infoDev case studies have been added here.

Links to the case studies are below, with the projects objectives and a brief description, or use the navigator to the left:-

ACISAM: To enable members of a community to acknowledge their human capacity and address common mental health problems in order to improve their social, economic, cultural and ecological environment.

The community use audio and video to capture their local problems (on mental health) and feed the outputs back to the community via loudspeakers, radio, cable television.

This case makes interesting use of audio and video technology to empower local communities.  While it is not using the latest technology it is proving how ICTs can give a voice to a community and bring a community to a common understanding of  their problems. 

CARDIN: To strengthen the capacity within the Caribbean community, for the collection indexing, dissemination and use of disaster related information serving as a sub-regional disaster information centre.

This is a network of institutions across the Caribbean using ICTs to archive and retrieve data which is vital to their disaster preparedness planning.

The inclusions of IC Technology brought together a number of related institutions who had previously only weak linkages.  The ICTs have enhanced the overall planning of this disparate network.  

DENIVA: To make use of new technologies to facilitate vertical and horizontal integration of members.  Areas of focus include information management, gender mainstreaming, environment, decentralised information exchange and others.

This case study concerns an NGO network which is using modern media for communication.

This case study demonstrates how ICTs can enhance existing networking activities among NGOs.

Digital Village is an “original” Telecentre.  It was set up to be a resource for the a poor community to enable access to computers for training, information gathering and communication.

FOOD/IndiaShop: To explore whether E-commerce can prove to be a source of income for women cooperatives and non-profits working in rural areas.  Through this to also see if they can train educated unemployed youth to function as E-marketers to promote products online and obtain a sustainable source of income for themselves

The project has explored using “e-marketers” to set up a mechanism for ecommerce of handicrafts.

While the project has made sales through e-channels, it faces many of the challenges of e-commerce faced by the world in general.  The case is an interesting study on how new intermediaries can assist the rural poor.

Global Voices: 1.Globally: to inform Oxfam in its strategic review process so that it could be more effective in alleviating poverty; 2.  Locally: to give people a tool that would give them a voice so they could be heard expressing their concerns and possible solutions on issues that affect them

Born from a strategic review process in Oxfam, this is a case of communities using video to increase awareness among government and their fellow community of the community needs.

This is a case where ICTs have been used to articulate and analyse community needs.  It is an example of ICts being used in advocacy. 

Gyandoot: To improve the efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and transparency of local government through increasing access to services, information and policy documentation by the public.  To enhance the livelihoods of the public by providing better access to agricultural information, commerce, education and training facilities.

After a consultation on information needs, this project has set up a network of financially self standing kiosks which offer various services including gateways into local government

There is considerable evidence that the availability of the kiosks is enabling villagers to access government services far more effectively than in the recent past.  There are clear examples of an increasing transparency.

KUMINFO: To make data available and accessible to stakeholders involved in natural resource management.

This is an GIS information gathering activity on a province wide scale.

The case study offers an insight into the challenges surrounding provision of information from a institution to the local level. 

MANAGE: to groups increase rural farmers access to information services.

Digital Village: to provide training in and access to information and communication technology to previously disadvantaged communities.

As an experiment in information extension, Manage has also set up a network of information kiosks. 

This is another case where the availability of the kiosks is leading to timely and effective local information.  There are clear examples of villagers accessing their rights, to loans, grants, subsidies, information. 

MIGIS: to make a significant contribution to the quality and effectiveness of participatory planning; by introducing the use of GIS and advanced graphic techniques into the PRA process; and, using the images produced in a way that would enhance the presentation and therefore the authority and impact of information collected in and provided by communities in which development intervention was planned.

The project uses computer GIS systems and enhanced graphics to validate and present information gathered participatorily from illiterate and semi literate communities.

The project strengthens participatory processes and gives a voice to the community to government officials.  It is interesting how the use of “computer presentations” can overcome the bias of some officials that the poor are ignorant of their situation. 

REVISTAZO: To provide an alternative communication media source to inform the public about issues surrounding corruption and social injustice in order to promote Good Governance within Honduras.

Using a web site, Revistazo is an online magazine that tackles sensitive political issues.

This case demonstrates the potential of ICTs to inform the public and encourage good governance  

UDS: to help the poorest uplift themselves, in consultation with them, by providing appropriate Information to facilitate development; communication to receive and distribute information; and training people in its practical applications.

A small NGO has facilitated the setting up of centres which offers access to ICTs and training services for small business

In contrast to the Indian case studies where a network of many kiosks was instigated, this is an example of a small action by a small NGO that has resulted in enhancing the opportunities within a few communities.  

Case studies commissioned by infoDev:

Abantu:  Abantu for Development was established in 1991. In 1999 it began an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) component of its work, which was funded in part by infoDev. This work has concentrated on Kenya and has included training various women’s groups in basic software and internet skills, and bringing together different sectors of the business community to produce gender sensitive ICT policy recommendations.

B2B:  B2Bpricenow.com is an e-marketplace in the Philippines. Through this on-line market place farmers, fisherfolk and small and medium enterprises can access market prices and trade products. This can be achieved either through their website or by cell phone.

Split into two phases, the project began by obtaining content for the site from a variety of agricultural and fishery cooperatives and training them to both access and post products on the website. Through free technical support and hosting by Unisys, B2Bpricenow.com is able to offer its services for free. The second phase is focused on getting these groups connected to the internet and actual transactions occurring on-line.

CDI:  The Committee for Democracy in Information Technology, is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization that, since 1995, has been developing a pioneering initiative to promote social inclusion, by using information and communication technology as a citizens rights and development tool.

They facilitate the running of Information Technology and Citizens Rights schools (ITCRSs), by providing the equipment (hardware and software), training of local educators, and local administrative and technical support. The schools are selfmanaged and self-sustainable but are supported and monitored by regional CDI offices. The regional offices were initially set up by volunteers interested in the cause; these offices are also self sustained and self managed. There are regional offices in 20 Brazilian States, as well as in Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Angola, South Africa and Argentina.

Cemina:  Communication, Education and Information on Gender has the primary aim of strengthening women's leadership in community development through internet-radio in Brazil. It was the first project in Brazil that focused on promoting gender education by connecting communities to the internet through the radio.

Radio programme content is produced locally and shared with other radio stations via broadband upload/download. Today 11 community radio stations are successfully using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the production of radio content and programmes and 1500 women from all over Brazil have been trained to date in radio production.

El Proyecto Conexiones:  Conexiones began in 1993 in Colombia as a research project of EAFIT University and the Pontificia Bolivariana University in Medellín, intended to develop new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) -supported learning environments to improve quality and equity of education.

Since its initial research phase, it has targeted schools in both rural and urban areas, without prejudice towards the socioeconomic conditions. To date 75 schools in the provinces of Antioquia, Santander, Bolívar, and Valle del Cauca belong to the Conexiones network, which encompasses more than 1,000 educators and more than 6,000 students between 7 and 16 years of age.

Fantsuam Foundation: The Fantsuam Foundation in Kafanchan, Nigeria is working to give local rural communities access to health and educational resources using the Internet. In the first phase of this project they have worked with local committees to establish three Community Learning Centres (telecentres). One of these, at the Fantsuam office in Bayan Loco, is already financially self-supporting.

There has been strong local demand for training in basic computer skills, which has generated revenue for the Bayan Loco centre. However with no working landline telephone, the centres have been unable so far to offer email or Internet access as was hoped.

The project arranged for over 225 refurbished multimedia Personal Computers to be shipped to Kafanchan from the UK by the charity ComputerAid. These were sold at cost to local NGOs and community groups, and have been widely appreciated. The low cost of these machines has been a major factor in establishing a financially sustainable telecentre. Fantsuam hopes to become Nigeria’s first rural ISP and is in the process of establishing a VSAT connection with support from the US to make this possible.

FOOD:  Foundation of Occupational Development, based in Chennai, India, began the Inter-City Marketing Network project in April 2001 to help poor women in urban areas increase their income.

FOOD worked initially with some 100 existing women’s self-help groups representing between 1,000-2,000 women and their families. An initial survey of these groups indicated that while many women derived a small income from producing goods at home (food products, soap, repackaging of food items), they were generally weak at marketing their products and finding customers. They typically sold to visiting middlemen, and made little profit from their work.

FOOD provided training in marketing and the use of ‘social capital’, encouraging the groups to focus on production, or marketing, or both, and provided each group with a cell phone to facilitate contact between production and marketing groups, and between groups and customers. While the cell phones were initially provided by the project, today all groups buy their own phones and pay for all call charges.

Future Stations:  Future Stations begun in March 2002 and form part of a Rio de Janeiro shanty-town project called Viva Rio. Viva Rio is a very large and highly respected grassroots project that has been working for over 10 years in a variety of ways in the Favelas of Rio. Viva Rio main mission is to provide alternatives and empowerment to youths (men and women) of ages between 14 and 29, who are at a social high-risk situation.

Future Stations are multifunctional Internet Cafes offering training in the internet and major computer packages, they act as advice centres for employment and offer many other community services. They run interactive learning evening classes for young people who have dropped out of school. Viva Rio has a large website containing locally generated information and links, particularly aimed at young people living in the Favela’s. InfoDev directly financed the set up a couple of the Future Stations.

MANOBI:  MANOBI’s ‘Innovative Internet and wireless e-services for the strengthening of Senegalese fisherman artisans’ is a new project started in early 2003. This project uses WAP and SMS technology via cell phones to provide fishermen with up-to-date weather reports and market price information.

In addition the fishermen are able to use the interactiveness of the technology to input fish stock information for marketing purposes, and to log their departures and estimated times of return, so that local fishing unions can be alerted if fishing boats fail to return on time. At the time of writing some 57 individual users had registered for the service (41 buyers and 16 artisan fishermen).

Trust for the Americas, Organization of American States:  The ‘IT: Employment for people with disabilities’ project was carried out for 14 months starting in June 2000. The project used professional volunteers to train both people with disabilities and organisations working with people with disabilities in computer programmes and work related information and technology skills.

A total of 13 volunteers trained 338 people representing 44 organisations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. A typical impact is that one of these organisations, Transiciones, a print shop in Guatemala, has been able to expand its operations as a result of the training. ICT training has given people with disabilities a new opportunity to enter the workforce and to raise their income levels.

PEOPLink:  This project supported the development of the first version of the ‘catalogue generator’ software CatGen, plus regional training, to enable some 165 artisan producer groups to build, maintain and update their own web catalogues of craft products to be used to enhance B2B (business-to-business) marketing.

While E-commerce is no panacea for artisan producers, the CatGen system allows users to create on-line catalogues with a minimum of web or computer skills, and has brought significant benefits to producers, especially in the areas of collaborative product development, liaison with buyers and simple web or email-based marketing.

Although this is still early days, initial sales data is encouraging. Artisan producers who take time to maintain and update their sites, and who actively integrate the web catalogue alongside off-line promotion, are generating B2B sales and finding new buyers. The most popular CatGen artisan web sites are regularly attracting between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors a month, generating sales of tens of thousands of dollars. Since the majority of collaborating craft partners are ‘fair trade’ businesses, who employ low-income artisans at ‘fair’ rates of pay, sales revenue directly supports the livelihoods of poor artisans, especially women, and their families.

RITS (The Information Network for the Third Sector):  This project involves experimentation and application of adequate digital information and communication technologies (DICTs) to contribute to Internet access and effective use by third sector organizations and their networks in Brazil.

Rather than trying to build an experimentation center from the ground up Rits chose to work with the Sampa.org network of telecentres in the low income communities of Sao Paulo. Rits has provided them with technical support, evaluations and sponsorship. Currently Sampa has 10 telecentres with about 2,500 users based in Sao Paulo shanty towns. Most users tend to be women (70%) and 60% of all users are between 13-17 years old.

Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation:  The telemedicine healthcare network began in 1999 in response to the need to increase the capacity among paediatric medical staff in the First Municipal Hospital, St Petersburg.

Through the use of the Internet and the power of digital technology, the Foundation has linked staff from St Petersburg with colleagues from the USA and Europe. This has enabled the Russian staff to send MRI scans and records of their patients to other specialists in order to improve the care management of children living with cancer. Within the St Petersburg area the network has also improved communication links between primary care physicians and medical specialists.

SATELLIFE & Healthnet Kenya:  The Regional Information Technology Training Centre was set up in Nairobi, Kenya in 1999 as part of Satellife’s goal to establish on-going training capabilities at institutions across Africa. It’s aim was two fold. Firstly to train up medical staff from across East Africa in basic IT skills and technical support; and secondly, to sensitise policy makers to the potential value of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the workplace.

Over a one year period over 100 people were trained. In Kenya while the foundation for a sustainable business were laid, other institutional factors have led to an uncertain future. Trainees from Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been able to organize ICT training in their countries and ongoing training of Health professionals can be found throughout East Africa.

SibDev (Siberian Development Net):  The overall goal of this project is to increase the capabilities of small and medium enterprises (SME) in poor areas of Siberia, Russia, to attract investments for the growth and sustainability of their businesses.

This has been achieved through increasing the capacity of local SME support organizations to attract private investment on the Internet, as well as the development of a website dedicated to the marketing of Siberian SMEs. To date, the project has run a number of training workshops, produced a toolkit to promote business marketing through the internet, and developed a project website.

SITA:  Project SITA trained over 500 low-income women from north Delhi in basic computing during 1991-2001, with the aim of assisting them to find work with local businesses. SITA estimates that as of July 2003 some 70 trainees are directly using PC skills in their paid employment.

Overall the project underestimated the significant gender barriers facing low-income women: a shortcoming partially addressed by modifying the course to include work placements, to give trainees experience of local businesses. Although project SITA has now finished, a number of staff are involved in the new women’s e-cooperative, MitraMandal, which continues to train local low-income women, and which hopes to sell services to local businesses on a co-operative basis.

Voxiva: Voxiva, a private social venture, is committed to extending the benefits of information technology beyond the digital divide. At the request of local health officials in Peru, they looked for ways to use existing telecommunications infrastructure to strengthen disease and disaster surveillance and response in Latin America.

Their product, ALERTA, is a disease surveillance application that enables health professionals in rural areas to use any telephone or the web to submit reports to healthcare authorities. This information is then entered into a computer system enabling the health authority to keep track of disease in a timely and up-to-date manner throughout the country and from the data provided generate alerts automatically back to health staff. The system also enables rural health professionals to receive information and help through voice mail, again via the local telephone.

This product has so far been piloted in 76 health facilities located in Cañete-Yauyos zone, approximately 140 km south of Lima, and in Chilca-Mala zone, approximately 80 km south of Lima.