD 2.1) to community radio stations. A large part of the grants went towards equipment purchase, planning and development, programme production and training. Though the OSF-SA uses a hands-on approach that includes ongoing and non-financial support, its modus operandi includes stepping back at a point when self-sustenance is realistically expected.Further, many activists argue that governments should share responsibility the same way they fund libraries or the National Orchestra.
Some thoughts on social sustainability While the issue of financial sustainability is paramount, it is also necessary for stations to sustain themselves in other ways – a station that has enough funding, but not sufficient well produced local quality programming, or one which is well resourced but cannot hold listeners, will not be able to sustain itself for long. • Programme production: Audiences globally no longer accept programmes, which are not ‘professionally’ produced. The challenge for community radio is to professionalise programming without losing the values of access, participation, and empowerment. What is key here is to research the airwaves, and be able to provide a unique and locally relevant service. Some stations have also begun to depend on programmes produced internationally or by independent production houses. The key is to localise such programmes, which are produced for a more generalised audience. • Audience research and development: There is also a strong link between programme development and audience research and development. Stations cannot be sustainable if their audiences do not feel a sense of ownership in the station. Stations need to conduct community mapping and low cost participatory audience research projects in order to produce appropriate programming. • Volunteerism and community participation: The need for community participation at all stages of a development initiative has been widely recognised since the late 1970s. Sustainability of a radio station depends on a core of staff members, who are usually volunteers. In South Africa, volunteers tend to be unemployed or unskilled, and after receiving training at community stations are then often poached by other organisations or radio stations, where they actually receive a i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
Panel discussion on ‘Energy, finance, and rural entrepreneurship’ for rural ICT centres As a part of its rural ICT (information and communication technology) initiative, a panel discussion was organised by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), on 23 January 2007 in New Delhi, India to deliberate on the issues of ‘energy, finance, and entrepreneurship for rural ICT centres’. The objective of the event was to go beyond highlighting the case studies or pilot experiments by effective exchange of thoughts amongst the panellists and participants. TERI outlined the strategy of striking the right balance of pull-and-push approach by integrating core TERI services like energy, water, agriculture, and health and partner services like finance, education, and entertainment through ICT centres for a systemic change in the rural environment. Participants and panelists shared their experiences and deliberated over future scenarios of solutions for rural ICT centres.
salary. A study of Radio 2TEN in Australia demonstrates that a station’s financial success is not necessarily related to the size of the host population, but instead, to the volunteer structure, in which age, and the gender balance, appear to be the primary factors. Here, drawing on older female volunteers with more time to donate, proved to be successful. Community radio succeeds when it grows out of the community’s sense of internal cohesion and consciousness. A community that analyses its needs and thinks about the causes of its problems and marginalisation will often come to the conclusion that it requires communication to help people formulate a common understanding and common goals. Some urban-based South African stations are now raising funds to pay ‘volunteers’ small stipends towards transportation. April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
An eminent panel consisting of representatives from TERI; Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India; IDRC; Drishtee; SDC; IL&FS; and Tulip IT along with over 45 participants representing the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India; multilateral and bilateral organisations; the financial services sector; and the IT sector got together for the
discussion. The panellists and participants deliberated over possible mechanisms for energy solutions and offered a few significant policy and action recommendations. The discussants also drew out linkages between entrepreneurship and various finance options available, and suggested ways to ensure viable and effective ICT centres in rural areas.
Conclusions
advertising and other projects. This is encouraging news for community radio worldwide: financial sustainability is possible, but most important ingredient for this to happen is that the development of community radio stations has to be organic, arising from the community radio stations themselves. If one look at the perspectives of sustainability from a point of view that is not restricted to income generation, it would be found that community involvement and the development of a sense of ownership over the project, will also be the best guarantee to keep the equipment safe and in running condition. Ultimately, history shows that community radio stations cannot depend on outside or donor funding for their survival – they need to foster selfreliance, ownership and the investment of local communities in order to promote institutional, social and ultimately financial sustainability.
Despite challenges around sustainability, community radio stations are flourishing as concrete manifestations of an alternative public sphere. With the increasing conglomeration of the ownership of mass media, the role of community radio becomes important. For more than fifty years radio has been the most appealing tool for participatory communication and development. Radio is the most potentially participatory medium and has its roots in the community, which guarantees that communication processes take the regional reality as a starting point. Since community radio was first set up in 1994, there are now 95 radio stations on the air in South Africa. Whereas in 1998, 53 percent of Bush Radio’s income came from grants, in 2006, according to managing director Zane Ibrahim, the station now generates 80 percent of its income through
Arvindd Narayanan, arvindd@teri.res.in Gaurav Chakraverty, gauravc@teri.res.in
29
UKS R ADIO P ROJECT , P AKISTAN
Women in reflection Introduction Uks was the first civil society organisation in Pakistan to launch a radio production house in July 2003. The most noteworthy feature of Uks Radio Project is that an all women team of journalists and broadcasters runs it.
in addressing water issues, as well as promote gender equity. Issues covered in this particular series included water and migration, water and women’s employment, mobility, water and the workload of women, hygiene, health (especially unsafe drinking water) and water related natural disasters etc.
Meri Awaz Sunno
Chalo Phir Se Muskoraen (Let’s smile again)
In October 2003, Uks launched ‘Meri Awaz Sunno’ (Listen to my Voice), a 15-minute, bi-weekly women’s radio programme in Urdu, the first one in Pakistan aired for women and by women. The programme was a collaboration between the Uks Radio Project and Internews Pakistan, and was broadcast from different FM stations throughout the country. Over a span of a year, the production team produced 47 programmes on a variety of issues, primarily pertaining to women previously unheard on our radio channels.
In March 2006, Uks in collaboration with the Asia Foundation, produced a series of 15 persuasive and powerful radio programmes, produced on location at the disaster-hit areas, to mobilise the public for their continued support towards rebuilding (of physical infrastructure as well as spirits) and rehabilitation and of recent earthquake survivors. Uks felt this intervention necessary as the media’s initial interest had largely waned in the months following the earthquake. What distinguished this series from the other kinds coverage that had been awarded to the calamity, was its blend of investigative journalism with accounts of the affected people. It covered issues such as health, water, emotional health and disability, peace process, land reforms, gender/governance, devolution, education, military economic role, role of commercial sector in rehabilitation of survivors, and the success stories of the earthquake survivors.
Mujhe Bolney Do (let me speak) In November 2005, Uks in collaboration with Mama Cash, an organisation based in the Netherlands, produced a series of 16 programmes, on issues related to violence against women. These radio programmes received a tremendous response from the FM stations that were flooded with calls and letters by both men and women. Issues covered in these programmes were - victimisation by burning, acid throwing, honour killings, emotional and sexual violence, political representation of women, harassment at work place, performing arts, domestic workers’ rights, and violence in educational institutions.
Pani ki Kahani, Aurat ki Zubani (Water and Women Issues) In March 2006, Uks in collaboration with Panos, Kathmandu, produced a series of 10 radio programmes of 15-minutes duration each. As the name suggests, these programmes highlighted many areas of this critical issue, and explored ways of mainstreaming gender
One of the major reasons for the stereotypical and derogatory projection of women in Pakistani media is the extreme under representation of women in media 30
Uks- reflections on the project Besides promoting radio programmes in Pakistan (production as well as reach), the Uks radio project tries to provide a platform to the common people - especially the marginalised- to raise their concerns. It also provides an alternative to other women’s programmes, which usually portray women in stereotypical ways. Uks’s issue-based programmes take up many issues that are of interest to the general population in Pakistan including those that are important but unconventional. Another highlight of the project and indeed the team, is their proficiency at working in different capacities. The team successfully handles many different aspects of broadcast journalism from concept creation to scriptwriting, presenting, research, editing and the handling of all technical features. • Equipping Uks with radio production facilities: As a result of the year long project with Internews, Uks is now the only Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Pakistan, which owns its own production house. The production facility also complements Uks’ efforts in fostering awareness in the print media as well. • Training of women radio producers: By training a team of women journalists and spearheading an all woman production house, Uks has contributed in its own way to rectifying the under representation of women and hopes that this trend catches on. Upasna Kakroo, India, upasna.kakroo@gmail.com Qudsia Mehvmood, Pakistan, qudsiamehmood78@hotmail.com i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
April 2007
ICTD Project Newsletter
Social Return on Investment All types of organisations – commercial as well as social enterprises – create value along a continuum ranging from economic to socio-economic to social. It is of increasing importance for social enterprises to be able to document the social value created.
T
oday it is extremely crucial that any organisation, be it a forprofit, or a not-for-profit organisation, is able to demonstrate the value it is creating by its very existence. Shareholders demand it in the case of for-profit organisations, while in the case of not-for-profit agencies, donors want to see the impact of their funding. For a business organisation whose purpose is to create economic value, there is no argument on what the bottom line should be – it is clearly profits. Over the last half a century econometrics has come up with various tools including return on investment, debt/equity ratios, price/earnings and numerous others to measure the financial health of an organisation. These measures form the basis for analysing most economic activity in the world. But in the case of not-for-profits, not only is the bottom line not very clear, but it is even more difficult to measure it. Organisations exist to create value. The traditional thinking goes that business organisations create economic value while voluntary organisations, charitable
organisations, etc. create social value or environmental value. But this fractured thinking ignores the fact that any type of organisation is embedded in society and the physical environment in which it is situated. Hence in addition to economic value, social and environmental values are also created during the operations of the enterprise. This applies to all organisations be it a commercial enterprise or a social venture.
Blended value Since all organisations during the course of their work create value that is a mix of economic, social and environmental value, this in effect means that they create ‘blended value’. Only it is not recognised so. Value created by an organisation is itself indivisible and therefore a blend of the three values. The difference is the amount of emphasis given to each of the three aspects. Traditionally business organisations have sought to maximise the economic value while charitable organisations have sought to maximise social and/or environ-
mental value. Value creation occurs along a continuum that extends from purely economic to socio-economic to social. Economic value is created by a set of processes that increases the value of inputs and thereby generates a product or service that has greater value at the next higher level of the value chain. Social value is created when resources, inputs, processes or policies are combined to generate improvements in the lives of individuals or society as a whole. It is here that most not-for-profits justify their existence, and unfortunately it is at this level that one has the greatest difficulty measuring the true value created.
Social Return on Investment (SROI) There is increasing pressure on notfor-profits to justify and document the effectiveness of their work. The ‘feel-good’ charity factor is no longer enough to justify funding the work of a not-for-profit entity. Donors are demanding not only greater operational accountability but also the ability on the part of the implementing agency to document the impact
Make ICTs Work for People
of their funds. Donors are moving beyond outcome measurement to measuring ‘social returns’ and are looking for the ability to document the added social value of their funding. Due to the absence of appropriate metrics to measure social value creation, the work done by the non-profit sector is grossly undervalued and thus the (social) value created by the investment is not known. As the social sector competes for diminishing funds it is increasingly important to document the social returns on investment. Among other reasons, it is important to calculate social returns for the following two reasons: One rupee invested in social value creation generates future economic and social returns much in excess of the initial rupee. Social enterprises are creating significant value for society which goes largely undocumented and is vastly under appreciated.
How do we know whether we are accomplishing what we set out to do? How can we make informed decisions about the ongoing use of our resources? How can we test and convince others of what we believe to be true: that for each dollar invested in our portfolio agencies’ efforts, there are impressive, quantifiable resulting benefits to individuals and to society? The essential steps in calculating SROI are as follows:
value in terms of net present value. Much more than a single number, SROI Analysis is a way of reporting on value creation. Therefore, there is a distinction between ‘SROI the number ’ and ‘SROI Analysis.’ The latter encompasses: a) information about the process by which the number was calculated, b) context information to enable accurate interpretation of the number itself, and c) additional non-monetised social value and information about its substance and context. The following section (adapted from the draft framework for Haas Social Metrics Conference Reviewers) details the ten activities involved in calculating SROI. Four main stages in the process of conducting an SROI analysis categorise the ten activities. Within these activities there are a number of options. Each activity and the relevant options are charted on the pages that follow.
Due to the absence of appropriate metrics to measure social value creation the work done by the non-profit sector is grossly undervalued and thus the (social) value created by the investment is not known.
Measuring social value The framework for measuring social value was pioneered by Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), a San Francisco-based philanthropic fund that invests in organisations working for social benefit. REDF started off on the SROI quest because they wanted to know whether their work was improving the lives of the people. It seemed to be having good effects but there was no way of assessing the impact of resources. Essentially REDF wanted to answer a series of questions: How can we measure the success of our efforts?
32
Examine the social activity over a given time frame (usually 1015 years) Calculate the amount of funds required to support the activity Identify the various cost savings, reduction in spending and related benefits that accrue as a result of that activity. Monetise the cost-savings and related benefits i.e. calculate the economic value of those costs in real rupee terms. Discount those savings back to the beginning of the investment timeframe using a net present value or discounted cash flow. Present the socio-economic value by expressing the
Stage 1 - Construction Activities at this stage define the scope of the analysis.
Activity 1 - Understand your goals for the analysis Define your own organisation’s values, vision, mission, objectives and activities. Determine your internal objectives for doing the SROI analysis. Determine whether the SROI analysis is to be used for forward-looking analysis (projections of activity) or backward-looking analysis
Activity 2 – Identify the subject organisation’s stakeholders Identify the stakeholders affected by the organisation, enterprise or program that is the subject of the analysis. Define organisational objectives for the subject organisation in relation to the activities being analysed for the selected stakeholders. Review how the SROI Analysis will contribute to achieving these objectives.
Activity 3 - Determine the scope of the analysis
In general, most businesses will not differentiate between investments, income or expenditures that contribute to the creation of non-financial (social or environmental) value, and those that contribute to the creation of financial value. However, in the case of social businesses or enterprises that receive grants or make expenditures they would not have if not for their social mission related activities, profit and loss accounts (income statements) may distinguish between ‘social (and economic and
Stage 2 Content Activities at this stage provide the actual content to be analysed.
Activity 6 – Set indicators and collect data Map the benefits and, for each, choose indicators that are to be used to account for outcomes. Collect data. For each outcome, consider and deduct an estimate of what would have happened without the organisation’s activities to account for impact. Discuss the basis for and certainty of this estimate. Currently there is no single, generally accepted process for assigning monetary values to social impacts. For some indicators there will be obvious monetary values, for others proxies will be required that may not be widely accepted. It may not be possible to monetise all indicators, or to do so in a credible way.
Social enterprises should distinguish between social, economic and
Determine what part (s) of the subject organisation will be included in the analysis. Determine which stakeholder issues will be included in the analysis. The SROI number can be calculated for a whole organisation, but often it is necessary to limit the scope to a part of the organisation because of time, capacity, data availability, relative importance of stakeholders, or because it is useful to analyse the impacts of just one area of activity. Where only part of an organisation’s activities is included, it is important to allocate an appropriate share of overhead costs.
interdependencies between other parts of the organisation.
environmental income and
Activity 4 – Analyse income and cost Develop statements of the income and costs associated with the activities being analysed.
expenditure and financial income and expenditure. environmental)’ income and expenditure and financial income and expenditure.
Activity 5 – Map the impact value chain Identify inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes of the unit being analysed. Consider impacts on each stakeholder. There is a risk that impacts that are not attributable, or only partially attributable, to the organisation will be included in the analysis. Where the organisation has restricted its scope to just part of its activities, this step must include an assessment of
Activity – 7 Create projections Determine a time horizon over which to project future impact. Create projections of the future outputs, outcomes and impacts, and their monetised value. Also project social income, expenditure and investment costs over the period. Note: If SROI is a projection, Activity 6 is the same as Activity 7.
Stage 3 Credibility Activities at this stage determine and communicate the credibility of the analysis.
33
Make ICTs Work for People
(assessment of activity completed). If they are available, review business and strategic plans of the organisation that is the subject of the analysis.
Make ICTs Work for People 34
Activity 8 – Calculate social return Perform the actual calculation of social return relative to investment. Once the income and expenditure have been estimated for future years, it is possible to calculate SROI. There are other ways of measuring value that do not take into account the time value of money (meaning that do not require consideration of a discount rate) but that could be used by organisations starting to explore social value, for example, annual social value added per beneficiary. NPV can and should be complemented with other informative metrics. For example, total returns divided by total costs give an impact value per unit cost (a ‘unit cost’) metric. Another measure might be the number of years necessary for the benefits to accrue to support the costs (the ‘payback’ period). Since the results are dependent upon assumptions, sensitivity analysis is used to present a range of SROIs as a set of scenarios. For example, if impact is very sensitive to the number of people benefiting, the assumption about the number of people projected to be involved can be varied to show how the projected impact changes. In this case, a valuable metric for the enterprise to watch going forward (in Activities 9 and 10) will be the actual recorded benefit per person.
Activity 9 - Reporting Develop a report summarising the social return on investment analysis. Have results verified or audited by a third party if feasible and desired.
34
It is important to set the calculations of an SROI in context. Ideally a report should include: Information relating to the organisation, its mission and goals and discussion of its work and activities A financial analysis of the organisation A stakeholder map and analysis Description of the SROI Analysis process followed above, in particular discussing the scope and restrictions, including a description of the impact value chain, the indicators selected, and related issues Descriptions of tracking systems used to collect output data Clarification of assumptions Description of areas which have not been measured or monetised Calculations of SROI and sensitivity Statement that can be used to inform others seeking to use results for comparative purposes An analysis of the results
Stage 4 Continuity This stage integrates the SROI analysis into business operations.
Activity 10 - Monitoring Continually track data to inform management whether progress is being made toward desired outcomes, and whether unintended consequences are happening. Proposals for ongoing monitoring and evaluation should be drawn up and staff identified who will be responsible for ongoing data tracking and evaluation. The results should feed back to internal decision makers to help
them improve operations and measurement
Opportunities and challenges of SROI It cannot be emphasised enough that SROI cannot and should not be used as a sole measure of social performance. Having additional indicators and standard narrative descriptions is the only way to have a more complete understanding of the true social impact. Like in a conventional financial analysis, the data generated through SROI is more meaningful when compared with comparative data of other organisations. Since the whole concept of SROI is in its infancy, there are not many organisations who would have comparable figures. Hence as mentioned above other indicators and descriptions should be taken into account to get a complete picture.
Additional resources Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (www.redf.org) Global Social Venture Competition (www.socialvc.net) New Economics Foundation (NEF) (www.neweconomics.org/) The SROI Primer– London School of Business (http://sroi.london.edu/) World Bank’s Economic Rate of Return (www.ifc.org) Blended Value Executive Summary (www.blendedvalue.org) Interview with Jed Emerson (www.sustainability.com/network/global-influencer.asp?id=200) See Wikipedia stub (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Social_Return_on_Investment) ICTD
NISG and i4d jointly hold the copyright to the articles printed in the ICTD section of the i4d magazine and website. For permission to reprint the articles please write to the Editor, i4d.
Meeting Creates Understanding
Understanding creates Networking. Networking creates Experience. Experience creates Knowledge. Knowledge creates Technology. Technology creates Convenience. Convenience creates Well-Being. Well-Being creates Feeling. Feeling creates Motivation. Motivation creates Participation. Participation creates Meetings!
31 July - 03 August 2007, Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi www.eINDIA.net.in
I NTERVIEWEE , M ARK F LEETON
Common standards for e-Governance solutions ?
What are the key issues addressed by Development Gateway Foundation (DGF)? The Development Gateway Foundation provides web-based tools to strengthen governance and make development efforts more effective by increasing efficiency in government procurement, improving financial management and aid coordination, and enabling knowledge sharing and collaboration among development practitioners around the world.
Mark Fleeton
?
“There is a strong case for inter-governmental collaboration to jointly develop common e-Government solutions - a principal reason for the creation of the DG Foundation,” says Mark Fleeton in an Interview to i4d’s Jayalakshmi Chittoor
How are ICTs appropriated for playing a facilitating role in addressing the issues? The Foundation specialises in affordable eGovernment solutions for developing countries based on open source software and common standards. While markets for enterprise and consumer software may still be reasonably competitive because development costs can be shared across very large numbers of users, this is not the case in government. There are only about 200 national governments, and governments tend to have many unique requirements and business processes that are not met by enterprise and consumer software. The result is that a very large share of e-Government software is custom-made. This may be affordable in high-income countries, but for many poor and small countries, it puts e-Government out of reach. There is thus a strong case for inter-governmental collaboration to jointly develop common e-Government solutions – a principal reason for the creation of the Development Gateway Foundation.
?
Mark Fleeton Chief Executive Officer Development Gateway Foundation USA mfleeton@dgfoundation.org
36
What is the most important ICT tool being used to fight against the problems? The Foundation currently has two flagship web-based applications to make aid and development efforts more effective. These are the Aid Management Platform (AMP)
and dgMarket. AMP enables governments to manage, coordinate and track aid flows. It is designed for use by governments and their development partners. It increases efficiency by lowering the workload. In addition, AMP helps countries manage development resources according to national priorities and measure impact in line with the Millennium Development Goals dgMarket is an online procurement system that publishes tender notices, contract awards, and bidding documents. It creates major savings in government spending, while giving companies of all sizes greater access to tender opportunities at home and abroad in their own language
?How the persisting poverty issues being
tackled by DGF globally? While the Development Gateway Foundation’s programmes are not directly about poverty alleviation, it acts as a catalyst for development by making international aid go further. The Aid Management Platform leads to significant efficiency gains by helping donors to coordinate aid flows and recipient governments to track and report on aid flows. The online procurement system, dgMarket, enables savings by opening government procurement to greater public scrutiny and cost-cutting competition.
?Please enlighten on your programmes of
knowledge collaborations and local partners. In addition to providing e-Government tools, the Foundation also runs global online networks for knowledge sharing and collaboration, called dgCommunities. These enable development practitioners to be more effective in their work by networking with peers, allowing them to access and share information on best practices in their field. Currently dgCommunities caters to over i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
36,000 registered users. Collaboration is at the heart of dgCommunities. More than 500 individuals and organisations work as volunteer guides and advisors for online communities in 30 topic areas. They are specialists in their fields, and come from around the world. The Foundation also provides seed funding and technical assistance to a network of locally-owned and managed social enterprises called Country Gateways. They run web portals on local development issues and provide an array of web-related services to serve local needs particularly in e-Business, e-Government and e-Learning.
?Kindly elucidate on extension of aid being
provided for e-Governance enhancement activities for developing nations The Foundation’s e-Government Grants Programme addresses institutional development and capacity-building in the context of broader, country-led initiatives and e-Government strategies. The programme is focused on e-Procurement with three projects underway in Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. It has mainly been financed by the Government of
Italy with significant co-financing by the World Bank.
? How far have the ICT enabled e-
Governance practices of DGF proved to be effective and, replicable? The potential impact of the online procurement system, dgMarket, is significant. The introduction of a system equivalent to dgMarket, combined with adequate business processes and vigorous enforcement of tendering rules, could save developing countries 5-20 percent of public sector acquisition costs through increased transparency and competition. An analysis for World Bank tenders concluded that the introduction of dgMarket is saving the World Bank borrowers about 0.5-1.5 percent ($50-150 million) per year. dgMarket is the leading independent aggregator of procurement tenders worldwide. It is increasing it’s coverage rapidly, with China and the United States joining in 2006. In addition to the global platform, partners have implemented local versions of dgMarket including a country portal for India and a regional application for the Middle East. The potential impact
of a common aid management platform adoption worldwide is substantial – a 1 percent improvement in aid effectiveness is equivalent to about $1 billion per year in additional aid funds. After implementation of the Aid Management Platform (AMP) in Ethiopia the Development Gateway Foundation conducted a survey within the Ministry of Finance. The intention of the survey was to assess the efficiency gains as a result of the use of the AMP software and the training given to existing staff. Early results indicate significant time savings in reporting and project and portfolio management. Initial survey results indicate that the government reporting costs were halved after the adoption of AMP. Beyond financial benefits, the platform also yields considerable additional benefits as a result of increased dialogue, coordination and cooperation among governments and donors. The Aid Management Platform was piloted in Ethiopia. An implementation is underway in Bolivia and implementations are pending in several additional countries. The Foundation anticipates four implementations completed by the end of FY 2007.
AMARC fosters community radio The 2007-2010 strategic plan of AMARC aims to address poverty, and looks into empowerment issues of the marginalised groups inclusive of gender to promote social justice and sustainablility, democracy and participatory human development through popular media and, ICTs, besides fostering community radio along the principles of solidarity and international cooperation.
• Community media reporting from international forums and events • Social action broadcast campaigns on HIV/AIDS, health, environment, migration, anti-racism, food security, water, sanitation and interactive platform for programme exchange
I. Advocacy and policy research
• • • •
• Advocacy for community media at the national, regional and international level Global activities • Policy research, monitoring and knowledge exchange • Solidarity activities including response to urgent calls from community radios threatened with closure or other interference and country solidarity missions
II. Knowledge sharing and capacity building • Training of trainers, managers and producers • Knowledge sharing and research • Technical guidance and support
III. Content exchange and social action campaigns • Regional news and features services in Latin America, Africa and Asia April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
IV. Gender equality and women’s rights Joint international broadcast campaigns Advocacy on media and gender Training and capacity building Networking and knowledge sharing
V. Network development and communication • • • • • •
Network communications and meetings Partnerships for development Monitoring and evaluation Dissemination of results Organisational development AMARC Regional and World Conferences of Community Radio Broadcasters
Source: http://amarcwiki.amarc.org/wiliki.cgi?Strategic_Plan-2007-2010
37
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
Bytes for All... News and Announcements: Illegal VoIP: case against grameen phone RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) has filed a case (no: 32(2) 2007) against Grameen Phone for their alleged involvement in illegal VoIP business. In the FIR it is mentioned that RAB carried out an operation on February 12 at 11.30 pm at the basement and fifth floor of a building near Boro Mogbazaar, in the capital city of Bangladesh. RAB seized activated indoor BTS of Grameen Phone, 14 pieces of tellular sets, 36 wireless sets of Anik company, local loop, 3 quantums, 40 pieces of Grameen SIM and a number of VOIP instruments. Call for papers: JoCI special issue community wireless networking and social justice Around the world, projects have developed, that have appropriated, and integrated emerging wireless technologies to provide access to local media, promote digital inclusion, solve communication problems, and promote civic engagement. Yet what are the longterm impacts of community wireless projects? Where do CWNs (community wireless networking) contribute to the policymaking process and how do policies differ? Interested, people may contact joci@saschameinrath.com
Outsourcing) services provider nation in Asia after India and China. Such is an example set forth by the Open Source Resource Centre (OSRC), a project of the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of Pakistan. OSRC has developed and released a FOSS resource kit titled ‘OSS Training Toolkit originally put together in order to facilitate OSRC’s training, comprising of free-of-cost workshops that it carries out throughout Pakistan. The toolkit contains step-by-step manuals comprising of six modules covering various free and open source software applications. http://www.osrc. org.pk/index. php?option= com_content& task=view& id=29&Itemid=4
IOSN and UNDP-APDIP release publication on free/open source software network infrastructure and security This e-Primer, with a foreword by Robert Shaw of the International Telecommunication Union, introduces readers to the network concepts and architectures, and the major networking functions with FOSS. It also discusses network security functions with FOSS, including security best practices and ‘to-dos’. The e-Primer also contains useful tips on network planning, design and development, which will help to diagnose and solve problems that occur while running a network. http://www.iosn. net/publications /network/ foss-network- primer, //http:// www.apdip. net/news/ fossnetwork
FOSS The development agenda of free software Free software work in a free-of-charge high quality training environment. For a budding programmer, participating in free software projects works like an informal apprenticeship. One not only hones the technical skills but also learns about teamwork and management. According to surveys cited in the report, such skills are often more effectively learnt through community participation than from formal courses.
Google Summer of Code Google Summer of Code 2007 is on! We are now accepting student applications. We’ve also published some additional web app documentation for mentors and organisation administrators. All the information for participants in Google Summer of Code 2007, including student abstracts and other information provided by them, is available by visiting the individual mentoring organisation pages below.
http://www.merit. unu.edu/publicat ions/pb/unu_ pb_2006_01. pdf
http://code. google.com/ summerofcode. html
Linux + Windows = Bliss There are many compelling financial reasons to install Linux in small and mid-sized businesses, corporate departments and in smaller subsidiaries. Still, some prospective Linux buyers avoid making the move for a variety of reasons including a fear of complexity, and worries that it won’t integrate well with Windows. To address these concerns, Novell has teamed up with IBM to build a low-cost turnkey Linux implementation that is extremely easy to deploy within an Windows environment. http://mailer. idgconnect. com/t/538588/ 3020562/24174793 /0/
Pakistan ‘opens up’ open source training toolkit to everyone When it comes down to developing and sharing ICT based open knowledge, Pakistan is never behind in the arena, it being the third largest low-cost IT enabled and offshore BPO (Business Process
38
ICT4D IGNOU, India, plans to establish 8000 tele-knowledge centres in rural areas As part of the 11th plan proposal Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), is planning to establish 8000 tele-knowledge centres in rural India to disseminate information to cater to the need for sustainable development to rural and under privileged region. Read the rest of this entry here... http://community. telecentre. org/en-tc/ node/30088
Can community radio work for India? After years of discussions, workshops and petitions from within the country and outside, Indians finally breathed relief and applauded the government for finally opening up radio broadcasting. Read the rest of this entry here... http://community. telecentre. org/en-tc/ node/30221 i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
for for for for for
All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes All...Bytes
for for for for for
All... All... All... All... All...
Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes Bytes
Bytes for All... LibriVox LibriVox is a project that describes its mission to be the ‘acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.’ It is a digital library of free public domain audio books that are read and recorded by volunteers. It was started just a year and a half ago, in August 2005, and already has amassed over 150 recordings. Most of the recordings are in English but there are also recordings available in German, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Japanese as well as other languages. http://creativecommons.org/text/librivox
Google logs into rural India The latest company to seek a fortune in India’s rural markets is Google. It is developing with local vendors a simpler search engine, as well as content tailored to the needs of rural users. The customised content for rural customers would include weather updates, crop patterns and other local data. Google is also betting heavily on the mobile platform (as PC penetration is low) and plans to introduce services like Google Talk (instant chat application) , and Google Maps through tie-ups with Indian mobile operators. Google is further looking at licensing partnerships with Indian publishers, broadcasting companies and those that own Bollywood content that could be made available on its sites. http://www.rediff. com/money/ 2007/mar/ 21google. htm
Biometric smart card, a fool proof ID for Citizens eWorld recently chatted up Kris Dev or Gopala Krishnan Devanathan, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and e-Governance Consultant, and NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) Implementation Activist on his Biometric Smart Card (BSC) device. The device won the 2006 Manthan award for creating India’s best e-Content in the category ‘e-Inclusion and Livelihood’ for Biometric Tracking of Payments under NREGA. ‘Today there is no unique and foolproof identification of citizens. A Biometric Smart Card is the answer to this. The process is simple. Every citizen could be uniquely registered by a Citizen ID and all their particulars — such as name, father’s name, mother’s name, date and time of birth, place of birth, blood group, identification marks, height, weight, address and their digital photo can be made available,’ says Dev. http://www.thehindu businessline. com/ew/2007/ 03/19/stories/ 2007031900110300 .htm
Life after connectivity in Sri Lanka ’s first e-Village Mahavilachchiya, a village 40 km from Anuradhapura , has the privilege of being Sri Lanka ’s first e-Village and boasts the highest computer density of in any village in the country. On November 4, 2006 Sri Lanka ’s first outdoor mesh network was launched in the village bringing Internet connectivity to 30 households and two schools. A survey conducted by ICTA in January, 2007 found that students in Mahavilachchiya use the Internet in various ways including communication, help with homework, and access to donors and businesses. Students surveyed had diverse career goals April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
and the marketable skills to ensure their success. The village has been working towards economic development and is currently with a BPO to bring jobs to the region. http://www.icta. lk/Insidepages/ News&event/140307whatsne w.asp
Articles Pakistan’s web of censorship The Internet has become a critical space for ordinary citizens in Pakistan to speak their minds, and exchange information. These include women who sharpen their ICTs skills and turn to weblogs as a platform for articulation of their concerns and daily lives, and to engage in conversations sometimes blacked out as ‘taboo’. But is this relative ‘freedom’ under threat? Time and again, governments and authoritative bodies have endeavoured is censor and regulate cyberspace in accordance to the officially approved moral and political standards. This article presents an overview of the country’s Internet regulation mechanism, and how a recent banning of blogspot has revealed the multiple attempts by the government to control content in cyberspace. URL : http://www.genderit .org/en/index. shtml?w=a&x=95134
Digital mapping shows the way forward Digitised maps and data can now be produced and transmitted swiftly across large distances through a technology known as geographical information systems (GIS). GIS uses computer hardware and software to analyse and display geographical information. It can create digital maps overlaid with a variety of data. Developing countries can then tailor the data to their needs, mapping anything from floods or crop stress to disease outbreaks.
Internet searching made easy StumbleUpon. com Once installed, the StumbleUpon. com toolbar allows the user to click a button to vote on websites being visited. StumbleUpon notes one’s preferences, compares them with the preferences of others who have voted similarly, and eventually is competent to recommend sites that one found worthwhile. http://www.stumbleupon.com
Del.icio.us A social bookmarking site that’s gaining attraction around the world. At its most basic level, Del.icio.us allows users to upload their bookmark lists, share them, retrieve them from any computer. www.del.icio.us
Bytes for All: www.bytesforall.org or www.bytesforall.net Bytes for All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ bytesforall_readers To subscribe: bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Compiled by Farah Mahmood, Bytes for All, Pakistan farah.mahmood@gmail.com
39
for for for for for
All...B All...B All...B All...B All...B
INDIA
2007
31 July - 03 August, Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi
Call for papers Indian Telecentre Forum 2007 A close examination of the aspirations, up-scaling plans and the challenges that continue to confront the telecentre movement indicates not only the need to keep a development perspective on the forefront, but also to balance it with economic and social sustainability questions. Key challenges that require addressing include development and collation of local need based content, addressing the diverse language issues (both technical and cultural), coping with cultural and social diversities, and dealing with the special needs of people with different abilities. While the need for new innovations, and technology advances in connectivity is crucial, the focus on upgrading the skills of the grassroots managers is a critical issue too.
Key Discussion Themes The conference will be divided into several thematic tracks such as: 1. Collaborative possibilities for maximizing capacities: Focusing on grassroots • Knowledge sharing through web2.0: learning to podcast, sharing visual documentation experiences, learning to blog, social networking • Empowering telecentre managers: upgrading skills and networking telecentre managers 2. Content: tackling multilingual content needs and content for people with special needs 3. Connectivity: new innovations and technology advances 4. Multi-stakeholder partnerships: challenges and opportunities 5. Assessing the social impact of telecentres 6. Measuring the progress and monitoring the impact of large-scale telecentre programme
Submit your abstract online at: www.eINDIA.net.in/TelecentreForum/abstractonline
Important Dates Abstract Submission : 25 May 2007 Abstract Acceptance : 06 June 2007 Full Paper Submission : 30 June 2007
Contact Details Rumi Mallick Mobile: +91-9999028242 Email: rumi@csdms.in eIndia 2007 Secretariat Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) G-4, Sector 39, Noida, India - 201301 Tel.: +91-120-2502180- 85 Fax: +91-120-2500060
www.eINDIA.net.in/TelecentreForum
Telecentre Talks V IRTUAL V ILLAGE P ROJECT, S RI L ANKA
Social noise at the technological ‘last mile’ Hasini Apsara Haputhanthri Communications Officer Fusion, Sarvodaya Sri Lanka hasini.haputhanthri@gmail.com
Sarvodaya Virtual Village: an experimentation “The general perception that once ICTs are brought to a community, the people will embrace them automatically and extract benefits from them, needs to be put to test”, says Ananya Raihan from D.Net, Bangladesh. On the day two, 7th February, of eAsia 2007, in Putrjaya, Malaysia, insightful case studies from Asian telecentres were discussed and scrutinised. The parallel session on ‘Sarvodaya Virtual Village: Noise at the Last Mile’ shed new light on reception of telecentres in rural communities: how the experience may vary upon social context, rather than the sophistication of latest technologies. Sarvodaya (Fusion) and D.net joint study titled: ‘Understanding Socio-Anthropological Aspects of ICTs’ Impact on Rural Community’ conducted between September, 2006-January 2007, revealed that the caste system mattered in accessing the services in a telehut; that ethnic minorities were more ready than the majority to learn and use new technologies; and the use of ICTs for livelihood is a matter of behavioural change as much as technology diffusion, which takes time, irrespective of age, sex and education.
Influence of socio-cultural factors “The human element is more important than the technical component” said Harsha April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
‘Sarvodaya Virtual Village: Noise at the Last Mile’ is shedding new light on reception of telecentres in rural communities Wijayawardhana from the School of Computing in University of Colombo, who researched the last mile connectivity options for rural villages in two communities-
the younger generation, as easily as one might think. They are quite conscious about the content.” The most revealing insight, perhaps, came from Karunatissa Atukorala from University of Peradeniya. “The Buddhist monks role in the implementation of the project is very critical compared to the role played by other key community leaders” says Atukorala. ‘In both communities, the monk at the receiving end was seen as the one who best served to get the project on the ground. In Kuda Oya, a monk came forward and played a positive role in absorbing the project. However, as the project progressed in Meewala, the monk started playing a negative role. In the other community the role of the Buddhist Monk has been always positive and he was instrumental for establishing social harmony between the Tamil and Sinhala ethnic groups living in the same rural community’Atukorala’s research emphasised the role of leadership in sustaining a telecentre at the village level.
Conclusion
Meewala, Gampaha, and Kuda Oya, Hatton. “In reality, telecentre in a village follows a top down model where usually an either organisation or a person plays a dominant role” he added. “There is no indication that connectivity options – WiFi, or CDMA, for example, make much of a difference; neither can free Internet attract
The case studies presented at the symposium underlined the importance of addressing socio-cultural issues in designing and implementing projects. Practitioners of ICT4D must be sensitive to the context and content as much as to technical innovation. Thus, eAsia 2007 gave a supportive platform for demarcating new approaches to sustain the telecentre movement in the region. After all, development is about people; not simply about technology. It is about people around the world having a better quality of life due to scientific and technological innovation. Such is the art of development!
41
RENDEZVOUS UNDP-SEWA
WORKSHOP ,
30-31 M ARCH 2007, N EW D ELHI , I NDIA
Empowerment via ICTs The chorus of confidence ‘You teach us and we can do it’ - This was the overwhelming response of the 20 odd women from the rural areas of Gujarat, who attended the workshop organised by Self Employed Women Association (SEWA) (http://www.sewa.org/) along with UNDP, held in Delhi, India. Over two days, the workshop delved on the critical aspects of how ICTs can empower women to address issues of poverty and livelihood challenges. We heard evocative stories of how women from the most backward areas of the country had broken the boundaries of illiteracy, caste and social backwardness to independently raise their social and economic status.
Showcasing success stories The workshop entitled ‘ICT for Women: employment through livelihood generation’ saw almost 100 participants from grassroots organisations from India and other SAARC countries. The 20 women entrepreneurs from SEWA stole the show with their inspiring tales of how they have not only leveraged their core skills but have also mastered the use of communication technologies (phone, fax, computers, radio, video) to further their work and business. The women from Barefoot College, Tilonia, Rajasthan, India (http://www.barefootcollege.org/) also demonstrated their proficiency in setting up and maintaining solar power systems in villages. These barefoot engineers, mostly semi-literate or illiterate, have not only mastered such skills but have also gone ahead and trained others including rural folks in Afghanistan. Humaira Habib of Radio Sahar, Afghanistan, Rupa Pandey of Radio Lumbini, Nepal and Renu Bista, who runs a community multimedia centre in Nepal, spoke of the challenges they face in running their radio stations in politically unstable states. Several other case studies from MSSRF, Datamation Foundation, Drishtee Foundation, Akshaya from India and Grameen Phone from Bangladesh were shared. The key discussions was led by Reema Nanavaty, Director, SEWA, Dr Maxine Oslon, Resident Representative, UNDP, Dr Girija Vyas, Chairperson, National Commission for Women, M Madhavan Nambiar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Aruna Sundararajan, CEO, IL&FS, Rufina Fernandes, Executive Director, Nasscom Foundation, and Namrata Bali, Director, SEWA.
ICTs and empowerment What was really overwhelming was that ICT, wherever it has been used, has empowered these women. Women from SEWA, Tilonia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan all reiterated that ICT skill has empowered them beyond their imagination! “I have studied till 8th standard, and after learning computers, I teach in the centre and now even school teachers and others come to learn from me and call me madam!” said a women from the SEWA centre. “ I am 50 year old and illiterate, I never thought i will learn to use the computer,
42
today I use the computer to keep records of my work”, said another participant. The women also insisted that their knowing how to use technologies, has raised their status in their community, which in turn has enhanced their confidence to use their skill and knowledge for their own and the community’s benefit. However what was evident from the discussion was that if ICTs have to be truly empowering, the process has to be a continuous one. Dr Girija Vyas pointed out - “ICTs have helped to amplify the voices of women but for the impacts to be far-reaching, concerted efforts have to be made at the centre and the state level. The current Gender Budgeting process at the Central level is not monitored and states are not able to use even 50 percent of the funds alloted. ICTs for women can be added as a component within the budget and well as ICTs could be used the community to monitor the budgets allocations as well as correct utilisation”.
Recommendations Some of the recommendations that emerged from the consultations are as follow: • Need for more regional level forums of grassroots women entrepreneurs. Several organisations (Bellanet, Nepal, Tata Consultancy services, Mumbai, Norwegian Church Aid for Afghanistan) volunteered to host these workshops/forums. • Mapping the existing skills that the industry can utilise • ICT village Yatra -a trip to visit the key telecentres in Northern India • Making Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Nepal a development circle where ICT experiences and lessons learnt could be shared • Civil society to explore the community radio options within their programmes • SEWA women to assist in video training for interested organisations • To explore business models around community media. Women have demonstrated their proficiency in community media and this could be a good opportunity for livelihood generation. • Creating/collecting/ collating ICT and women stories from Rumi Mallick, rumi@csdms.in the grassroots. i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
RENDEZVOUS N ATIONAL C ONSULTATION
FOR
C OMMUNITY R ADIO O PERATORS , 6-7 M ARCH 2007, N EW D ELHI , I NDIA
Challenges ahead for community radio The National Consultation for Community Radio Operators in India opened with a declaration that India could have up to 5,000 community radio stations in the next few years. Organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in collaboration with the United Nations, the consultations aimed, among other things, to raise awareness about the processes involved in community radio (CR) licensing in India. The two-day workshop had different sessions related to the operational, organisational, programming and technical aspects of community radio with a view to facilitate the existing as well as prospective CR operators in the country.
Challenges ahead: internal issues for CRS - I
Challenges at the national level
• • • • •
• • • •
Community engagement Developing social, business, creative, and IT skills Engendering local and inclusive democracy Addressing ownership, accountability, ethical issues Media literacy concerns
Challenges ahead: internal issues for CRS - 2 • • • • •
Avoiding over-reliance on paid staff Countering paid-staff ’s objection to volunteerism Recruitment of volunteers from community Privileging altruistic values over monetary values Countering donor and external support influence.
Challenges ahead: internal issues for CRS - 3 • • • • •
Community ownership of resources Safeguarding the rights of audiences Providing on-air information about broadcasting codes Acquiring community mandate Accountable station management
Challenges ahead: internal issues for CRS - 4 • • • • •
Framing programme guidelines, transparent code of practice Ensuring continued mandate from community Working for common social goals Encouraging civic engagement in public life Provide adequate community representation in management
Challenges ahead: internal issues for CRS - 5 • • • • • •
To foster equitable access in programme-making Reflecting diversity of opinions, interests and needs Playing the role of a local watchdog Giving voice to voiceless including women minorities Contributing to conflict resolution, cultural development Facing up to local pressures
Sustainability questions • Has any station been set up without external support? • How to ensure social sustainability? • How to evolve a friendlier regulatory framework? April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
Concern over community radio becoming ‘NGO radio’ Pro-active national community radio association Building peer pressure for trustworthiness Ensuring insulation from partisan interests
Concerns from the community • Is there possibility for news being put out too? • Issues about eligibility criteria • Government regulations on buying transmitters
Lessons from abroad • • • •
Challenge for community radio is to professionalise Garnering audiences, maintaing values Edutainment, entertainment for drawing audiences Cooperative modelling
Technology and cost • Suitable technology options and investment levels • Dealer monopoly of broadcast equipment (transmitters) • Making entry barriers lower for meeting 4000 CRS target
Further recommendations -1 • • • • •
Using existing Gyanvani channels, AIR LRSs Providing air-time to NGOs etc on Local Radio Stations Exchange of programmes between CRS and AIR. Can AIR be more proactive in promoting CR? Mechanism for an ongoing dialogue on policy
Further recommendations -2 • Linking CR with government development schemes like NREGS and JNNURM • Develop synergies between CSC and CRS • Ensure that training is imparted at grassroots • Making source book about technical facilities available • Regional workshops – touring technical exhibits etc. Frederick Noronha fredericknoronha@gmail.com
43
Books received Women and Radio: Airing Differences Author(s): Anne (INT) Carfe, Caroline Mitchell, Tacchi Published by: Routledge Pop Arts / Pop Culture ISBN: 0415220718 Pages: 280 The book is primarily divided into three parts and each has an introduction. The fourth section comprises exclusively of contacts and resources. Part I is titled ‘Gendered RadioHidden Histories and the Development of Programming by and for Women’. ‘Radio Texts and Audiences and the Rise of Feminist Road’ and ‘Women Working in Radio’ are the second and third parts respectively. The book examines the relationship between radio audiences, technologies, and programming and studies the unequivocal frames in which women audience are conventionally being slotted and the divide being experienced by them in the information industry. The contributors examine the relationship between women and music and discuss ‘housewife radio’, DJ chatter, the feminist news agenda, and radio as a subversive tool for empowering women. It is understood that radio plays a crucial role in the day-to-day lives of house wives, relieving their feeling of isolation in rural communities and also the access to information around their surroundings. The volume claims to be the first book of its kind to collate the writings and research work centered on women and radio. Through a range of personal, historical and theoretical perspectives, it consolidates the position of women in the medium of radio research agenda, where once they were missing, unseen or held an insignificant position. This opening maps out core themes in the emerging field of women and radio studies.
More Than a Music Box: Radio Cultures and Communities in a Multi Media World Author: Andrew Crisell Published by: Berghahn Books ISBN: 1571814736 Pages: 315 The volume’s stated organising principle is to contest the dominant association of radio with music by focusing on ‘the spoken word’. Most essays in the collection try to contest the dominant modes of content and look at how radio as a platform has supported alternative content and thus supported dissenting views and knowledge.
44
A few essays attempt to provide a broad historical and institutional overview of indigenous media history and institutions generally, to the detriment of analysis of how indigenous identity and radio intersect specifically. This collection of essays shows how in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the South Pacific, radio continues to provide distinctive forms of content for the individual listener, yet also enables ethnic and cultural groups to maintain their sense of identity. Ranging from radio among the primordial communities to digital broadcasting and the Internet, these essays suggest that the benefits and gratifications which radio confers remain unique and irreplaceable in this multimedia age.
Innovation: applying knowledge in development Author(s): Calestous Juma, Lee Yee-Cheong Published by: James & James/Earthscan ISBN: 1844072185 Pages: 194 This book is one among the fourteen publications comprising the official UN strategy on reducing extreme poverty and achieving the fundamental worldwide human development goals for the coming decade. Some of the important contents covered, especially on the ICT themes are ‘building the capacity to provide advice’, ‘open access to scientific and technical information’, ‘bio-technology’, and ‘nano-technology’. The report on the Millennium Project Task Force makes a powerful case for development of policies to focus on key sources of economic growth, particularly in the use of scientific and technological knowledge and related institutional adjustments. In response to the arising challenges in areas such as agriculture, education, gender inequity, health, water, sanitation, environment and participation in the global economy, the book stresses on increasing the use of scientific and technical knowledge. Thus technological innovations and, the associated instituional adjustments underpin long term growth and focus of any strategy to strengthen the private sector. It sketches crucial areas for policy action, focusing on platform or generic technologies; describing infrastructure services as foundations for technology; placing universities at the center of local development, and improving science education; spurring entrepreneurial activities; improving the policy environment and focusing on areas of under-funded research for development. The volume strongly advocates applying intensive knowledge and innovation for the purposes of development. i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
What’s on
Malaysia 27-28 November, 2007 Digital Asia e-Gov Summit (DAEG07) Kuala Lumpur http://www.worldsummits.com/
Africa
China
28-30 May, 2007 Afrique, TIC et développement Hôtel Hilton, Yaoundé, Cameroon
11-13 September, 2007 Asia Mobile TV Congress 2007 Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong
http://www.sudetic.org/seminaire2007/
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/mobiletvhk/
http://www.gkpeventsonthefuture.org/gk3/
27-30 August, 2007 Contact Centres World 2007 Sandton Convention Centre Johannesburg, South Africa
Germany
Mexico
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/ccwza/
http://www.wimax-vision.com/newt/l/ wimaxvision/world_forum
8-11 October, 2007 Cards Africa 2007 Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/cardsza/
18-20 September, 2007 Wimax Global Forum Hilton Düsseldorf
11-13 December, 2007 3rd Global Knowledge Conference Kuala Lumpur
10-11 July, 2007 Digital Latin America (DLA07) Mexico City http://www.worldsummits.com/
New Zealand India 17-19 December, 2007 3rd Indian International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IICAI), Pune
20-22 August, 2007 Government Technology Duxton Hotel Wellington
http://www.iiconference.org/
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/gtw%5Fnz/
Indonesia
Portugal
11-13 September, 2007 Indo ICT Expo and Forum Jakarta Convention Centre
31 May-1 June, 2007 Youth Marketing in Telecoms Lisbon
http://indoict.com/
http://www.jacobfleming.com/buxus/ generate_page.php?page_id=375
Australia 1-3 May, 2007 CeBIT Australia 2007 Darling Harbour, Sydney http://www.cebit.com.au/
14-16 August, 2007 Search World 2007 Amora Jamison, Sydney
CSDMS Events
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/search%5Fau/
19-22 June, 2007 CommunicAsia2007
15-16 November, 2007 KPO Australia 2007 Hilton Hotel, Sydney
30 July - 03 August, 2007 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/kpo%5Fau/
eGov India 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/egov
Digital Learning India 2007
Brazil 27-30 May, 2007 9th Intl Conf on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries Paulista Plaza Hotel, São Paulo http://www.ifipwg94.org.br/
http://www.eINDIA.net.in/digitalLEARNING
Indian Telecentre Forum 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/Telecentre
eHealth India 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/eHealth/
mServe India 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/mServe/
Bulgaria 3-6 December, 2007 ITU TELECOM EUROPE Sofia http://www.itu.int/EUROPE2007/index.html
Singapore
eAgriculture India 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/eAgriculture/
Community radio India 2007 http://www.eINDIA.net.in/CommunityRadio/
http://www.communicasia.com/
United States 1-3 May, 2007 Connections: The Digital Living Conference and Showcase Santa Clara Convention Centre Santa Clara California http://www.parksassociates.com/events/conn2007/ home.htm
Vietnam 3-5 October, 2007 CommunicVietnam2007, (HIECC) Ho Chi Minh City http://www.communicvietnam.com/
Get your event listed here. www.i4donline.net/events April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4 | www.i4donline.net
45
I N F ACT
AMARC’s CR impact evaluation project The goal of the project ‘Community Radio Impact Evaluation: removing barriers, increasing effectiveness’, was to contribute to the reduction of poverty by undertaking impact assessment and evaluation that can lead to the removing of barriers and increasing the effectiveness of community radio in achieving social and development goals. It is clear that in terms of process there is need to embed the evaluation participatory monitoring and action search process in the community radio movement at large this will be done during the AMARC 9 world conference, and during all 2007 in a second phase of the evaluation process.
Logical Framework Goals and Objectives
Strategies
Activities
Outputs
To undertake a global review of Community Radio, assessing the diversity of situations, the impact and challenges of community radio including historical aspects as well as regional and international perspectives and progress at country level.
Knowledge sharing Diversity recognition Interactivity Cumulative External Support and Screening
Planning and Conceptualisation; First part of Interactive Roundtable. Asia-Pacific; Latin America and Caribbean, Africa and International On line dissemination of information and Consultation; Drafting And Distribution of final Documents
Community Radio Global Review - state of play report
To assess the community radio impact in poverty reduction and to develop tools for community radio impact assessment as “the continuous process of learning, feedback, reflection and analysis of what works (or does not work) and why” (UNAIDS).
Participation and Knowledge sharing Diversity recognition Interactivity Cumulative External Support and screening
Planning and Conceptualisation; Second part of Interactive Roundtable. Asia-Pacific; Latin America and Caribbean, Africa and International On line dissemination of information and Consultation; Questionnaire for Targeted Research; Drafting And Distribution of final Documents
Community Radio Impact Assessment Report
AMARC Effectiveness Evaluation To engage community radio leaders and stakeholders in a participatory and interactive process contributing to an evaluation of AMARC’s effectiveness in relation to its mission and goals and informing its future priorities and strategies.
Participation and Knowledge sharing Diversity recognition Interactivity Cumulative External Support and screening
Planning and Conceptualisation; Third part of Interactive Roundtable. Asia-Pacific; Latin America and Caribbean, Africa and International; On line dissemination of information and Consultation; Questionnaire for Targeted Research Drafting And Distribution of final Documents
Evaluation Report of AMARC activities and effectiveness
Source: Final Narrative Report: Community Radio Impact Evaluation: Removing barriers, Increasing Effectiveness.
46
i4d | April 2007 | Vol. V No. 4
The world is talking. Are you listening?
Submit your abstract online at www.eINDIA.net.in/communityradio/abstractonline
Important Dates: Abstract Submission : 25 - 05 - 2007 Abstract Acceptance : 06 - 06 - 2007 Full Paper Submission : 30 June 2007
31 July - 03 August, 2007 Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, India www.eINDIA.net.in/CommunityRadio
Contact Details Jayalakshmi Chittoor (mob: 9811309160) email: jchittoor@csdms.in eIndia 2007 Secretariat Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) G-4, Sector 39, Noida, India - 201301 Tel. : +91-120-2502181- 85, Fax: +91-120-2500060