Good decisions come from experience

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• Good decisions come from experience
• Experience comes from bad decisions

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• Objective
• To bring persons from disadvantaged sectors into
  the mainstream applications of IT-enabled service
  sector.
• Methodology
• Free Training
• Customized multi-lingual interactive Resource
  Package
• One to one human component
• Judicious mix of contact and distance modes

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SITA

• Achievements
• Even with limited reading, writing and
  communication skills, over 450 women trainees
  have shown commendable proficiency in acquiring
  basic computer skills
• Problems
• Low confidence level
• Little financial and family support
• Poor response from the job market
• Solution
• Co-operative model for networking the
  Trainee/Trainer group with government and
  non-government agencies.
• Learning and earning to go hand in hand
• Contracting job work ranging from data entry to
  DTP to Transcription.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• Quest for sustainability
• At the conclusion of InfoDev support in 2001,the
  Core Group of women trained under SITA
  established an e-cooperative MitraMandal, which
  is operating through a Community Centre located
  in a low-income neighbourhood of East Delhi.
• The Community Centre
• is spreading ICT awareness in the neighbourhood
  
• aiming for self-reliance through contracting
  job work from the public/private sector
  agencies.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• On going programs
• The Centre has undertaken a program for Capacity
  Building in partnership with the UK-based NGO
  One World International .
• The one-year pilot program involves
• translation of ICT training material into six
  Indian languages
• field testing of the translated material
  through Workshops for disadvantaged groups who
  do not feel comfortable with English.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• MitraMandal Challenge Award (MMCA) 2004
• This ICT competition, planned for South Asia, is
  inspired by the Rome-based Global Junior
  Challenge Award (where SITA was a winner in 2000)
  and the Stockholm Challenge Award (where SITA
  was finalist).
• MMCA aims to catalyze the use of ICT in schools
  in India with particular reference to the
  disadvantaged schools.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• Summing Up
• ICT training and Internet access is restricted --
  in a country like India -- to the upper-income
  group who can afford the cost of these
  facilities. This fact will widen further the
  digital divide if allowed to go unchecked.
• The key feature of SITA/MitraMandal Project is to
  provide ICT training, Internet access and income
  generation in an interlinked manner so that
  disadvantaged individuals, particularly women,
  are encouraged to enter ICT-enabled service
  sector.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• Summing Up
• Since the main motivation of our Project is
  social, and not commercial, the entire
  infrastructure like space, furniture, hardware,
  software, power and telephone facility (with
  backup through UPS) has been donated to the
  womens e-cooperative MitraMandal .
• The absence of overhead costs means that the
  co-op rates are lower than the market rates in
  other words, there is a prospect of building a
  win-win partnership with agencies providing job
  work.

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SITAStudies in Information Technology
ApplicationsComputer-skill training programme
for socially and economically disabled women

• Summing Up
• The emphasis so far is on the socio-economic
  side. Technological options like
• wireless connectivity and
• solar power
• needed for rural areas, will become effective
  only when adequate number of ICT trainers along
  with tested training methodology is established
  to suit the needs of individuals with inadequate
  educational background and limited communication
  skills.