TechFocus
Mission to empower rural community
A battery run CPU and a low priced miniature laptop by Asus is on display at Intel's stall in the Mission 2011 exhibition, top, D.Net's stall resembles a 'Pallitathya Kendra' (village information centre), bottom-left, and visitors check out another stall of Food Security for Sustainable Household Livelihoods Programme (FoSHoL). Photo: STAR
People in rural Bangladesh work their land from dawn till dusk and women devote themselves to household chores. It is plain lifestyle, away from the daily hubbub of city life. This bucolic simplicity, however, does not exclude the residents from their right to know. ICT helps villagers access the information they need. Information important to them is disseminated from a place commonly known as telecentre. Several organisations, including GrameenPhone, have already implemented telecentres in some parts of the country. Now all of them are unified under an umbrella organisation called Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN) to strengthen their capacity as well as speed up the process to incorporate ICT in rural life. BTN rolled out its collective initiative, "Mission 2011", through a magnificent inaugural session at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre on December 6. The BTN move aims at connecting the rural areas by establishing 40,000 telecentres throughout the country by 2011, the year when the nation celebrates 40 years of independence. Chief Adviser Fakruddin Ahmed formally inaugurated "Mission 2011". He hoped that the initiative, which introduces new-age technology to rural people, will play an important role in expediting the development process, minimising the gap between the state and the poor and alleviating poverty. He called on BTN to develop relevant content and provide advisory service for the people. Tapan Chowdhury, adviser of science, information and communication ministry, said ICT is not only an export item, it can also be utilised to address the problems of the underprivileged sections of the society. He unveiled the government's plan to spread ICT services in rural areas. Renata Lok Dessallien, United Nations resident coordinator in Bangladesh, described a telecentre as a relevant and realistic solution for empowering rural people. Manzurul Alam, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission, pointed out that illiteracy is a setback in familiarising IT services in rural areas. He also talked about human machine interfacing and touch screen based solution. Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, vice chancellor of Brac University, presented the keynote paper. He called on the telecoms-service providers to develop shockproof installation so that services are not disrupted during natural calamities. Brac University is planning to launch a programme in collaboration with D.Net (Development Research Network) to develop IT-skilled manpower, he said. Prof Arunachalam of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in India put emphasis on innovative approach to make telecentre more valuable to village residents to meet their requirements. Dr Basheer Hamad Shadrach, Asian region senior program officer of IDRC/telecentre.org, focused on issues such as connectivity, content, services and conducive policies to achieve breakthrough in rural development while Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, chairperson of BTN, talked about the role telecentres can play in helping the Election Commission accomplish voter registration work. BTN seeks support form the government, NGOs, academia, media and other stakeholders to make "Mission 2011" a success. BTN has set two objectives: - Building awareness among the stakeholders, including the government, about the importance of building an information and knowledge system for the poor through establishment of a network of ICT-based telecentres. - Supporting and facilitating functioning of grassroots level telecentres through offering a set of services, which are crucial to ensuring sustainability of the telecentres including sharing of contents. BTN has also set up six task forces, for to coordinate and resolve the burning issues. The task forces are telecentre policy task force, human capacity development task force, content and solutions task force, technical and reference support task force, promotion and event management task force and resource mobilisation task force which will be led by SDNF, YPSA, KATALYST, D.Net and DKF respectively. Grameen Communications first initiated the telecentre trend in Bangladesh in October 1999. It was in Madhupur of Tangail and this centre provided dial-up internet service, computer training and latest pineapple prices in Dhaka. Today around 1000 telecentres are operational throughout the country. Telecentres bring profound impact on rural life that include creating social awareness, eradicating poverty, empowering women, opening the door of financial activities and eliminating digital divide. In order to make a telecentre viable in the long run, there should be a specific business model. If installation and operational costs are not brought down, it will bring adverse effect on telecentre members. Location is another important factor. It should be located at a place where people frequently hang around. Technology is also an important consideration in running the telecentres smoothly. In remote areas where there is no cable-based communication network, wireless could be a good alternative. If the government opens WiMAX for all, it will create plenty of business opportunities for the telecentres as the technology paves the way for introducing IP telephony service. Content is another important issue. Most rural people are not familiar with foreign language. This is why contents in local language should be given priority. Keeping in mind climate change, weather-related contents in local language can help people take necessary precautions. Open-source software could be a good solution to the telecentres. Proprietary software is expensive and it adds to the operational costs. Intel has recently come up with a low-cost PC solution with limited power consumption. A study shows that 62 percent of the world's telecentres has been built and is maintained by non-profit organisations, 24 percent are profit-oriented projects while 14 percent are government projects. Asia leads the telecentre growth with about 37 percent of the share, followed by Africa, which accounts for approximately 33 percent of the growth. Right to information has become one of the basic needs of us. Farmers need right information to sell their produce and avoid price manipulation, students require information for their career. If BTN successfully overcomes the hurdles lurking ahead, it will certainly bring a new vista of opportunities for the rural people to enrich their lives as well as create revolutionary changes in the society.
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