ICTA's e-Society Programme Head Chitranganie Mubarak |
Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) says that several successful pilot projects of relevance to Society are now ready to be replicated by the right implementers. This was stated by ICTA's e-Society Programme Head Chitranganie Mubarak at an interview held recently.
Speaking at the interview held in connection with a scheduled function for awarding grants to over 16 organisations to replicate ICTA's successful pilot projects, Chitranganie said that ICTA had initiated over 150 projects under the e-Society Programme which could have considerable impact on the everyday life of ordinary people. She said that the Agency was willing to partner committed and capable implementers with grassroots presence in deploying the output of these projects more widely.
"Although much work, time and investment have gone into these projects, the output of these projects - content, software applications and project concepts are being offered free ", she added.
Speaking on the e-Society Replication Assistance Grant Award -2009 function that is scheduled to take place in Colombo next Tuesday ICTA's e-Society Programme Head said that this event was not an exercise in self-praise for ICTA but an opportunity to create a wider interest among the general public as well as the private sector and the NGO community on the vast possibilities in using ICT for development. Explaining why ICTA was seeking partners for replication Chitranganie pointed out:
"Replication needs money. ICTA has limited funds. Our aim is to draw in the donor and NGO community as well as the private sector to partner us to reuse, repurpose and/or disseminate these ICT tools and content in new and innovative ways. "
Announcing a most welcome news to all interested in being engaged in a self-fulfilling pursuit while being of immense use to society, she affirmed: "Much of the output of the original pilot projects, be they the concepts, the content, the software and the applications are available free of charge".
Listing out the criteria in selecting the replicators Chitranganie stated the three essentials: The replicating organisation should be committed with a motive and a sense of perseverance to take the project up to its final goal; they should have the capacity to execute the replication; they should be implanted in the milieu themselves or through their partners at grassroots level".
Explaining the significance of this programme to community development in Sri Lanka she said: "This is possibly the first time that projects such as these, are being promoted for replication and extensive deployment. We hope to award 16 grants at next Tuesday's event."
Speaking in general about the e-Society programme Chitranganie dwelled on the concept of an e-Society which at times may be misunderstood as being a technically savvy society saying:"By an e-Society what we envisage is a society in which people use information and communication technologies in their daily lives, in their businesses and in meeting their information needs. A society does not transform itself into an e-Society overnight. It takes time to change the way communities think and act. It takes time to master the use of ICT tools and build the necessary infrastructure that would support these tools".
Putting the philosophy behind the e-Society programme in the right perspective Chitranganie said: "e-Society attempts to make the benefits of ICT universal and not the prerogative of the elite, or the rich or those in the city or those who are fluent in the English Language".
In an effort to remove another misconception that some people have Chitranganie said that ICT was not all about a computer. It is about all that one can access or do using a computer. The mobile platform is also a very important tool in dissemination of the benefits of ICT, especially given that we have about 10 million mobile phone users in the country. There are several projects initiated through the e-Society Programme which have exploited this wide use of the mobile phone . One example is a project that provides 100 farmers registered with the implementing organisation information on cultivation practices, e.g., input of fertilizers, timing of the application of fertilizers in addition to communication of day-to-day market prices of agricultural produce and crop prices, for example, from the Dambulla market.
While the ICTA's infrastructure programme has made the 590 odd Nenasalas available island- wide for use by the people in the rural areas the e-Society programme supplies the content and software for use in these 'wisdom outlets' or tele-centres.
Fishermen too are helped by ICT through a pilot project operated by the Nenasala in Weligama. The fishing community is linked to a satellite served from the USA which tells the fishermen by longitudinal and latitudinal indicators where fish is concentrated. The relevant message is sent through SMS to a group of fishermen registered with the relevant Nenasala.
In the area of health the use of ICTs via a mobile platform has enabled the linking of the Dankotuwa District Hospital to the Marawila Base Hospital.
Helping the visually impaired persons is the Digital Talking Book project which extends the scope of reading material available to the visually impaired persons beyond the limited collection of Braille Books.
A project launched through the e-Society Programme has made it possible for the visually impaired community to read the online Sinhala Language paper through a software which converts the digital text to Braille and can then be read off a Braille Display. This software which converts digital text to Braille also makes it possible for the visually impaired to communicate via e-mail with sighted people. A significant benefit is that the Text to Braille software can be used in the printing of examination papers, GCE O'level papers for instance, so that the visually impaired child can have the paper given to him or her without it being read out as is usually done.
The ICT Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, the apex government body responsible for ICT policy direction in the country and the organization mandated to implement the e-Sri Lanka Initiative, began the e-Society Programme to help the most disadvantaged sections of Sri Lankan society benefit from the most advanced ICTs.
In a final bid to emphasise the approach adopted by ICTA's e-Society programme Chitrananie stated that the e-Society programme had been designed with a bottom up, collaborative approach to ICT4D, harnessing both private, public and non-governmental organisations' special expertise and infrastructure and community based organisations' grassroots knowledge and presence to accomplish the ICTA's vision of taking the benefits of technology to every citizen.
The e-Society Development Iinitiative, through its Community Assistance Programme /Partnership Assistance Programme, has created a significant set of software and content.
It has also piloted successful project concepts/models for benefiting rural communities through ICT. However, up until now, these benefits were limited to those areas where the project was piloted. |
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