Full Circle Associates

APDIP Releases a Study of Pro-Poor e-Governance Projects in India Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme

It is widely believed that information and communications technology (ICT) are effective tools in the fight against poverty, if used appropriately. As India’s poverty is deepening and its ICT industry booming, there are many projects underway that are using ICT to reduce poverty and promote good governance.

This publication, with a foreword by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, is the product of a research study that systematically analyzes 18 projects in India that use ICT for the benefit of poor people, and provides recommendations on how ICT can be applied to the massive, widespread and seemingly intractable problems of poverty.

The intention of this research study was to understand what influences will determine the extent to which projects like these can be scaled up from what often appears to be a perpetual pilot syndrome; either to greater use within existing recipient beneficiaries (infusion) or among wider beneficiary populations (diffusion), or both. Projects were analyzed and ranked by their relevance, service delivery, community participation and empowerment, equality in decision-making and benefits, sustainability, replicability and their prospects for being scaled-up.

In a very quick glance through the report, I noticed that two key elements of success were that telecentre staff skills were essential (and often underestimated when seeking volunteers and staff) and that multi use, manifest in public/private partnerships was needed for telecentre sustainability.

I think my systems thinking friends would be nodding at this point. It seems pretty obvious, but tend not to design projects with a systems perspective, and instead design for fairly narrow, isolated goals. There is also some interesting thinking in here about 2nd wave adoption and diffusion of innovation. I need to go back and read this more carefully.