Dear GKD Members, This is in response to Graham Knight's suggestion of using the radio as an effective medium of IT transfer to the lesser privileged. We (The Footprint) are presently working with a captive IT services unit of one the biggest electronic goods manufacturers in the world. I have been pleasantly surprised to see the enthusiasm with which a great number of employees and leadership of the company identified with the need to take a simple radio to the rural communities of India. In a very innovative program run in the company, the radio and other such electronic goods are taken to the rural communities as technology used for development.
Therefore you have the simple radio which is rid of its batteries and works on mechanical power - the crank mechanism. The success of the radio is now being replicated and tested with other products. Now this is an example of a conventional IT services unit - of an electronics leader - taking IT and their core competency for the development of the lesser privileged communities. The demand in this case has also been growing, and we are experiencing much the same concerns that Graham has expressed here. What adds to this is that the news of success has travelled and other communities want to replicate the model. Therefore one possible solution is a distribution channel and/or a franchising option down the line that will create employment and build resources for the community and at the same time further the reach of this project!! Any other ideas? Regards, Kiran Menon Founder & Chief Executive The Footprint 302, Crescent Classic 105, Wheeler Road Cooke Town Bangalore - 560 005 +91 98860 34072 Web - www.thefootprintonline.com Blog - http://sustainability.blog.com On Wednesday, November 24, 2004, Graham Knight wrote: > ...Most of them cannot even afford batteries for their radios let alone > having an accessible phone line for IT. Quite important! > > We have been trying to deal with the radio (does no-one count this as > IT?) problem by supplying a means to overcome it - cost $1. It involves > us supplying parts for the poor to assemble the product - preferably > with them starting a business. And it works! > > But every Western NGO approached has refused to help. Possible > explanations will be offered to anyone who wants them. > > However the demand from the South is now growing so rapidly that we (me > with two unpaid volunteers overseas) are becoming concerned. How are we > going to be able to cope if no assistance is soon forthcoming? > > Has anyone got a suggestion? ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
