In November 2001, Jiva Outreach established the first Community Learning and Information Centre (CLIC) at the Tikawali village in Haryana, called the Baatchit centre in collaboration with Media lab Asia. Community Software has been designed and developed for use at the CLIC for the unlettered users, who sign in without using alphabetical passwords. Farmers use it to get information on government-run schemes, farming methodologies, cultivation best practices, weather details, subsidies, job opportunities, banking and insurance-related details, forms, etc. The CLIC helps the villagers leverage their indigenous potential to turn them into rural entrepreneurs. Workshops are conducted and skill-enhancing trainings are given in the areas of computers, pickle making, sewing, etc to make them self-reliant. The CLIC has helped a team of young villagers acquire video-making skills through digital cameras. The team shoots local events, edits the footage and prepares news bulletin that are put out over the local cable network.

What follows is an excerpt of an interview with Anirudh Pathak of Jiva.

What has been the social impact of the project? What feedback have you received?
The villagers have begun to gain hope in their own people for development of the village. They have planted 100 trees in the village for beautification and have held a village festival - the first ever. The village has branded itself "Tikawali Bazaar". All shops have been painted yellow, and signboards made with a Baatchit branding. A number of new shops have opened up as a result. A sewing centre program has started at the Baatchit centre for young women.

Tuition classes have started at the centre and more than 40 students attend the classes.A number of people have found employment at the centre, and have got placed in jobs in Faridabad and Delhi through the centre. Many people have been able to find loans for rural based programs through the centre. A post office was set up in the center through this program.

Villagers have found it easier to get their work done in government departments when people find out they are from Tikawali.

Transparency in government department has increased. A greater degree of pride for the village has developed, especially because the village was covered in the national news a number of times.

How is the project tackling issues related to financial sustainability?
This still remains a great challenge. While it is possible to recover costs for basic services that do not require technology, it is incredibly difficult to create sustainability for the technology related tools.We’re talking openly and honestly about these problems. Many people have tried to convince the public and funders about how viable and sustainable such village community centers are. When we realized they weren’t, we have been talking straight. Our goal is to share ideas, solve the problem and find solutions. Not perpetuate myths.We have determined that people will pay for three types of services: communication, health, and entertainment, mostly because they have an immediate and individual value.

We see a need to connect industry to villages if we are going to find sustainable models. Even if you provide villagers with the tools, ideas, and technologies, they wind up hitting a wall when it comes to marketing. They don’t understand outside markets well, which are beyond their scope. They are taken advantage of by middlemen/brokers. We are thus looking to industry to find ways for them to connect with the farmers in mutually beneficial ways that overcome the disconnects.

What are the conceptual and practical challenges and issues that Jiva faces in relation to the project?
Finding the relevance of technology; getting local buy in (which is really linked to offering a practical solution); finding a way to match real world needs with technology; creating and providing affordable infrastructure have been challenges. It has been tough to find real models of sustainability and scale and to communicate to development agencies the realities of village communities, as well as strategies that can actually work. Also, at a practical level, electricity tends to be unreliable.

What is the future plan of the project?
Jiva continues to operate the centre, and will explore a variety of activities and models for utility in the centre. The software development has been passed back to Media Lab Asia and their development team. Media Lab Asia can be contacted for this. Jiva is trying to create more/better content to be delivered at the centers. We are planning a greater focus on agriculture and planned farming, helping tie farmers to the market and directly to corporations related to food industries. We are looking into the use of low cost linux labs (www.jiva.org/digital bridges) as a means of addressing technology cost issues. We are working to tie in distance education and other opportunities in collaboration with our partners such as Teachers Without Borders.

MANAGE Kiosks Agriculture Extension Services through Telecenters<