i4donline: May - June 2003 issue: Bangalore, 11 to 12 March, 2003: ICTs for development

The working group consultation on ICT for development and cross media partnerships had, as its focus, community radio, eGovernance and public private partnerships, access to information. It aimed at bringing various experiences from these areas to a common platform.

Introduction
As part of the United Nations Develop- ment Programme ’s (UNDP)initiative to widen the debate and dialogue on the rel- evance of Information Communication Technology for grassroots development,a two-day working group consultation was held in Bangalore on 11-12 March 2003 in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management,Bangalore (IIMB).

Partners from diverse sectors,includ- ing the Government of India,communi- ty-based organisations,the corporate sector and the media participated in the consultation.The working group consul- tation on ICT for development and cross media partnerships had,as its focus,com- munity radio,e governance and public private partnerships,and access to infor- mation,and aimed at bringing various experiences from these areas on to a com- mon platform.

In the context of community radio,the purpose was to allow for experience sharing from the grassroots and arrive at insights about the medium.The workshop also was an occasion to discuss opportunities that have arisen following the recent government guidelines on the community radio and de- liberate upon issues critical to making com- munity radio a reality in India.

The consultation also sought to exam- ine the potential of different public pri- vate partnerships in IT supported initiatives -tele-medicine in delivering health care,and e-governance in deliver- ing services to citizens within the larger framework of right to information.Rec- ognizing the significance of public private partnerships as central for improving effi- ciency and reducing costs of service deliv- ery,the workshop explored possibilities for synergy between the government and the private sector in e-governance.

Looking at the ways in which civil so- ciety has engaged with institutions of gov- ernance for claiming their right to access information was also an important part of the agenda for the consultation.

Objectives of the Consultation

Broad Objective

To showcase ICT for development ex- periments in the country,with specific focus on community radio,as well as on e-governance and public-private partnerships within the framework of the right to information.
To bring together a range of voices and interests to explore the possibilities for partnerships in the arena of ICTs for development.
To explore ways and means to strength- en a pro-poor ICT for development agenda.
To build partnerships with the media in an effort to establish the centrality of the role of advocacy in popularising ICTs for development

Specific Objectives

To share experiences from the grassroots
To consolidate lessons from best/good practices as well as explore what has not worked.
To look at the way partnerships have worked in existing best practices.
To use the platform to build public-pri- vate partnerships specifically in the area of e-governance.
To focus on bottlenecks,challenges and procedural issues.
To arrive at a set of action points or rec- ommendations
To respond to the guidelines that the government has issued in respect of community radio.

The Key issues about ICTs Flagged at the Consultion

The Hope in ICTs
Considerable faith is being vested in the capacities of ICTs to transform the qual- ity of development through new oppor- tunities -by reaching services to people; enabling participation in decision-mak- ing etc.The potential of ICTs for im- pacting the quality of life of the poor is evident in the inroads that ICT experi- ments have made.For instance,small farmers have access to agricultural infor- mation;information about entitlements is available to the poor through infor- mation kiosks;remote diagnosis has made possible long distance advice on crop diseases.Also,scope for use of ICTs towards development is increasing with reducing costs of the technologies and in the potential that free software has for developing countries.