Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Monday, March 10, 2008
Attendees: Leo, Ranjani, Esmeralda, Leigh, Kenneth

Rajugela: 100 families
9 other villages in 4km radius
Riya: 20 km away
1 shop: cigarettes
Land small, inefficient, subsistence farming
-who is the largest land owner?
-how is the land owned?
Mixed ecomony: how do they get TVs, motorbikes, cell phones From Delhi?/dowry
Illegal electricity
Dowry: big issue
-motorbike possible collateral
-help empower the woman: reduce violence associated w/dowry
14-90 year old woman: 300-350 (60 year old woman most active)
School: 5-9 years old
Villagers don’t think outside the box: market efficiencies (cooperatives)
Local temple???
Annie: detailed survey to study
Family: 7 members, 5 children each with 1 year between each
Boys 5 years old +: work with father
14 hrs men work
4-5 hrs woman work
TV: watch from Delhi
How do they get their Tv
Internet connection through tata intercom
Dial-up through cell phone? (2nd generation wireless?? Top of building)
Wifi_ wireless speed
Cell phones: how do they use them: 1 cell phone per family?
What model of funding/airtime
Understand: telecom infrastructure
Financial situation
Commercial opportunities (Delhi: drivers, servants, commercial opportunities, how often do those who work in Delhi go home?)
MFIs (attractiveness of Rajugela)
-what has been most successful?
-what are good/risk free enterprises?
Ten Thousand Villages
Identify skills the villagers already have: focus on this
-since the villagers are resistant to change
Vandita: leverage the banks that showed interest
-there may not be a lot of market interest from the village
Broad purpose: information collection
Survey: willingness to take a loan?
How much money would you take?
Educate the villagers about the interest and principal
Talk to the money lender?
Vandita’s uncle: chief of the village (politician)
Source of info
Know about money lender (hereditary loans?)
Support??? Agent enter through cell phone high end cell phone fully loaded (trustworthy
agent): then self sufficient
Guy sitting at a computer (keep in mind WAP interface: design solution to fit into both)
-then how do you redesign for cell phones (WAP interface)
-open for multiple access
Trustworthiness of agent: verify info
-if the agent makes a poor recommendation, banks won’t pay
him
-agent accountable: then they won’t pay him