Rural Transformation through ICTrnLittle has changed in the villages of Nepal in the past decades. Yes, schools have been built, but many still lack teachers and appropriate teaching methods. There are phone lines in selective villages; getting a dial tone is still a challenge. Electricity supply...
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Rural Transformation through ICTrnLittle has changed in the villages of Nepal in the past decades. Yes, schools have been built, but many still lack teachers and appropriate teaching methods. There are phone lines in selective villages; getting a dial tone is still a challenge. Electricity supply is at best intermittent. Health care is still limited in its availability. Entertainment is limited to radio or television, if at all the electricity is there. Nepal's villages are dependent on agriculture for much of their sustenance. Natural calamities like landslides, floods or drought are common occurrence across Nepal. As a result, villagers, for the most part, remain a poor lot - the per capita income of Nepal's villages is perhaps much less than USD 200 per annum.rnMost important, the opportunities available to the people in villages are not dramatically different from what they were many years ago. Villages in Nepal are where we live if we have no other option at all. And yet, Nepal is in its villages. Almost 80% of Nepalese live outside of the urban areas. Even as there is one Nepal which is racing ahead with optimism towards the future, there is another Nepal which seems to be stuck in the past. If Nepal has to progress, there is little doubt that Nepal's villages have to progress first.rnTransforming Rural Nepal is a challenge that should focus to the best of Nepalese minds - it is perhaps the single biggest barrier to making Nepal a developed country. Nepal's villages need disruptive innovations to make the giant leap forward. While exploring the role that technology can play in transforming Rural Nepal, one can argue that what the poor need is food, water and energy, more than technology. It is an argument we have been making since a long time.rnNepal's solution so far has been myriad poverty alleviation programs and employment schemes. Corruption and insurgency of Maoists is not the only reason they have met with limited success. The question to ask is have they changed or enhanced people's skills, and exposed them to new world? To that, the answer is a resounding no! The time for incremental innovation is over. Nepal needs creative solutions to start a revolution which can take its villages fast forward in time - creating them economically viable units and growth engines, harnessing the power of the villagers, and opening up new horizons with the promise of a better tomorrow.rnNRIDS is working on promoting ICTs in the rural sector for more than two years. Initially we have started in Syangja, a remote part of Nepal. There were a lot of comments associated with the DO’S and DON’T’S in the present context of instability of the country. However we just marched forward toward our mission. It was not easy to establish community information centers (CICs) in the rural areas of Nepal. Yet it was also challenging to gather a mass of people and share our knowledge with the people.rnrnNRIDS members experienced a very tough time to make the government authority to convince about the work we were going to do. As the matter of fact they really didn’t know What ICT is? We are in a country where the senior level government staffs don’t know the most powerful and the foremost technology of twenty first century.rnrnIts not that we remain pessimistic due to these kinds of situations, it’s not still too late to start! We must be Promoting ICT in Nepal from various walks of life. Mere conducting conferences and having the big talks of ICT is not only the need. The concerned authority should work with grass root level where there is actual need of the ICT.rnRural transformation will make the lives of rural people comfortable, secured, independent and respectful state. This impact of transformation will insure that the rural people are feeling better than the prevailing conditions. It is the most important matter which needs a lot of homework from each and every elements of the Community. The goal is not only about transforming a single community but the community through out the nation. So the government also needs to take this matter seriously for the achievement of this goal. NRIDS will strive for stimulating and awakening the rural public, government authorities and all the concerned bodies. NRIDS is currently working on Rural Transformation by establishing CICs in the remote villages. This initiative will surely help for the achievement of international and national goals such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) .Implementing this initiative is to make people look at things differently and in line with the technological advancement such that they gets their jobs done faster and easily. However, this is a slow and steady process. According to the NRIDS experience, this initiative is rather a kind of experience and share experience process. There are so many communities willing to establish CICs in their areas as a result of the transformation of the nearby communities by CICs practices. It is obvious that Rural transformation is the demand of time .So all the Concerned authorities and the general public should support this movement. NRIDS has priorities it’s Focus on the establishment of (CICs) in the Rural Areas of Nepal for the Rural Transformation.rnrnDevelop institutional and individual ICT capacity Demonstrate innovative ICT applicationrnEncouraging Policy ReformrnEnabling Businesses to succeedrnUsing ICT to Improve Approaches to Development
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Nepal Rural Information Technology Development Society was established in 2004 with the objective of bringing Information and Communication Technology awareness and services to people living in rural areas throughout Nepal. The fact that Nepal has failed to embrace the information revolution over...
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Nepal Rural Information Technology Development Society was established in 2004 with the objective of bringing Information and Communication Technology awareness and services to people living in rural areas throughout Nepal. The fact that Nepal has failed to embrace the information revolution over the last ten years means that as a country we have fallen further behind the developed world, rather than gaining ground. Everyone would agree that Nepalese people who are involved in agriculture, education, construction, and tourism can benefit greatly from access to the Internet and e-commerce, just as residents of other countries have. If only these people could have their eyes opened to how business and education is carried out in the developed world, business would prosper, and students would flourish. The problem is that much hard work is needed to provide computer access and training to rural areas in Nepal, and, as it stands, very little is being done to rectify the information shortage.rnrnThis work began with the endorsement of the Syangja District Development Committee; the members of Nepal Rural Information Technology Development Society have been formulating a blueprint to convert Syangja into the model district for an information revolution in Nepal. With the go of time this movement has been extended in Kaski and Dang District. This blueprint is based around the establishment of Community Information Centers in villages where there is currently an extreme shortage of information. A Community Information Center with the involvement and support of local business people, teachers, serviceman, and young people, have been established in different villages; Mayatari, Karendada, Bagalthok, Lampata, Bayatari, and Helu in Syangja; Kaskikot, Astam in Kaski and Rampur , Laxmipur of Dang district.rnrnCommunity Information Center is designed not for the big talks of Information and Communication Technology but to make the local people aware what Information and Communication Technology can offer to make their life better. It is concerned with how the local people can get benefited from the Information and Communication Technology such as how can even a farmer get benefits from it. The one and only alternative that Nepal can compete in the today’s world is the Information and Communication Technology.
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Mainly the Unemployed youths are the managers of CIC so that youths get the opportunity to learn and to aware other youths about the latest advancement in ICT.rnAlso CIC is a place where the youths of the villages get together t plan any innovative project.rnAlso the Internet facility will help...
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Mainly the Unemployed youths are the managers of CIC so that youths get the opportunity to learn and to aware other youths about the latest advancement in ICT.rnAlso CIC is a place where the youths of the villages get together t plan any innovative project.rnAlso the Internet facility will help the youths to get reach of the latest information of the whole world.rnYouth will get the opportunity to work in a team by being a part of a CIC.
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