In Baramati, looking for Gurcharan Das’s India (Unbound) or Friedman’s India

Before I came to India, I had finished reading Thomas Friedman’s World is Flat and was reading India Unbound by Gurucharan Das. Naturally, I was looking forward to see technological wonders in India. I didn’t see much of those in Pune (can’t blame - we didn’t have proper planning to see such places) and was eagerly waiting till the 8th Baramathi Initiative on ICT and Development began. The event was co-organized by VVIT and Intel and Intel sponsored our trip to India as well.

The conference was full of exciting papers, presentations, discussions on ICT initiatives which were immensely helpful to us. Often I noticed older participants resisting the new ideas brought by the presenters. Skepticism is nothing new specially when it comes from senior citizens who are not used to new technology. None of the presenters dared to ignore the remarks of the older people either.

VVIT has got extensive ICT facilities in the campus. What is important is that this facility is in a rural area, not in a main city. This eases providing hostels and other related facilities to the students. Sri Lanka also should follow this example. Rather than putting everything in Colombo, the authorities should start IT institutes outside Colombo.

I was yet to see Gurcharan Das’s India  or Friedman’s India though. Maybe I came to the wrong place. A future visit to Bangalore or Hyderabad will show me the high-tech India.

From Pune to Baramati

March 22, 2008

Since leaving for Baramati was scheduled in the evening, we had time to walk in Pune. Though it didn’t bring much pleasure in walking through the streets, we did so since we didn’t have anything else to do. We saw hundreds and thousands of motor-bikers everywhere.

In the evening we left Pune by a bus to Baramati which was 100 miles away from Pune city. We had time to talk to the other participants and I was happy that all the teachers from Sri Lanka were busy in creating new partnerships with other participants. This is a good sign. If these young men can build their networks of people faster, eVillage - Sri Lanka project will be a success. Effective communication is the key to success in the globalized world.

We were passing a hilly area and the previous night’s rain hadn’t reached this part of the state. We passed farmlands on the way. The more interior you go the better the surrounding gets.

We stayed in a small hotel in Baramati. Now we are getting used to Indian politics, entertainment and cricket through newspapers we read. Newspapers are very cheap. You can buy a newspaper for 1.50-2.00 rupees. Back in Sri Lanka a newspaper costs 20-30 rupees!!!!

To Pune, Maharastra

New Year holidays gave me some time to put my experiences in India to paper…er… in blog. Hope you would enjoy it.

March 22, 2008

With 5 teachers from 5 eVillages who were on their maiden tour abroad, I left Sri Lanka by a SriLankan flight. First we reached Chennai and then to Bangalore by Jet Airways and then to Pune, Maharastra by evening. We were supposed to take part in Baramati ICT Initiative 2008 in Baramati from the next day onwards. Had enough time to walk along the streets with the five teachers. Streets were dusty, dirty and smelly. Hope the Indian government take necessary actions to keep the cities clean while promoting the BPOs. Streets in Colombo, though not perfect, are much better compared to those of Indian cities. Even if you take patriotic bias away from my comment, you will still find Colombo is better.

Others were busy calling homes but I am used to the ‘good old way,’ emailing. That helps remain inside my little budget as well. Luckily, Internet access was very cheap - similar to Colombo prices - I would say.

Maharashtra was very dry as it hadn’t had any rain for a long time. But it rained heavily at night. According to the residents, the rain had come after September. Looked like we brought rains.

‘Security isn’t a dirty word’

Manthan Award 2008 goes South Asia

The Manthan Award 2008 for South Asian Countries : to recognize the best e-content for development is launched now. The Manthan Award, after its four years of interventions in India, has now decided to cover South Asian Countries, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Visit http://www.manthanaward.org/

eVillage – Sri Lanka - Beyond a Telecenter

Nandasiri Wanninayaka wanni@horizonlanka.org

There is a lot of talk of taking ICT to the village level. Luckily, there are quite a few initiatives to do this. Many try to do this through telecenter model initiatives. But in eVillage – Sri Lanka project, our approach is quite different.

First we studied the Horizon Lanka’s success model in Mahavilachchiya, our own initiative. Though Horizon Lanka had its own ups and downs, it has been able to sustain itself for the last 10 years or so. The main reason for the sustainability of the project is that its practical approach to the ICT usage in rural areas. Rather than becoming a mere telecenter where internet hours are sold and services like copying CDs, providing telephone calls are offered, Horizon Lanka Academy had long term goals of creating ICT culture in the village and gain a brand name to the whole village, not limiting to the institute itself.

From the very outset I understood that creating ICT culture in a remote village was a too big a task if the children and youth are not given a decent English education. The planning and subsequent execution of the planning paid off well. Today one can find in Mahavilachchiya that the students get A passes for their OL English whereas they get lesser distinctions for their mother tongue. What we did was to integrate technology into English teaching. Internet, email, IM chats, watching DVD movies, doing presentations in conferences, doing live commentaries while sports meets and other events were taken place etc. were warmly welcomed by the students. They found these methods more exciting than the traditional ways of learning a language in public schools. The end result was that English was no more a foreign language to them.

More or less similar strategy was used for ICT education where students could actively participate in real projects rather than learning concepts in theory alone. As a result, today one can find a pool of web designers, graphic designers, multimedia animators, etc. in Mahavilachchiya. Some students entered universities to further their education while some youth directly joined companies in Colombo after Advanced Level to do IT related jobs. Those who wish to remain in the village could join the BPO arm of Horizon Lanka. Growing ICT related infrastructure and increasing number of telephone networks working in Mahavilachchiya were only by products. We did not forget the elderly population as well. Once can find illiterate parents who start learning how to write with MS Paint to the parents who read online local language newspapers before going to ricefields. So there is nothing wrong in calling Mahavilachchiya an ‘eVillage’ now.

We could do all these because we set our goals beyond a telecenter right from the beginning. If we limit ourselves to a mere telecenter, we wouldn’t have achieved this much.

Mahavilachchiya eVillage model is very simple and easy to replicate. This is why the Ministry of Education is replicating the same model with our expertise right now. Visit http://evillage.wordpress.com . There are some other privately owned or community owned small projects in different parts of the country that take Mahavilachchiya as an example.

Through an eVillage, we expect to provide decent English language proficiency, ICT literacy, job opportunities to the community.  Though difficult, we try our best to retain the accepted cultural values of the villages while introducing new technology to them.

Mahavilachchiya Evillage Model Being Replicated Islandwide

I had been involved in uplifting the lives of the children and youth in Mahavilachchiya for the last 10 years. Though we were able to produce significant positive results by producing scores of ICT skilled and English language competent children and youth only few wanted to replicate the Horizon Lanka model in other villages. Instead of following a living example within Sri Lanka, many were keen on finding role models from other countries while some other counties adapted Horizon Lanka model with our support.

It was at this juncture Mr Lalith Weeratunga, the Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka, visited Mahavilachchiya in November 2006. Having seen the children’s talents and how ICT related infrastructure was booming in Mahavilachchiya he was interested in replicating the Horizon Lanka model around Sri Lanka.

Mr Weeratunga was able to get the Mahavilachchiya eVillage replication project implemented through the Secondary Education Modernization Project (SEMP) of the Ministry of Education with the auspices of the President’s Office.  However, going through the Ministry of Education became a hidden blessing as we could directly address the young minds of the school.  The younger ones learn fast and they are ready to change fast as well. The project became a success and within the six-month long pilot project with 5 rural villages in 5 provinces and the project was able to achieve a lot. This clearly shows that if the basic infrastructure and the guidance are provided any rural community in the island can perform similar to urban areas or even better. Now we are in the process of expanding the project to 25 more villages.

EWIS’s support in providing fully pledged computer labs to all 5 eVillages will further enhance the potential of ICT related job opportunities for the village youth as it happens in Mahavilachchiya right now. The communities in the villages will be benefited immensely as well. We thank EWIS for being a partner of this nationally important project and invite other corporate sector organizations to follow suit by giving a helping hand to expand the eVillage project.

Updates from Baramati, Maharastra, India

The Eighth Annual Baramati Initiatives on ICT & Development was finished on the 25th of March. I will publish a complete report later. Right now we are at IIT, Chennai. Yesterday we read the distrubing news of a Sri Lankan filmamker being attacked by the mob in Chennai in Sri Lankan online press. Luckily, no hostilities for us as yet. People are friendly here. Other 5 teachers spent long time selecting sarees to their girlfriends and wives. But I finished my shopping within less than 20 minutes. I am happy that I can make quick decisions - right or wrong.

We visited a primary school in Chennai. We also visited EurekaChild program in Chennai.

From Pune, Maharastra, India

5 teachers, namely Amal Thushara from Nihiluwa, Kalana Dampiya from Mahalakotuwa, Krishantha Lanasakara from Nikawewa, Kumara Ekanayake from Pitakumbura and Weerakoon Bandara from Damahana and I are in Pune, Maharashtra, India right now. We came here to attend Eighth Annual Baramati Initiatives on ICT & Development.

It rained a lot in Chennai (we were in transit in Chennai) and the local newspapers say that it is the highest rainfall in 10 years in Chennai.

Our next transit was in Bangalore. It rained here as well.

We came to Pune, Maharstra in the evening and stayed at a hotel in Pune. Pune was very dry and hot. I doubt if it had any rain during past few months. Alas! It rained cats and dogs at night and we were thrilled too see the refreshing streets.

Three Sri Lankans receive Ashoka Social Entrepreneur Award

Source: The Morning Leader http://www.themorningleader.lk/20080305/news.html

Three social innovators in the fields of veterinary education, technology for youth and human rights have been selected as 2007 Ashoka Fellows.

Dr. Nalinika Obeyesekere (Colombo), T. B. Nandasiri Wanninayaka from Mavilachchiya in the North-Central Province and Fr. Nandana Manatunga (Kandy) are those who have been selected as Ashoka Fellows.

They join the nine other Ashoka Fellows in the country to receive this prestigious international award since it was established here in 2003.

Ashoka is an international citizen sector organisation that invests in social entrepreneurs with system-changing solutions that address the world’s most urgent social challenges, a press release stated. Founded in 1980, Ashoka has selected and invested in more than 1800 Fellows in 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, America and Europe. Ashoka Fellows work in the six broad fields of education, environment, health, human rights, economic development and civic participation.