an umbrella term that includes computer hardware and software, digital broadcast and telecommunications technologies. ICTs have been used for informing people. In both poor and wealthy countries, mobile phone use has enabled and facilitated the expansion of markets, social business and public services. An entire range of economic services, enabled by mobile phones, have enabled banking and financial transactions, marketing and distribution, employment and public services.
ICTs are proving to be economically, socially and politically transformative. A more direct approach to the use of ICTs aimed at bettering the lives of the poor is through the setting up of tele-centres. Many projects were started in India over the last decade or so and there is a sizeable research literature on the topic, some of which will be summarised here. For example: The Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI) project in the state of Tamilnadu: Some tele-centre kiosks were set up offering a range of services including basic computer education, e-mail, web browsing and various e-government services including the provision of certificates.
A ctivity Identify a newsletter or a small newspaper in circulation in your area. Find more details about its circulation, contributors and editorial board. A ctivity Write or express your opinion about an issue concerning people living in your colony, village or locality. problems were available due to attention of the local leaders.
The print coverage brought machines, bridges, roads and banks into the project area. z Empowering Women at the Grassroots: SEWA and ICTs The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a union of several thousand poor women working in the informal sector in India. SEWA’s aim is to achieve full employment and self-reliance for women workers by focussing both on work and support in other related areas like income, food and social security (health, childcare and shelter). Having understood the effect of poor access to information on poverty, SEWA embarked on a journey to include ICTs within its work.
The vision was to make ICTs a tool for empowering its ever-increasing numbers of grassroots members. It now runs programmes which develop women’s abilities