ICT in Rural Development in India

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The Role of Information and Communication
Technology in Rural Development

• Go 2 Market India Pvt. Ltd.

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ICT in Rural empowerment, On demand provision of
reliable, timely and actionable information
overcoming the literacy barriers

• Background
• A rural citizen is information starved. Keeping
  in mind the literacy levels of rural population,
  mobile voice is the most powerful channel to
  communicate and engage by leveraging Interactive
  Voice Response (IVR) system for the broadcasting
  of information in audio form

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Typically most of the NGOs have 2 clear
objectives for any rural engagement program

• Empower community groups especially women
  marginalized section of society
• Ensure accountability transparency in governance

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Traditionally ICT programs and initiatives to
connect with the rural population in India have
typically faced the following challenge

1. Low level of literacy
2. Limited ownership of smart phones, largely low
   value features phones
3. Non availability or poor quality of internet
4. Low of answered calls due to phone not being
   charged/electricity supply being erratic
5. Making the information viral/self-spreading
6. Ability to communicate with large population at
   the same time in their regional language/dialects

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Solution using ICT

• A single number based voice solution built on a
  cloud telephony platform for broadcasting
  pre-recorded automated voice calls, people who
  are unable to receive the call, can call back on
  the same number which functions as a missed call
  number and automatically generates an outbound
  voice call in the specific dialect with the voice
  communication for the day.
• The system architect can be designed such that an
  audio library is created and the calling/called
  person has the option of listening to previous
  audio messages.
• The uniqueness lies in having a single number for
  communication which functions both as a outgoing
  number and a missed call number resulting in much
  higher contacts, zero cost to the target group
  and the power of referrals which helps in
  creating awareness about the single number
  amongst the target group.

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• Every person who calls up the number is not in
  the existing database has the option to choose
  the Block/District for which they would like to
  register themselves and subsequently will be part
  of the scheduled information dissemination
  program, the number addition to the specific
  Block/District is automatic and requires no
  manual intervention.
• To reinforce the number and to help make the
  number viral, people are encouraged to share the
  number with their acquaintances and each call is
  followed-up by an automatic sms communication.
• The target group need to only have any basic
  feature phone which can receive and make calls.
• Program can help in engaging, partnering and
  winning the trust by building a one to one
  connect in the targeted geography by providing
  reliable, timely and actionable information
  overcoming the literacy technology barriers.

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Outcomes

• Timely notifications ensure higher participation
  of people in rural initiatives such as gram
  Sabha's.
• Increased participation in government organized
  events disability camps, immunization
  programmes etc
• Information dissemination in partnership with
  Government departments such as Meghdhanush
  programme, field camps by different government
  departments etc.
• UID implementation drive, data collected using
  IVRS for identifying villages having problems
  related to non-issuance of UID etc.
• Information sharing-citizens in turn also forward
  and share information to their acquaintances for
  whom the information is relevant and useful.
• Citizens become more aware and can be expected to
  start demanding benefits of various public
  services and schemes.

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