huridocs-tech Can Global Knowledge bring rural poor into the information loop?

Title: DEVELOPMENT: Can Global Knowledge bring rural poor
into the information loop? By Gumisai Mutume

Mexico City, (IPS World Desk, Mar 01) - For the majority of
women in the rural district of Madhya Pradesh in India, the
forthcoming Global Knowledge Conference to be held in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia appears divorced from their lives.

The four-day Global Knowledge II Conference (GK II) kicks
off in the Malaysian capital March 7, drawing more than
1,000 public and private sector representatives,
non-governmental organisations and international agencies.
It aims to work out strategies to put the tools of the
information age in the hands of developing countries and the
world's poor.

"Directly, such conferences seem as if they do not mean
anything, but in that process there are always some genuine
and dedicated persons who work for dissemination of
information to such peoples," says Janak Palta McGilligan of
the Baha'i Vocational Institute for Rural Women in Central
India providing among others, Hindi literacy classes to the
women of Madhya Pradesh.

"It is through such committed persons that links are
established. We have already established a monthly
newsletter to disseminate such information and also through
which the women's views are expressed."

The majority of the women in the district have never seen a
telephone or television, literacy rates range between eight
and 10 percent and the Internet revolution is still yet to
touch their daily lives.

"This conference should bring in these marginalised groups
into this loop and it should be encouraged," says
McGilligan. "I expect the conference to come out with
realistic goals and commitments, followed by an action plan
for implementing the major discussions agreed upon."

The challenges facing the second Global Knowledge conference
is how to include groups like the women of Madhya Pradesh
among the 275 million who, according to Nua Internet
Surveys, currently have access to the Internet world-wide.

It is widely acknowledged that information communication
technologies (ICTs) - televisions, telephones, computers,
fax machines, radios and the Internet -- hold the promise of
local and global information- sharing needed for sustainable
development and wealth creation.

Just as labour and land were replaced some 200 years ago by
capital and energy as the two factors of production in
industrial society, these are now being replaced by
technology and knowledge as the primary assets of wealth
creation.

However GK II is being held at a time when there is broad
concern that gaps in access to these tools and resources are
increasing, and that the information revolution could
paradoxically become a cause of even greater inequality and
worsening poverty.

The conference is being convened under the broad themes of
access, governance and empowerment.

"Universal access should mean access by all to all the
worlds diverse riches of knowledge and information,
including the knowledge of poor and traditional communities,
not just the universal spread of the 'content' of those
countries at the forefront of the information revolution,"
notes a conference discussion paper.

"In the next 2-3 years, the best contribution the Global
Knowledge Partnership can make to increasing access for
rural and disadvantaged communities is by focusing intensely
on fostering positive policy and regulatory environments for
innovation and private investment."

"Subsidies and other non-market interventions should be used
whenever it is clear that the private sector is unable to
adequately provide the access required," notes the GK II
discussion paper.

The Global Knowledge Partnership is a grouping of public,
private and not-for-profit organisations committed to
sharing information and resources to promote access to and
effective use of knowledge and information for sustainable
development. It emerged from the co-operation of several
dozen organisations that sponsored the first Global
Knowledge conference in Toronto, Canada in 1997.

Among the issues on the table at GK II are:

-- how to target groups of particular concern such as women,
youth, indigenous and local populations, the disabled and
rural communities.

-- how to provide physical access for the under-serviced and
unconnected segments and groups of society to digital
information, data, knowledge, best practices and networking
facilities, in particular through multimedia community
access centres

-- how civil society organisations can use ICTs to identify
needs, utilise local languages, enhance social inclusion,
foster solidarity through networking and other new forms of
social communication and interaction.

But missing from the discourse of providing access to rural
areas and empowering communities are ideas on how to bring
cheap energy sources to them.

"As the price of computer and Internet technology declines,
the price of energy increases and will likely be
unaffordable for many of the poor even if they were given a
generator or connected to a power line," notes Donald Zhang
Osborn consultant in rural development in Mali.

How will the world provide electricity for rural access to
ICTs over vast areas of poor countries far from electric
grids? Should they provide small gas or diesel generators,
batteries, solar cells or pedal-powered generators?

"Can the ICT revolution really reach the majority of the
world's population without a similar revolution in
technologies for decentralised energy production?" says
Osborn.

And while the problems of connecting large continents may
seem insurmountable, island states say they feel left out of
the global picture.

"As part of the global forum such as the Global Knowledge II
Conference, having our voices heard means having to get
behind the flag of the Asia Pacific Region, whose problems
far outweigh that of small Pacific island nations like
Fiji," says Katalaini Duaibe communications officer for the
Fiji Womens Rights Movement. (ENDS/IPS/DV/gm/da/00)




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