Addressing integrated rural development through ICT
DESPITE advances in nuclear technology and rocket science in India and Pakistan, South Asia is generally recognized by the rest of the world as a region of promise but still held back by poverty, illiteracy, lack of sufficient economic development and infrastructure in its vast rural hinterland. We have within SAARC nearly one billion people who remain mired in the subsistence level, devoid of sufficient economic opportunities.
It was this matrix that persuaded me recently to visit one of the regional multilateral institutions based in Dhaka. I am referring to the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP). It was a revealing experience. Established under the aegis of FAO in 1979 as a regional, inter-governmental and autonomous institution, its objectives include -- the reiterating of the commitment (political will) of its membership to rural development, enhancing sustainable livelihoods and promoting gender equality. Now it has added on to its agenda the prospect of leveraging information and communication technology for alleviation of poverty in the region. Worthwhile ambitions! However I wish it was poverty reduction and not poverty alleviation. That would have suggested addressing the root causes instead of a general approach in the treating of the problem of poverty.
The area of engagement within the issue of integrated rural development is complex. It has to find ways and means as to how to make the economic growth processes more inclusive by reaching out to millions of poor households in the rural areas. It also has to identify the best means for implementation of special programmes for sustainable development, natural resources regeneration and management, rural infrastructure, rural employment generation, minor irrigation and consequential water management. This process has now become even more multifaceted with the idea of including rural e-connectivity and trying to base it within the paradigm of a gender responsive approach.
The CIRDAP Governing Council recently met in New Delhi and quite correctly decided to bridge the rural-urban digital divide by bringing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the door steps of the rural households. This will be a difficult move given the really poor infrastructure that currently exists in our rural areas. However, it is indeed commendable that the first step of agreeing on this important measure has been taken.
I believe that Bangladesh could set the ball rolling in this regard by promoting self-help groups of women and empowering them through member-based organizations, micro-credit and enterprise based activities. Decentralising the governance system as envisaged within an elected local government structure would definitely help in decision making. This will require greater political will but that should emerge after the forthcoming parliamentary election.
If one looks at countries in the Far East as well as in some regions of Latin America, one will be able to identify easily the helpful changes that have emerged in these countries because of greater usage of ICT. It has helped their rural populations to achieve development goals effectively and enhance the capabilities of their poor to be a part of an emerging knowledge society. It has also strengthened their integration into a market economy, speeded up the production processes and facilitated faster communications between individuals, groups, enterprises, communities and the government.
This process should be of particular interest to small and medium entrepreneurs in Bangladesh and our quest to better market our rural products and to diversify our export based and potential. It will also help improve sustainable livelihoods, increase incomes of rural households, and sharpen product design, quality control and maintenance of standards. It will also contribute towards the creation of appropriate market supply chains and regional networks for marketing through trade fairs (of rural products).
Addressing our poor rural power and energy network will have to be one of the priorities of our next political government. This, and the spread of functional literacy will be required if we are to profit from e-connectivity. We need to look at Thailand, Korea, India and China and learn from them.
As agreed upon by the Governing Council, community access to ICT may be expanded through "successful e-community models such as information kiosks, wired villages, agriculture marketing portals, computerisation of land records, 'grameen' (mobile phones obtained through micro-credit facilities) phones, etc." This will however have to be facilitated through technologies that are simple, cost-effective and user friendly. The effectiveness of this exercise could also be strengthened by using local resources including renewable energy sources wherever possible. I have written today about integrated rural development and the use of ICT to redress existing poverty conditions because of the prevalence of ultra poverty in Bangladesh's rural hinterland. The steep rise in commodity prices over the last two years has also not helped. We have to remember that according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) nearly 40 per cent of our population still live below the upper poverty line and that nearly 65 per cent of the rural population is functionally landless. The situation is further exacerbated through food insecurity (particularly for those living in Chars, in coastal areas and in the Monga hit regions in north-west Bangladesh directly hit by seasonal unemployment), chronic malnutrition (affecting nearly half of the children under the age of five and nearly 40 per cent of the mothers) and disease (compounded even further because of the prevalence of arsenic in ground water resources).
Bangladesh's next political government has to undertake an effective and coordinated response to the need for integrated rural development through both short and long term strategies. Our development partners can help us to make it more effective by insisting on tools that will make the process more accountable. CIRDAP can also lend a hand through capacity building and improving in-house training facilities pertaining to participatory learning methods.
Such a hands-on engagement needs to be put in place especially for the agricultural sector. Development functionaries like agricultural extension managers serving farmers in rural areas, should be motivated to provide not only technical guidance but also to influence the attitude of the farmers and the rural community to accept new habits and practices. That should be possible given the fact that our farming community (as demonstrated over the past two decades) is always willing to learn. CIRDAP should also help tackle, throughout South Asia, the non-income dimensional problems of poverty such as access to education and preventive health care.
This constructive engagement will require additional resources. I know that the international community is presently suffering from an acute financial crisis and a credit squeeze. Nevertheless, we have to find the necessary political will to address this issue. We need to understand that reducing poverty means increasing economic opportunities and better living conditions. That will directly reduce the prospect of disaffection (that contributes towards desperation and antagonism).
I firmly believe that in the long run, containing poverty is a cheaper alternative to fighting the costly war on terror. A rural community empowered by ICT will assist this process. It will help the entire region to move forward in qualitative terms. It will also create a more intensive rural-urban interaction which has recently been described aptly as 'urbanization'. This in turn, will assist in rural development and the enhancement of the productive capability of the poor.
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