The Alliance is using networking and partnership as strategies for taking ICTs to the poor and the disadvantaged in India's rural communities. To begin the process of creating the alliance, 60 representatives drawn from civil society organisations, government departments, the private sector, and academia took part in a consultation in May 2004. They set up 7 task forces, including connectivity, content, policy, capacity building, resources, organisation and management, and programme design.

One focus of these task force activities will be how to use the ongoing efforts by the government and the private sector in creating an ICT infrastructure, human networks, and political institutions to provide multipurpose information kiosks in rural areas. "The info-kiosk of tomorrow would serve as a communication hub, providing multiple telephone and communication services to the village, a virtual academy and training center and banking, financial, insurance and trading outlet and much more."

Face-to-face interaction will continue to be the Alliance's key strategy for sharing ideas and engaging in strategic planning toward the 2007 goal. These conversations take the form of "Policy Makers Workshops" like the May and July 2004 consultations. (Other such workshops were held in October 2003 and February 2004 to organise other MSRRF programmes designed to bridge the digital divide; please see Key Points, below). According to organisers, a number of key government people attended and spoke at the July 2004 meeting. According to MSRRF, these representatives expressed firm support for the National Alliance's work and a strong desire to collaborate. Here is an excerpt from the May 2004 meeting report, which indicates the Alliance's strategic direction (this document is available as a PDF document; please see contact section, below):

The emergence of Rural Knowledge Centres and info-kiosk movement in our country has demonstrated that the local panchayats and self-help groups can take advantage of appropriate information and communication technologies and that they can easily access the scientific and technical knowledge they need to solve local problems and enhance the quality of their lives, as well as to communicate their own insights and needs back to Government departments and scientists. A national movement of knowledge centres needs to be established in mission mode to ensure quick implementation at the local level, create information infrastructure and locally appropriate and relevant content for rural economy through active involvement of Gram Sabhas, local Self-Help groups and NGOs. For this a Rural Knowledge Centre Fund may be established by NABARD to cover 100,000 villages within 3 years. To provide the fillip the Government of India may provide necessary matching assistance to NABARD to the tune of Rs. 300 crores a year. These NABARD supported knowledge centres should work towards creating sustainable livelihood opportunities, and also serve as service providers and communication enablers for the landless and the poor, especially those belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes, women and the disabled - the most vulnerable groups in rural India....It will be useful if Government can proactively promote public-private and institutional partnerships facilitating outreach of the knowledge centres to cover the unreached villages in rural India. The active participation of this elected women and men members of local bodies crucial for the success of this movement. An integrated use of the Internet and Community Radio will be an effective means of reaching the unreached and voicing the voiceless.

Technology, Economic Development.

The Alliance's work will be guided by the philosophy of MSSRF's Chairman, Prof. Swaminathan. Here is a synopsis of that approach, provided by MSSRF: "His focus is people. He looks at their contexts and needs and then proceeds to satisfy those needs within their context. He is ready to use any technology that comes in handy. For example, in our Information Village (Rural Knowledge Centres) project we use notice boards, public address systems (loud speakers put up in different streets of a fishing village) and a local language twice-monthly community newspaper along with solar (photovoltaic) energy, the Internet, spread spectrum technology and Motorola two-way radio...For us technology is often a mere enabler. What people want delivered is healthcare, education, agriculture, markets, entitlements, credit, and better livelihoods. We work towards achieving the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals]."

The National Alliance is a natural progression from MSSRF's ongoing efforts to set up rural knowledge centres in several villages - efforts that can be characterised as using a bottom-up approach and involving the community from the beginning. MSSRF comments, "These are not mere kiosks. They have become an integral part of the life of the village communities." This work is described in detail in "Rural Knowledge Centres: Harnessing Local Knowledge via Interactive Media Policy Makers Workshop" [PDF]. For a summary of this workshop, click here. Additional information is available on the MSSRF website (click on the words "Special Programmes" on the left navigation bar).

Click here to find out how to participate in a related Discussion Forum entitled "Information kiosks in every Indian village by 2007 - a myth or reality?".