Assessing Network Applications for Economic Development
PAE Team’s Objectives Ø Create a survey instrument toassess the impact of technology intervention in rural India ØAdvise on potential applications for village-level Internet terminalsThe aim of the Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI) project is toimprove the lives of individuals in poor rural communities by leveraginginformation and communications technologies to facilitate economicdevelopment. Ultimately, the project’s success will be measured byits social and economic impact and viability, which depends criticallyon the appropriateness of applications provided to end-users. Ourconclusions and recommendations concerning applications are as follows:A price application that posts the daily price fluctuations of certaingoods in order to promote competition among sellers and improve theeconomic decision making of villagers and traders may not increaseefficiency or further economic development; its effectiveness dependscritically on geographic scope and a focus on goods whose prices exhibitsufficient price volatility and differentiation. We recommend a centralweb sitebased price application, with independent kiosk operatorsresponsible for inputting price information from villages in whichmarkets exist. A spot labor market application that aggregates supplyand demand of jobs for clusters of villages holds muchpromise—there are potential benefits from coordinating labormarkets in the area studied. The relatively constant need for workcoupled with unmet demand suggests that there is a significantwillingness to pay for a service that matches supply and demand forlabor in a timely and accountable way. We recommend a bulletin-boardtype labor market application that connects small numbers of nearbyvillages. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iv An agriculture application thataddresses the basic knowledge needs of farmers, providing weatherforecasts and information on farming techniques must include tailoredcontent, given the diversity of crops grown and methods employedthroughout the region. We recommend a local content creation mechanism,facilitating farmer access to agricultural expertise via simple voice ortext communications, or a more robust web-based application.Deficiencies in the current state-provided healthcare infrastructure maylimit the initial impact of IT within local Public Health Centers(PHCs). Instead, we suggest a health care application that deliversinformation and services to villagers directly through communitycenters. Based on villager awareness levels and needs, we recommend agovernment services application that would enable villagers to accessinformation on relevant government programs and initiate online requestsfor necessary government documents. While applications to facilitateeducation (particularly adult learning) may be useful, there appear tobe significant implementation barriers at the school level. Themotivation for these proposed applications stems from several regionalattributes, inferred from local economic data and extensive interviewswith villagers, school representatives, health workers and NGO staffmembers: Ø Many if not most villages exhibit segregation alongreligious and/or caste lines. Ø While some data is readilyavailable and disseminated (e.g., prices of heavily traded goods), otherpotentially critical pieces of information are not easily accessible tovillagers (e.g., livestock prices, agricultural advice, governmentprograms). Ø A majority of all economic activity either directlyor indirectly involves agriculture, and much of a typicalvillager’s social activity relates to agriculture. Ø Amajority of laborers are without a regular source ofemployment—unemployment is extremely cyclical, reaching highlevels during the agricultural off-season.
