Mahila Samakhya meeting in progress
Engaging Communities in ICT for development initiatives
The whole act of engaging a community in the development process is about giving people a voice. While technology can only act as an enabler in providing services or alerting the social landscape with tailor-made interventions, the role of people and communities as active participants in the process of their development cannot be discounted.

This paper is based on the experiences and insights from six pilot initiatives under the ICT for Development (ICTD) Project, being implemented by the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG). 11 nation wide pilot initiatives that use ICTs are being implemented under the ICTD Project in areas of Integrated Citizen Services, rural governance, rural livelihoods and women’s empowerment.

The projects featured in this paper are:

Ashwini: Implemented by Byrraju Foundation, this project seeks to enable a platform for multi-dimensional interaction between experts and service providers in towns/cities and defined target segments in 32 villages of the West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh in order to empower rural population through access to information and services.

DRISTI: Implemented by the West Bengal State Rural Development Agency, the Decentralised Rural Information Services and Technology Initiatives - DRISTI project aims to provide an IT based solution for all the major functions of Panchayats (village level administrative body) including micro-planning at village level at 20 Panchayat Samitis of Burdwan district and 50 Gram Panchayats under these Panchayat Samitis.

Mahiti-Mitra: Implemented by Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan, the project envisages the creation of ICT kiosks through the existing Setu centres, and developing the kiosks as a platform which enables the Gram Panchayat bodies and Gram Sabhas to access the various ICT technology applications. This will cover nearly 380 villages in the Kutch district of Gujarat.

Village Information Services (VIS): Implemented by the Gujarat Informatics Limited, the VIS (eGram) project seeks to integrate all the projects under the Government of Gujarat’s e-Governance initiatives that are proposed to roll out in all the 18000 villages of Gujarat. The pilot will cover 100 villages in 5 Talukas (sub-district level) across 2 districts of Gujarat State.

Creating rural entrepreneurs through ICT enabled enterprise development services: Implemented by Development Alternatives, this initiative focuses on providing entrepreneurship opportunities in the areas of micro concrete roofing and non-farm based activity using natural recyclable poultry, to nearly 8000-9000 entrepreneurs from Bathinda Cluster, Punjab Tikamgarh Cluster and Bundelkhand in the pilot period.

Mahiti Manthana: Implemented by IT for Change, this project is situated in context of Mahila Samakhya (MS) – an established grassroots initiative of the Govt. of India. The objective of the pilot will be to develop appropriate ICT-based processes and systems best suited for MSKs resource centre activity. A multi-pronged strategy to provide content on education, health, and other social and legal issues is envisaged.

After highlighting the individual community interaction experiences of these projects, the paper would focus on steps that can be taken to engage the community while implementing ICT for development initiatives.

Initial community response to pilot initiatives
Before embarking on any ICT for development initiative, it is important to understand the local culture and social dynamics before approaching the people for their inputs.

As IT for Change discovered in the Mahiti Manthana project, most communities today have good exposure to audio-visual media in form of the television, telephones and radio. However, most people had not connected the use of technology for empowerment purposes. The need thus is to simply highlight through real-life examples, the impact technology can make in the lives of people.

Having worked in the Kutch region, the Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan’s Mahiti Mitra Project was able to critically analyse the macro developmental scenario vis-à-vis the issues at the community level. The community expressed an eagerness for information about governmental schemes. This resulted in valuable learning for the project and a pilot was crafted to suit that needs. After highlighting the expectations of the services offered by the project, the residents of villages where the VIS project is to be implemented spoke about their hope of technology directly impacting corruption. When confronted with desires such as the above, discussing the project in detail with the people and facilitating them to set realistic time-frames for results, can prevent unnecessary complications and avoid future animosity arising out of unrealistic expectations.


Communities learn from experts, Byrraju foundation
Any new technology brings with it bundles of fears and hesitations especially among the middle aged and older people of the society. It was noted that while the youngsters take to the ICT intervention relatively easily, the same is not the case for the established village elders who often confront technology before embracing it. The adage ‘seeing is believing’ holds true even today. Project Ashwini received a wait and watch response from most communities till they showcased a proof-of-concept and a pilot by connecting two villages. It proved that creating a proof-of-concept always serves as a great introduction to the project and helps to showcase the advantages better to the local residents.

The community’s initial response is often determined by the agency implementing the project. The Entrepreneurship Development Services (EDS) project idea was well received by the community as was Mahiti Mitra’s idea, as the implementing agencies already had a presence in the village and hence found it easier to engage the community’s attention. At this initial juncture, showcasing other similar successful ICT for development initiatives as well as responses from other villagers who use ICT interventions successfully, helps induce a certain degree of comfort and makes people more receptive to what donor agencies propose to implement.

The emphasis of all initial interactions must, not remain on extracting infor-mation from the communities but to help them understand the project better.

Inhibitions expressed
While familiarity with a local setting can work as an advantage, it can also prove to be a setback for governments and NGOs especially if they have not been very successful in winning the hearts of the people earlier. e-Governance projects in particular often encounter great resistance from the government agencies themselves because of pre-conceived and incorrect opinions about the use of ICTs. Stakeholders from the government departments of DRISTI project expressed inhibitions about using computers as they feared its usage would challenge their existing jobs.

 The fear of technology is immense. The video-conferencing experiment of Project Ashwini created the challenge of clearing the apprehensions of communities to follow systems that takes them away from the conventional system of interaction. Some of them expressed fear that they would not be able to use the system and also understand the language that the experts speak. 

The Mahila Samkhya women in the Mahiti Manthana project on the other hand, had reservations and inhibitions over the usefulness and accessibility of the actual content that would get produced through the introduction of video cameras and community radio in their daily activities. They also raised concerns over the proposed use of ‘expensive’ technologies like computers. Communities, in Gujarat, that have already experienced non-working computers at government offices due to frequent power failures and have borne the brunt of standing in long queues outside government offices because of this unreliable power supply, tended to question the efficiency of ICT-based services. As experienced by the VIS project implementers, the village level functionaries raised apprehensions about human resource requirements, administration and the revenue sharing of the money generated through such services being offered at the village level. Pricing of services offered at such centres was another key issue that all felt must be done keeping in mind the economic status of the community.

The Development Alternatives team observed that the communities were reluctant to experiment with new technologies due to the fact that they had previously not experienced the tangible benefits, the use of ICTs can bring. Many villagers also feared there would be no ready markets for the enterprises that are being offered, and found it difficult to associate business with the computer based training that was being offered.

The above experiences clearly demonstrate the varied fears that accompany any intervention. Under- standing the inhibitions of the locals can help the implementing agency to encourage neutral decision making about the project from the grassroots level, rather than adopting a top-down model and making the residents feel technology is being thrust upon them.

Involving the communities
Once ample knowledge about the community’s needs and apprehensions has been gained, it is important to address all their fears suitably. Ensuring sustainability becomes easy once the community sees itself not as a beneficiary but as a stakeholder and accepts the project as its responsibility. In the case of Project Ashwini, the Gram Vikas Samiti members, a local voluntary body of village residents constituted by the Byrraju Foundation, acts as equal partner. Involving and educating select community members who then act as change agents in the community were seen to be beneficial. These local people who possess a better understanding of their community then act as messengers and help in communicating the initiative’s scope to the other residents.

Isolating the local educated youth to actively participate is also a innovate step as was demonstrated by the Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL) during their needs assessment study conducted in over 20 villages. Such a participatory approach is also being used in the Mahiti Manthana project. The executive committee members of the Mahila Samkhya help decide on the nature of content and processes of Mahiti Manthana. Direct consultations with the Self Help Group (SHG) women are also a regular activity in this project.


Participatory decision making in an SHG
Incorporating the thoughts and ideas of the community at all stages ensures that the community’s choices are part of the project design. Right from the selection of the enterprise to the final implementation, the community is being involved in every step in the EDS project as the enterprises selected for ICT based Enterprise Development Services (EDS) have been identified in consultation with the locals and the existing entrepreneurs.

Conducting events, fairs, peer group discussions, group meetings and awareness building programmes such as those conducted by Mahiti Mitra, has proven to assist in easing the introduction of ICTs. Apart from building confidence among the users, such events and communication processes also help to disseminate project related information easily. This helps reduce the initial inhibitions raised by the stakeholders as was observed in the DRISTI project, which conducted workshops to allay the fears expressed by the stakeholder government employees.

Benefits observed
Local people’s knowledge of the ground realities enables them to be the best judge of their priorities. The team from Development Alternatives noticed that sharing experiences with the locals and the existing entrepreneurs, before the actual implementation, gave them insights into the intricacies involved in the implementing process. An important lesson learnt was that the locals cannot afford to have their money involved in a single business for a long period and therefore prefer those activities that have short gestation periods.

Byrraju Foundation felt that the biggest gain from community partici-pation remains the confidence and support that emanates from the residents. This aided them to gain a fresh perspective in delivering more accurate programs targeted at local needs.

Suggestions on linking the village level kiosk to the primary level school to enhance computer literacy and increasing the future use were received from the communities in Gujarat. Information needs of a community continue to constitute what impacts them on a daily basis. While information about old schemes is sought, information about newer schemes and the agencies involved continues to be demanded repeatedly. e-Governance initiatives or initiatives by NGO that focus on dissemination of information of governance related initiatives must have an informational needs assessment on an ongoing basis, as that conducted by the Mahiti Mitra project.

People from outside generally perceive that they can help solve problems of the rural people through the introduction of technology. But engaging communities helps in giving a wider perspective on issues related to content development, operating mechanisms, financial viability and the identification of requirements not initially planned for during project scoping.

While ICT based systems can be utilised to bridge the gap in information asymmetry by providing the information required across all classes, caste and gender, the introduction of technology innovations may not always lead to the participation of communities in the initiatives. As the Mahiti Manthana discovered, people are ready to engage with any new process and activity if they are convinced of sufficient gains, but for this, a systematic contextualisation of these technologies and their applications has to be made which can only be done through a process, that may be prolonged in some cases, of engaging closely with the community.

How to engage the community
In summation, following are the steps that must be taken in order to engage the community in an ICT for development initiative:

1) Understanding local dynamics: Understanding the local people, their environment, needs and identifying ways to better their life with them is an important activity in ICT for development projects. ICT for development has made its presence felt widely and for many communities having an ICT intervention in their village is now a matter of pride, more than necessity. Ascertaining what the community actually needs rather than desires, thus assumes great importance.

2) Setting stage for the project: Deciding what the project must aim to achieve and how best the local residents can use the technology being given to them, is a decision that cannot be taken in isolation by project implementers.

This has to be the prerogative of the community who has to choose to use what is given. Studying and understanding the projects implemented in the region in the past along with the reasons for their success and failures, also helps to refine the current project and then evolve better ways to engage the community in the process.

3) Creating a communication platform: The primary step must be the establishment of a two-way communication system which allows implementers and the local residents to establish a relationship. Once the trust has been built, an environment conducive to free expression of thoughts, ideas and fears of the diverse local populace is created which helps participation of all. Communication strategies must be devised and communication tools identified by the project implementers along with the communities, to help put in place an on-going mechanism of information exchange, sharing and documentation. The role of varied media in project propagation must be explored in context to the social and entertainment habits of the residents.

4) Understanding responsibilities: Usually, the community contributes a certain portion of the project cost and is encouraged to think of itself as an equal owner or partner. But the act of ownership also must primarily result in the idea of the intervention itself being generated from the grassroots level itself and not just engaging the community as a neutral recipient of services. This responsibility of the community towards the concept-ualisation, implementation and sustenance of the project has to be realised, understood and accepted by all involved. Volunteerism must be encouraged, paving the way to make the project truly sustainable.

5) Defining roles: After systems have been established there is a need to define roles for the varied stakeholders. Making the community visualise the direct impact the intervention will have on the lives of their family and friends, will build a desire to see the project implemented.

Sometimes what the community thinks as a desired ICT intervention may be a spontaneous decision taken without much thought. Questioning them about their responses helps to engage in further serious discussions and think carefully about their goals and plans. Once the community sets realistic goals to work towards, creating a plan with them as a group helps see through the project implementation relatively easily.

6) Facilitating actions and supporting goals: The role of an implementing agency must be that of a facilitator. ICT for development initiatives require predominant local level leadership and initiative to ensure success. The funding and implementing agencies must work with the community to equip them with requisite information and resources.

Engaging the community helps make ICT interventions an economic and social choice, and not something they are compelled to adopt and accept. The community must constantly be part of the project, at every juncture and stage of the project. ICT for development initiatives when implemented democratically taking into consideration the benefit of all social groups and classes in the village, can change the social dynamics and disturb previously existing power balances, by empowering previously marginalised groups.

It is also necessary to engage professionals such as social scientists who can help support the community through constant information exchange and aid them to face and resolve their internal issues in a pro-active manner.

© Anita Satyajit (with inputs from Sandeep Paidi), National Institute for Smart Government