Digitalization is rapidly reshaping global economies and is helping communities build COVID-19 resilience. Digital technologies are now being used not only by big firms but are also being increasingly adopted by smaller firms and local institutions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst and has increased the pace of the digital transformation and there is an increasing need to adopt the emerging technologies to cope with the existing crisis. Studies reveal that countries and regions that were technologically more advanced have been in a better position to deal with the pandemic. There is a need to increase the accessibility of digital technologies and reduce the digital gap to empower the communities in the battle against COVID-19. Communities in rural areas struggle to acquire digital skills that are necessary to deal with the existing challenges. The proposed project aims to sensitize, modernize, upgrade and update the digital infrastructure in rural areas to cope with the challenges posed by the Coronavirus.
Project Summary
Digitalization is rapidly reshaping global economies and is helping communities build COVID-19 resilience. Digital technologies are now being used not only by big firms but are also being increasingly adopted by smaller firms and local institutions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst and has increased the pace of the digital transformation and there is an increasing need to adopt the emerging technologies to cope with the existing crisis. Studies reveal that countries and regions that were technologically more advanced have been in a better position to deal with the pandemic.
There is a need to increase the accessibility of digital technologies and reduce the digital gap to empower the communities in the battle against COVID-19. Communities in rural areas struggle to acquire digital skills that are necessary to deal with the existing challenges.
The proposed project aims to sensitize, modernize, upgrade and update the digital infrastructure in rural areas to cope with the challenges posed by the Coronavirus. The project will help in empowering the communities in the project site to adapt to the changing environment and preparing them for the future as well.
The past few decades have witnessed massive digital transformation across the world and governments are investing heavily towards digital upgradation and technological advancement in their respective countries.
Digitalization is rapidly reshaping global economies and is helping communities build COVID-19 resilience. Digital technologies are now being used not only by big firms but are also being increasingly adopted by smaller firms and local institutions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst and has increased the pace of the digital transformation and there is an increasing need to adopt the emerging technologies to cope with the existing crisis. Studies reveal that countries and regions that were technologically more advanced have been in a better position to deal with the pandemic.
Digital technologies have been widely used across various sectors (health, education, banking etc.) to support us in the fight against COVID-19. All the countries are now developing and upgrading the existing digital infrastructure to face the pandemic and enabling the citizens to cope with the changing times. Many governments are also encouraging companies and service providers to develop innovative tools and applications that can help people to build resilience against the impacts of the ongoing pandemic.
Despite realizing that digital transformation can really help to build the resilience of the communities against COVID-19, there are several regions and locations that have not been fully utilizing the full potential of digital technology. According to the State of Broadband 2019 Report, although internet user penetration rate is 51.2%, it is only 45% in developing countries and 20% in least developed countries. The above figure indicates that there exists a huge digital divide within regions and this knowledge divide increases the vulnerability of people to deal with the ongoing pandemic. There is a need to increase the accessibility of digital technologies and reduce the digital gap to empower the communities in the battle against COVID-19. Communities in rural areas struggle to acquire digital skills that are necessary to deal with the existing challenges. There also is a shortage of skilled people and institutions that can impart training in remote villages.
The proposed project aims to sensitize, modernize, upgrade and update the digital infrastructure in rural areas to cope with the challenges posed by the Coronavirus. The project will help in empowering the communities in the project site to adapt to the changing environment and preparing them for the future as well.
Goal: To enhance the resilience of local communities in remote villages to cope with COVID challenges through digital empowerment.
Project beneficiaries: The project will directly benefit 10000 community members across the project area. 2000 individuals will be enrolled in individual digital training courses, so as to launch their careers online.
Project Objectives
- To understand the existing status of digital literacy of local communities in remote villages.
- To develop a comprehensive action plan for digitally empowering the local communities in the project site.
- To use the research insights to build the capacities of the local communities through training and collaboration.
Project Phases: The project will be implemented in two phases.
Phase1. Preparatory Phase: This phase will focus on conducting detailed research on the existing gaps with respect to access to digital technology, existing infrastructure and status of digital literacy within the community. Basis the result of the research a detailed plan of action will be developed to implement suitable measures to digitally empower the local communities.
Phase2. Implementation Phase: During this phase, our teams will build capacities of the local communities and will impart training on various aspects of digital technology. Along with training and capacity building of local community members and stakeholders, our teams will also build partnerships with existing national and international platforms to facilitate digital growth of the region. The various measures suggested in the action plan will be implemented in collaboration with the local authorities.
Project Activities:
The following activities will be implemented to achieve the project goal and objectives.
Develop methodology to evaluate the following:
- Current status of IT infrastructure in the project area.
- Mobile and computer penetration in the target community
- Impact of COVID-19 on the livelihoods of the community
- Impact of COVID-19 on the local economy of the region
- Digital literacy within the community
Conduct Survey and gather information: The survey will be carried out both physically and virtually and through calls and emails. The survey will examine the following:
- IT Infrastructure
- Availability of resources
- Ongoing projects and schemes related to ICT
- Identification of gap areas in existing practice
Collation of best practises and a comprehensive action plan
- Review the literature and policy documents on digital development in country.
- Review the existing schemes that support digital development within the project area.
- Mapping of service providers and organizations that are working towards digital transformation in the project area.
- Collate best practices for digital development of communities in other regions and countries.
- Develop a stepwise methodology for empowering the local communities.
- Organize national and local level consultations involving Government, Corporates and other stakeholders.
Sensitizing the local communities: Local level awareness sessions will be organised to sensitize the communities about the importance of adopting digital technology for coping with the existing crisis.
Develop digital tool kits and modules: Training modules to suit the requirement of different sectors will be developed after through research and review of ongoing projects both within and project country and Worldwide. Training modules for digital transforming the following sectors will be developed in consultation with experts and subject matter specialists.
- Health Care
- Education
- Small Businesses
- Livelihood
Establishing a Digital Center: Digital centers will be established at block level to disseminate important information related to digital literacy, government projects/schemes and current programs. The digital center will be equipped with computer and consistent internet connectivity. The digital centers will serve as a dissemination unit and also as a training center to train individuals on various aspects of digital work.
Capacity Building of Local institutions and business: To help the local institutions and enterprises in the area, we will be providing training to help them adopt the latest digital tools and applications.
- Training workshops on how the institutes can update and transform digitally
- Advice on minimum required IT Infrastructure for building COVID resilience
- Conduct virtual training for different institutions on how they can access government schemes for digitization.
- Develop and create an online support channel that addresses queries regarding digitization.
- Develop linkages with service providers to help the institutions in the transformation of existing systems.
Capacity Building of Community Members: We shall also provide to 2000 individuals to enhance digital skills.
- Create awareness posters and training material on digital empowerment and opportunities.
- Conduct virtual training activities through online channels and social media.
- Conduct online training sessions for identified youth
- Basic Digital Training
- Soft skills for digital economy
- Specialised digital skills for ICT
- Training of youth to launch their careers online
- Training of older people to adopt to changing technology
- Training on using Online Payments, E-commerce sites etc.
Networking with local and international digital development firms to provide possible digital work opportunities in the area. Our project team will develop linkages with both local and national digital firms that can help the communities to adopt ICT, necessary to deal with the ongoing crisis. Our primary work will be to develop linkages with the service providers and digital firms that can help the institutions and individuals to empower digitally. There are several agencies that can help the communities to cope with the existing challenges and we will bridge the gap between the two.
Engaging local actors and integrating with Government efforts: Government is already investing in digital development and promoting technology to cope with COVID-19. To ensure better accessibility of the services and government programs being offered, we will liaison with the government offices and local authorities.
Project Output
- Baseline report on existing status of ICT and digital literacy in the area developed.
- Comprehensive action plans for digital empowerment developed and published.
- 10000 community members made aware about digital development and technology issues through awareness sessions.
- 2000 individuals trained on various aspects of digital works.
- Communication material developed for distribution during awareness sessions.
- Training modules developed for various sectors.
- Stakeholder consultations organized.
- Digital centers established
Budget Narrative
Project Personnel: 1 project manager to be hired, 1 centre incharge and three community mobilizers to be hired.
Project Manager: One Project manager will be hired who will be responsible for managing the project. He/ She will be responsible for developing linkages with local authorities, national and international digital service providers, and implementing the entire project.
Community Mobilizer: Three community mobilizers will be hired who shall be responsible for conducting the survey and mobilising the community to attend the awareness camps etc.
Centre Incharge: One centre incharge for managing the digital center and also providing answers to all queries of the people.
- ICT material: This includes budget for the publication and printing of material, as the project seeks participation of community members, there will be a need to develop interesting and educative material in form of flyers, booklets, comic books, audio-visual aid.
- Capacity building: This includes the honorarium for the trainer, onsite field training, virtual training setup and training module development.
- Digital Center establishment: Rent for the center and equipping the center with computers, printers and internet.
Project Sustainability
The project will strengthen the inter-linkages between the local actors, service providers and government schemes on digital transformation; thereby improving the present and future resilience of the communities against any pandemics and natural disasters.
The toolkits and awareness generation material will help in making the community more aware about the importance of digitalization and these people will then act as the driving force to carry forward to the masses and the peers. Once the communities have learned the basics of digital development, they themselves will be in a position to update their own skills and continue to adapt to the changing technology. The involvement of local agencies and government offices will also ensure improvement and access to the government initiatives in this direction, as these agencies are permanent, they will help in sustaining the project activities beyond the project duration.
