Making Knowledge Work for the Rural Poor

Abstract(s)

There is a need for developing a master plan coupled with a business plan for extending the benefits of ICT to all the 600,000+ villages in India by 2007. A National Alliance for ICT for Poverty Eradication may be established for launching the Every Village a Knowledge Centre movement. A beyond-tsunami agenda and action is also illustrated. Organizational considerations: social mobilization and need / demand assessment; community participation; connectivity; content; hub and spokes model; management, monitoring and evaluation; services (multipurpose centre); partnership; capacity building; sustainability. The conclusions regard: managing technology and connectivity; managing content creation, gathering, validation and dissemination; managing delivery of content on time; managing for improving the well-being of the whole community; going beyond ICT, content and knowledge center giving a human touch to the whole programme.