Village Internet Program

Introduction :

Grameen Communications is a non-profit organization committed to poverty alleviation and promotion of democracy. The goal of Grameen Communications through Village Internet Program is the promotion of poverty alleviation measures by reducing migration from villages to cities, creating IT related job opportunities for the rural poor and creating familiarity with computers among the rural population of Bangladesh. 

Background :

Bangladesh has equality in law and freedom of information. Justice and opportunity must be equal for rich and poor alike. Information regarding the government, the private sector and the important daily issues must be available to the all people. At present such information is only available in cities and major districts only.  Grameen Communications (GC) intends to bring the benefits of information technology to serve the rural poor. GC aims to create an open society by involving the rural poor in the democratic process.

Existing situation :

1.	Most of the villages do not have ways of disseminating information as there are no printing presses or newspaper deliver services.

2. 	There is a large population of educated, unemployment youth who know functional English and have college or university degree but unable to find jobs in cities or rural area. 

3. 	The flow of goods and services in rural areas are hampered by high mark-up by village middlemen who distort market conditions for their advantage. The middlemen buy at negligible prices from informal sector artisans and sell at a large profit to urban populations.  This entire chain of events occurs because of the lack of information of the market that both village artisans and urban buyers face. If this void could be filled then the benefits to poor entrepreneurs would generate employment, increase income and purchasing power for village residents.

4. 	Many villages in Bangladesh do not have any connection with the outside world. Local residents do not have access to news about their country, their government, education, neighboring markets, or even about job opportunities.

Benefits:

The Village Internet Program will provide important benefits to rural society in Bangladesh. The theoretical aspects of these benefits are described below.

•	Ownership of modern technology tools
Village Internet Program initially will be operated by Grameen Communications. After the pilot project period, village borrowers will be able to buy cyber kiosks set up within their villages. Thus the income generation from information technology will be owned by village borrowers. Ownership of modern technology tools will provide direct economic and social benefits to the rural poor in Bangladesh. Therefore, borrowers will be directly benefited using the Internet activities.

•	Job creation

The Village Internet Program will create jobs in rural areas. The owners of the cyber kiosks can earn money from selling services, e-mail, word processing, printing, publishing, computer classes through recruiting people. 

•	Reduced the migration from village to city

The lack of job opportunities in villages creates mass migration from villages to cities. However, there are not enough jobs in cities to provide employment to the migrant villagers. As a result most migrant to cities end up living in slums, displaced from their homes and unable to find jobs. Access to the Internet will open many possibilities for employment. From data entry to web marketing. Village artisans will have access to global markets.

•	Reduced the impact of the middleman

Village residents (both producers and consumers) can check current market prices by connecting to Internet server. Village artisans can put their information into the Internet server as a web form. This can be done either through terminals or voice-mail.

•	Human Resources

Future programmers could be nurtured by giving village children familiarity with computers. For instance, there could be gaming hours when children could play computer games, perhaps for a small fee.

Proposed system :

The Cyber Kiosk

The Cyber Kiosk is the basic building block in the Village Internet Program. One or two rooms require for the Cyber Kiosk. The location of Cyber Kiosk will be in a suitable position of a village. There will be several multimedia computers and terminals. Computers will be connected with Internet through DataLink SQ-96P, portable LEOSAT communications terminal. Now the Bengali fonts are available for all Windows based programs, the general user in Bangladesh will not be face any problem in using computers for basic tasks like word processing. Training will be provided for more difficult uses. The Cyber Kiosks will initially be owned and managed by Grameen Communications but eventually would be transferred to village borrowers. Future Cyber Kiosks would be owned and operated by village borrowers who would pay a flat fee to Grameen Communications for computer services and repairs. Grameen Bank financing would allow experienced members to finance start up costs such as computer equipment, staff salaries, etc.

The Cyber Kiosks would sell the following products and services to the nearby villages:

•	Email Facilities

There is a large and growing Bangladeshi expatriate population in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. At present, it is difficult for village residents to contact by telephone and regular mail with their relatives and friends who work and staying in abroad, because of the high costs and long time delays associated with international correspondence. Therefore, village residents could use email facilities to contact with friends and relatives at instant and low cost. 

•	Word Processing Services

Cyber Kiosk users will use workstations to write letters, resumes, college applications, and also use to make documents like newsletters, advertisements and announcements.

•	Printing Services

Many uses can be made of printing services. For instance, using Bengali fonts, which are now widely available, artisans could print out advertisements, families could print wedding announcements and letters.

•	Publishing Services

More difficult word processing work like small newspapers and magazines could be done with technical help from Grameen Communications staff. With Bengali fonts, local newspapers and magazines could be started and run from Cyber Kiosks.

•	Internet Phone Usage*

Village residents could call their relatives who work and live in abroad through Internet Phone. They could avoid high international phone rates and long regular mail delays.

*BTTB still not allow to use Internet Phone

•	Computer Classes

Grameen Communications will initially offer computer classes with modest enrollment fees and will train Grameen Bank borrowers in providing computer training and services to village users.

•	Online Information Services

Grameen Communications will maintain online news sites, computer literacy tools, job search information, national and international job databases, networking services for friends and family abroad and will host online newspapers.

•	Voice-mail Information Line / Bulletin board system

Grameen Communications staff will download current market information about prices for goods and services and record it on voice mail.  Village residents can call in and hear pre-recorded messages clarifying market conditions. 

•	Village Database

Grameen Communications staff will collect data on fisheries, livestock, health, education etc and enter them into a village database. This information could be sold to the government, NGOs and research organizations at low cost. 

•	Web Shopping Mall

Grameen Communications will provide assistance in advertising and selling products made by village artisans over the Internet. This will be done in a manner similar to the PeopLink project. Cyber kiosks will be set up with digital cameras and Grameen Communications will provide training on how to use the web for marketing. 

•	Education

Interactive educational program and documentary videos will be transmitted via Internet. The operator will be trained to facilitate such educational program. 

•	Translation/software development

Software programming will be taught and initially members will be trained on modifying and translating free programs with source code, like RED-HAT linux for the Bangladeshi market and at price levels that are appropriate for the Bangladeshi market. After training, members can venture into commercial programming and translation. Grameen is considering establishing a new company focused on building a software export industry in Bangladesh (as has been done in India) and it is envisaged that the cyber kiosks would be involved in this. 

Cost Analysis :

As per attached file VIP230998.xls
<div style="font-size:12px;"><hr /><p>Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on unofficial pages of California State University, Dominguez Hills faculty, staff or students are strictly those of the page authors. The content of these pages has not been reviewed or approved by California State University, Dominguez Hills.</font></p></div>