In my earlier post, I added a picture of now defunct Ashokamala Computer Center, Kadurupitiya that was once the center of attraction by many including the Chairman of Intel. Please see the video below.

The champion who started this initiative, Mr H A Wickramasinghe, the Principal of the nearby Primary School was promoted and transferred to another school and the project was fading away. Luckily there is a new Head Master in the Primary and he has taken over this project now. But they need at least 10,000 LKR to repair the computers to bring them to working order. The villagers say they can contribute up to 5,000 LKR and expect a donor to step in for the rest. The village is a very small village and one cannot expect them to collect more than what they can.

The project has been shifted back to the Primary School and it will run under the guidance of the new Head Master who is a young man from the same area. Hope the donors can step in to help this project to be back on its feet. We will help them to gain sustainability once they can resume the work. Horizon Lanka will train one or two of Ashoka Mala youth to work as the trainers in Kadurupitiya.

Now Defunct Kadurupitiya Telecenter

(More than) enough had been said and written about telecenter sustainability. The word sustainability has become a mantra for many in the field of ICT4D and I cannot disagree with that as we all want telecenters to be self sustainable within the funding period and continue to exist once the funding is over. But what we have to understand is that we cannot make sustainability the only parameter to measure the success of a telecenter though it plays the biggest role. A telecenter may not be sustainable financially still it could offer a bigger services to the community. For instance, think of a telecenter that offers a substantial educational opportunities to a marginalized community in a very rural area where paying for education or services offered by a telecenter is not the high priority of the parents in the area. The best example I saw was Kadurupitiya http://ashokamala.wordpress.com/ in Mahavilachchiya DS Division. This village has a very small population that mainly survive by slash and burn (chena cultivation) and hunting. The Head Master of the only primary school in the village started a small telecenter (first inside the school and then moved outside the school for a better location due to high demand) with the support of the donors and the project went on well as long as he was there. The project never became sustainable but it served to the children in the area so much so that the students who were very reluctant to attend the schools in the area started attending the school regularly simply because of the computer education it offered. (I heard from my friends in India, the number of primary students attending schools regularly increased tremendously after the government introduced free lunches at schools.) Nobody can expect the telecenter operators in a village like Kadurupitiya to make the center sustainable due to the economic and social conditions of the village but there should be a mechanism to subsidize such telecenters by a good chain of telecenters that make profits. Maybe they can form a central fund and provide some sort of financial assistance to those telecenters that run with financial difficulties yet offer a substantial services to a community. But such a fund should not support the telecenters that artificially set up by e-Sri Lanka project just to reach the numbers (500-1000 telecenters) than doing something worthwhile to enable village communities to use ICTs for development. If e-Sri Lanka could identify existing telecenters and extended some true support in terms of finances, equipment, connectivity and sensible training than what they offer now, those telecenters could have achieved both sustainability and professionalism. But this is the last thing one can expect from e-Sri Lanka folks and the best thing is to form an organization to share the experiences and develop the centers further. This proposed organization should be a totally independent organization and any telecenter (including those struggling once e-Sri Lanka set up) can get the membership. If those telecenters are willing to work with such an organization, making telecenters sustainable and productive is not that difficult. e-Sri Lanka folks should give freedom to those failed centers to get the membership of such an organization and get help to perform better. There are very few good telecenters funded by e-Sri Lanka as well and their experiences may come in handy for a converged approach.

www.digit.lk is an innovative online ICT monthly worth reading and sharing. Please share the news with your friends and encourage these young men who are behind the magazine. Above is a video clip of the young Editor, Gihan Fernando.

I am sure the blogging world already knows about this innovative project to help computer/internet users with tech support in Sinhala free of charge. The link was sent to me by a friend. TechKatha.com provides answers to users’ queries using voice, text, etc. The users can post their questions either in texts or as Skype messages. I have to be honest here that I did not have much time to test all the features the site offers and only tested few and find them interesting. So, have a look at www.techkatha.com and test it yourself.

The Prabhavi Online Radio from Weranketagoda, Ampara has been in operation since 2006. The youth who do this have become professionals now so much so that Defence.lk website has taken an audio clip young Asiri Nuwan Ranaweera did on the LTTE attack on Karametiya, Inginiyagala recently to publish it in its website.

You can listen to this radio station by visiting the link http://radio.prabhavi.org.

The Prabhavi Resource Center is initiated by Ajith Karunarathne, a bright academic produced by this village  who resides in USA now with the help of another young man Nelan Dayarathne of the village.

It was a priviledged for me to visit the village in 2006.

‘e-Villages: Tackling ICT one step at a time – Read my article on DiGIT online ICT magazine. Visit the link http://www.digit.lk/eVillages_february2009

Concept of the eVillage was born in the village of Mahavilachchiya in 2004. Having served the village with ICT and English education since 1998 through Horizon Lanka www.horizonlanka.org, we were looking for innovative ways of expanding our services in a way the ICTs can be used in a wider spectrum, not just focusing the children alone.

We had already taken steps to get the parents of the children involved in ad-hoc computer lessons, field trips, IT exhibitions in Colombo, etc. but we needed a formal and an organized program to get the villagers of all walks actively involved in the ICTs. Endless discussions were done with the staff, Diaspora and local ICT experts to plan out a practical program. It was when we were searching for an attractive name for the planned project, Dr Bandu Ranasinghe visited us and having learnt about the planned work, suggested the name “Model eVillage” for the project which aptly suited to describe the whole concept. Mahavilachchiya, the Model eVillage of Sri Lanka project www.mahavilachchiya.net was launched officially in January 2005 by the Horizon Lanka Foundation.

Purpose of initiating the Model eVillage Project.

The concept behind the e-Village project was to bring about a positive change in the community of Mahavilachchiya, by introducing people to the advantages of ICT usage in seeking developmental solutions. By giving the community access to information like agricultural information, weather forecasts and market information, the villagers can use this to make decisions on harvesting and selling their produce and on job opportunities for example. The access to information from all over the world can be used as an inspiration to the children and youth of the village to help broaden their horizons. We mustn’t forget that ICT will also bring better communication links between the people in the village and those across the country, whether they be friends, relatives or business links. Ultimately, access to the internet, an understanding of ICT and training in these areas will improve the quality of life of the community. The project will focus on enhancing the community by ICT education, providing them an access point to Internet from their homes and ICT centre and other related services.

The Master Plan

There were six main steps for making Mahavilachchiya a Model e-Village.

1. Relationship Building

Before we can begin creating our e-Village, Horizon Lanka Foundation must begin forming relationships with local organizations and people. Having the support of local schools, temples, police authorities, government officials and the local community will be success of this project. Without them, the project cannot succeed.

2. Installation of Equipment

The ICTA provided a grant close to 10,000 US$ that included 5 PCs for our lab along with the licensed Windows OS and Microsoft Office suit. The ICTA also agreed to pay the monthly internet bill and they still continue to do so. The ICTA also funded a study tour to Chennai, India for two of the staff members of Horizon Lanka.

3. Training and Workshops

In order to educate the community, we need to ensure our staff understands what needs to be taught. With the help of IDM, 4 members of the Horizon Lanka team were given “Training the Trainer” courses in order that they will be able to disseminate the ICT message correctly.

Many students already attending Horizon Lanka Academy have been given training through workshops in software packages such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver. They will be able to pass their knowledge on to those who take an interest in graphic and web design and even with the basics of computer usage.

4. Implementation of ICT Educational Plan

Currently Horizon Lanka Academy already has an ICT Educational Plan for its students. They have weekly lessons in all aspects of ICT. For the community, the Educational Plan began with a series of training sessions and workshops aimed at introducing the community to the concept of an e-Village and familiarizing them with ICT usage and its benefits. It is hoped that the community will begin taking a more active interest and at this point, Horizon Lanka hopes to offer them more advanced tutoring and even organize standard training courses for them through some of the institutes with whom they have firm relationships. The ICT Educational Plan will also aim to give individuals specific information relating to their profession, e.g., farming, co-operatives, which may be of benefit to them.

5. Other Services to the Community

i. Multimedia Library

The project provided the community with a multimedia library containing books, newspapers, periodicals, VCD, audio CD, DVD, audio cassettes, downloaded data CDs and other relevant reference materials. The center also provides a service which involves the team conducting information searches upon request. Using both the internet and international resources Horizon Lanka provides this service for members of the community and local businesses. We also invite scholars, researchers, educationists, professionals and donors to contribute to our library by sending any valuable resources that may benefit our research facilities.

ii. Communication

Basic communication services will also be provided. Almost all the fixed and mobile telephone networks operate in Mahavilachchiya now. Horizon Lanka was involved in getting the first mobile phone network to cover the village in 2006. Horizon Lanka provides Internet facility to the village through the main computer lab and through the mesh network. The existing problems in the mesh network will be sorted out shortly.

iii. Digital Photography

Digital photography, graphic designing and digital arts is another service currently provided by the e-Village group. By sourcing contracts from local and international businesses the team aims to enhance the skills base of the youth and provide further diversification of income within the village.

iv. Videoing and video editing

Horizon Lanka has acquired the necessary equipment to do videoing and video editing education within the community.

v. Secretarial services

By providing MS Office facilities, Horizon Lanka e-Village has created several presentations. By using MS PowerPoint and Macromedia Flash clients can be provided with effective presentations to use for their respective businesses. This can be broadened to including typesetting for letters and documents.

vi. Webpage and Graphic Design

Web design is a positive initiative that has already commenced within the village. By taking up offshore web designing contracts, a promising ground for new career opportunities within the village has been created. By gaining new contracts, Horizon Lanka aims to nurture this talent in the community further, bringing further economic growth into the district.

vii. Consulting services

The Foundation is able to share its experiences in taking ICT to rural communities of Sri Lanka. The Foundation can provide consulting services with respect to launching and setting up rural level ICT centers throughout the country in villages that may also benefit from this form of education.

6. Implementation of mesh Technology

Mahavilachchiya became the first rural village to benefit from mesh technology thanks to the Asia Pacific Development Information Programme and Enterprise Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Mesh technology has the whole community access to the internet from their homes. ICTA acted as a facilitator of this initiative.

Horizon Lanka has now helped to furnish over 50 homes with used desktop computers and it still searching for more donors to help families who have saved their half of the cost under Digital Butterflies project. http://digitalbutterflies.wordpress.com Mesh technology enables homes with a PC to enjoy the benefits of wireless internet connection. It utilizes the internet connection already put in place by Horizon Lanka. For details of the pilot program, please go to http://www.apdip.net/projects/ictrnd/2004/L43-lk/proposal. Mesh technology has no doubt become the back bone of our e-village status and will help enhance the educational plan in place by providing families with access, not just one person. Since this was a pilot project there were some technical and other disturbances few months after the commission of the network. We have submitted a new a new funding proposal which has been shortlisted for funding and now the proposal is being discussed to rectify the existing problems of the network. Once the new project comes into play it will not only solve the problems in the network but also extend the mesh internet network to 30 other houses in the village.

Benefits of eVillage Project

The benefits of making Mahavilachchiya a model e-village are endless.

1. Children

The work of Horizon Lanka has already seen success by making village students IT professionals. Public schools in rural areas have poor resources, meaning that subjects like ICT are often overlooked. By providing children access to computers and the internet, they can learn to use these tools to improve their standard of work and stand them in the same ground as students from city schools. Opening communication links between children from other schools will bring about better understanding and perhaps a sharing of resources. Horizon Lanka is helping the public schools, temples, etc. by providing computers and Internet so that more children in the village can benefit.

2. Health care

The Local hospital, doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacies have very limited means of communication with each other presently. This specific section of the community is probably one of the most important. The Horizon Lanka Foundation project donated a used PC to the hospital and hopes to provide Internet access to the hospital if mesh network can be extended to that area too. If the health workers use IT, hopefully it will cut down time wastage, improve record keeping and provide a better sharing of information. More importantly, patients can begin to seek health advice from the internet rather than traveling to see a doctor. We hope to initiate a telemedicine project by combining Mahavilachchiya hospital with a city hospital if there is necessary funding and government help.

3. Banking

The community can access their bank accounts using internet now from their homes. Information on accounts and services can be accessed without having to travel and waste time in queues. Most of the Sri Lankan banks provide online fund management facilities and they respond to queries send as emails, so the people do not have to spend on phone calls and traveling to Anuradhapura town anymore for most of the banking needs now.

4. Information Services

The need for disseminating information quickly is sometimes of the utmost importance especially in a crisis like a national disaster, war or drought. Presently supplying the rural areas with this information has been near impossible. Public information suppliers from NGOs and government can now access the rural communities. Thus the community will begin to feel less isolated and become more interested in what is happening in the rest of the country.

5. Community

ICT in the rural village will benefit the community the most. Farmers now have easier access to wholesalers, weather reports, crop prices, and other relevant information which will facilitate their work at harvesting time and during the year. For the unemployed, access to information from the multimedia library and internet will help them in searching for employment. Gaining ICT skills will be beneficial for their future employment as well. Communication between villagers will be enhanced. With access to the web at home and now the knowledge to use it, families can talk with each other using web mail and IP Telephony services like Skype, all without any cost to themselves.

Horizon Lanka’s eVillage concept is now being replicated islandwide and we will talk about that in the next edition of this online magazine.

Wanni with Kalana of Rewestern Lanka

Visited small township of Tiruvanveli  to see a computer center. After that we started to go to Alamadi  village to see some innovative computer projects. It is disappointing to say that I don’t see much though the organizers boasted of “technological wonders” in these places. Internet did not work and hardly anyone used the facilities. It was a total waste of time. I wish these people do something actually before boasting too much. I am not sure if this a temporary setback though. If that is the case, they should have told us upfront about that. These places are nothing more than failed Nenasala centers in Sri Lanka. Of course there are very few good Nenasalas run by entrepreneurial young men and women though.

This is the last part of my travel report on my first visit to India. Hope to see something more than what I saw during my next trip to India.

In Taramani, IIT, Chennai

With the support and coordination by Prof. Ashok Junjunwla and Dr. Aarti Kawlra of IIT, Chennai we could stay few days in IIT’s Taramani Guest House and see the techonoloical innovations done by Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) at TeNet Lab in IIT. We also visited a public school in Chennai City.

At VVIT, Baramati with the young IT teachers from Sri Lanka

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.