Every
morning, five Honda motorcycles leave Banlung in Cambodia, marking the start of
an exciting new way of providing the benefits of the Internet to villages that
are not yet connected to the electricity grid and lack telephones and water.
The
bikes are equipped with a rear-mounted box that is equipped to send e-mail to
schools. An antenna on the top of the box and a Wi-Fi wireless communication
system inside enable e-mails to be relayed to schools in 13 remote Cambodian
villages via satellite dishes.
Though
these villages lack the most basic development amenities, they now have e-mail.
The schools are equipped with solar panels to run a computer for six hours, with
an e-mail link via the motorcycle delivery system.
The
experiment was one of several highlighted at the just-concluded first-ever World
Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, which was attended by over 54 heads
of state, prime ministers, presidents and ministers from 176 countries. They
endorsed a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action to bring the benefits
of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to deprived countries.
Delegates
heard how the Cambodian bike drivers begin the day by collecting e-mails from
the hub's dish, which takes just a few seconds. As they pass each school and a
health center, they transmit the messages. At the end of the day, they return to
the hub to transmit all the collected e-mail to the Internet for any point on
the globe.
As
one of the project's partners pointed out, a primary barrier to rural
connectivity in developing countries is cost. "We have to provide
affordable services in a country deprived of any telecommunication
infrastructure: that is why we are testing out digital applications.
Nonetheless, they have roads in Cambodia and we thought that what was useful for
commerce could become useful for telecommunications,” said Bernard Krisher,
Chairman of Japan Relief for Cambodia. The box is powered by the bike's motor so
that fuel is used for both transportation and communication. The project
managers hope that the project will catch on in other countries.
Bridging
the Gap
Much
of the World Summit was taken up by debates on the “digital divide” - the
disparities in access to information and communication technologies between rich
and poor countries. To an extent, such a divide exists within industrial
countries as well. Some experts advocated that developing countries could
leapfrog the process and provide basic amenities to their people through ICTs,
which are cheaper than conventional infrastructure.
Other
examples included the village of Embalam in the southern Indian state of
Pondicherry, where 130 out of 210 families struggle below the poverty line, but
two solar-powered computers provide villagers with a wealth of data. Through the
project, villagers have gained a better grip on their local markets as prices
are more transparent. Fisherfolk also get to learn where shoals are located from
satellite images.
In 2001, Malaysia had 196 telephone mainlines per 1000 people compared to 38/1000 in Vietnam. |
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There
are now 11 “information villages” in Pondicherry. As Usha Rani informed
IslamOnline.net, “Each of these centers is managed by eight women who are
members of a women’s micro-credit savings group. The centers are open from 9
am to 5 pm and each volunteer has to put in two hours every day.”
Ms
Rani had never seen a PC before being inducted into the programme. The programme
is self-supporting since the “knowledge center” in each village trains
ordinary people to use computer applications.
In
Vietnam, villages such as Bat Trang and Hoi An have created websites to promote
selling village goods. This telecenter movement is spreading through developing
countries as ICTs become more affordable. As telecenters provide shared access
to the communications infrastructure, it becomes possible for many to share the
cost of a single connection.
In
Thailand, a telecenter village called Ban Samka, is operated by youth as a
knowledge intermediary. It is used to broadcast information from the Internet to
adults via the village audio tower. It is ranked as the strongest village in the
district in terms of leadership, community funds, income, civic groups and many
other indices.
ICTs
for Development
At
the Summit, the UN Development Programme released a report on “Promoting ICT
for Human Development in Asia 2004” as a means of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals by 2015. UNDP surveyed nine Asian countries and ranked them
according to their proficiency in using ICTs for development.
Malaysia
figured on top of the list and was ahead by far of the second in rank, China.
Vietnam ranked the lowest among the countries surveyed. Malaysia had 196
telephone mainlines per thousand people in 2001 as against just 38 in Vietnam.
The comparable figures for Personal Computers (PCs) were 126 and 11.7 per
thousand respectively.
Reports
UNDP: “ICT offers promise to address existing human deprivations worldwide
through direct and indirect means. The direct contribution to poverty reduction
of ICT can come through the employment generating effects of ICT diffusion into
poor rural and urban areas. Indirect contributions can come through facilitating
and reducing costs of the delivery of the services that promote wage and
self-employment or help overcome structural constraints on poverty alleviation
projects.”
"ICT offers promise to address existing human deprivations worldwide through direct and indirect means."
UNDP Report. |
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During
the Summit, the US Government announced a $400,000 grant for ICT development in
low-income countries. Cisco and ITU also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to
open 20 more Internet Training Centers in developing countries. Hewlett-Packard
will provide low-cost products that will help overcome the illiteracy barrier to
ICT. Handwritten texts for example will be recognized for e-mail transmission.
Microsoft, working with UNDP, will provide a $1 billion dollar programme over 5
years to bring ICT skills to poor communities.
An
innovative initiative to bridge the digital divide is the Bhutan E-Post project.
For faster, cheaper and more reliable communication to remote, mountainous areas
of Bhutan, the Indian government will deliver e-post services to the Bhutanese
Postal Service via a $400,000 grant for a V-satellite network and solar panels
power system. The partners include ITU, Bhutan Telecom and Post, Worldspace and
Encore India.
The
cities of Geneva and Lyon and the Senegal government announced contributions
totaling about 1 million euros to fund information technology in developing
countries. The contributions will represent the first three payments towards the
Digital Solidarity Fund, the creation of which is to be considered by a UN
working group for the next summit on the Information Society in Tunis in 2005.
However,
many delegates remained skeptical about the success of this fund. Judging by the
manner in which other commitments to meeting the needs of developing countries
have been broken in recent years, they felt that there was no reason why the
Digital Solidarity Fund will fare any better.
*
Darryl D’Monte is the founder President of the International
Federation of Environmental Journalists and is serving a second term till 2003.
He is also the Chairperson of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India
(FEJI) and a syndicated columnist and freelance writer. He has published two
books: “Temples or Tombs? Industry versus Environment: Three Controversies”,
Center for Science & Environment, New Delhi, 1985 and “Ripping the Fabric:
The Decline of Mumbai and its Mills”, Oxford University Press, New Delhi,
2002. He was previously the Resident Editor of the “Indian Express”
(1979-1981) and of the “Times of India” (1988-1994) in Mumbai. Your emails
will be forwarded to him by contacting the editor at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
