[This article is a compilation of the discussion on ‘Spreading the ICT Revolution in Rural India: Experiences and Examples’ that was carried out by the ‘ICT for Development Community in India’ on Solution Exchange, a UN initiative for development practitioners in India. The ICT for Development Community comprises practitioners and professionals from various types of organizations and disciplines, concerned with promoting Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as an enabler for sustainable development and as an alternative means of livelihood, particularly for the grassroots communities of India . Solution Exchange connects the members of this community and increases the effectiveness of their individual efforts, helping them to share and apply each other’s knowledge and experience.]

NASSCOM Foundation, along with Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India (RMAAI), recently organized a seminar in New Delhi on 'Spreading the ICT Revolution in Rural India'. The seminar focused on the need for a more involved debate with the government and the role that public private partnerships can play in ICT for development. The major question that was raised was - why after almost a decade of ICT being applied to development, are we still talking about pilots and scaled pilots, and not of our successes beyond pilots? In order to resolve this issue, Sagarika Bose, Programme Manager at NASSCOM, sought insights and experiences of Solution Exchange's 'ICT for Development Community in India' on lessons that they have learned from attempts to scale up successes in the following two areas: 

1. ICT applications that have centered on the goal of meeting basic needs of agrarian rural communities rather than towards creating an alternative economy 

2. ICT interventions that have helped develop rural communities, right from producers to consumers

Professionals and practitioners from large well-established as well as small organizations who are either themselves trying to create a difference in rural areas through the still undiscovered potential of ICT or helping by being a part of such discussions to bring forth the value and benefits that can be captured through the use of ICT to craft a superior, healthier and improved civilization, participated in this discussion and contributed their views and shared their knowledge and experiences.

Summary of Responses

Scalability and replication of ICTD projects in rural India depend on the right combination of factors like infrastructure, leadership, research, community involvement, strategic partnerships and provision of need-based and locale specific services. With the vision of spreading the ‘ICT revolution’ to rural areas, members shared examples of successful ICTD projects that moved beyond pilots, and discussed how and why some projects have been scaled up and replicated, while others have failed.

Participants mentioned several projects that have moved beyond pilots. They listed social entrepreneurship projects like Drishtee and SKS Microfinance, and projects initiated by corporations like ITC’s e-Choupal, Hindustan Lever’s i-Shakti and Hewlett Packard’s photo training. Members also listed ICT projects in the agriculture sector that emerged from conferences in the late 1980s - DICNIC, AGRISNET, AgRIS, AGMARKNET, SeedNet, and DACNET- and others that provide relevant information to agrarian communities like eKrishi and RASI. Members cited ICT projects that provide services ranging from access to land records, empowering dairy farmers and marginalized women, and for providing information on livelihoods. They pointed out that most Indian ICTD projects lack global experience, and highlighted successful international projects from the Solomon Islands that give farmers access to new technologies, and from Africa, that use the internet for effective communication.

Discussants outlined several factors critical for successfully scaling up ICT projects beyond pilots. They stressed that the planning state must have well-defined strategies, focusing on self-sustainability and incorporating a specific plans for scaling up, along with community involvement from the development stage. One suggestion to ensure scaling up is to roll out ICT projects in ‘phases’ rather than pilots. Further, they underlined the importance of creating a strong infrastructure and using appropriate Technology, including factoring in connectivity issues and regular maintenance. Another essential factor for success is to include research at every stage. Members cited the example of Media Lab Asia and suggested that universities (especially agricultural) and institutions of higher education each adopt one district and undertake all the research and development (R&D) activities for those areas. They also recommended studying businesses like retail, telecom and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), which have effectively penetrated rural markets despite constraints, to apply their learning’s to rural ICT projects.

Along with planning and research, capacity building - especially in technology - of communities by the implementing agency is essential for the sustainability of the project. Based on their experiences respondents felt it is necessary to provide ‘handholding’ to rural communities for quite some time. They pointed out that even corporate ventures require a gestation period, during which the project demands intensive support and attention by the promoters. In addition, discussants mentioned the need for Localized content to succeed in any rural set up in India .

ICT projects in local languages and need-based content related to livelihood security tend to be more successful. Members also discussed the importance of resource generation for replication of projects. Since funding agencies support projects for a limited period and implementing agencies rarely have their own resources, it essential for projects to plan a model that incorporates a mix of paid services and social goods. Respondents recommended engaging the government in a more purposeful way to channelise its resources for making projects sustainable.

Further, respondents highlighted the need for project leadership to be well informed, open, transparent and accountable in order to take projects to the next level. Scaling up depends on the willingness of the leadership to learn and adapt, noting that businesses succeed because of the decision-making capabilities at the highest levels of management. At the same time, they pointed out that leadership is essential at all levels of the project, including those operating at the grassroots.

Members recommended an integrated approach to ICT projects, incorporating successful non-ICT interventions (assuming non-ICT bases are the structure and the ICT interventions are the superstructures) in the areas of health, education and livelihoods. Noting that NGOs tend to understand ‘development’ better, while businesses know how to bring projects to scale, respondents recommended using Public Private Partnerships, with rural citizens as partners. Highlighting the importance of such partnerships, they gave the cautionary example of Kerala’s e-governance scheme and suggested that projects could possibly collaborate with successful business ventures in rural areas.  

Respondents also shared various resources that list relevant ICTD projects, and documentation on mainstreaming ICT to foster inclusive growth and rural prosperity in India . Finally, members noted that not all pilots need be ‘successful’ because many of them navigate uncharted territories, and require testing before being introduced on a large scale. Without learning from failures, successful models do not emerge, and scale does not really happen unless a solution is replicable in the first place. Indeed, it may not even be possible to scale up every project. Respondents concluded that the key to scalability and replication is to share existing knowledge and experiences, and the ability to learn from both successes and failures.