Communication and Visibility Workshop 21st-23rd December 2014

The communication and visibility workshop held on 21^st-23^rd December aimed at capacity building of the ground team in order to seek better results in terms of information dissemination of entitlements. The workshop was majorly involved seeking inputs from the ground team regarding the IEC material developed so far, updates from ground teams, sharing media tools and discussion on entire strategy/planning of Soochna Seva.

The three day extensive agenda has been designed in a way to engage the team in a successful delivery of a well-rounded training program. This was the first of its kind where the proper involvement of ground staff had made the workshop a successful completion. It has also ensured that the team becomes clearer about the objectives, motive and the whole behind soochna seva. There are 3 main themes of the workshop which were as the key highlights i.e. Major & Effective Entitlements/Schemes, Modes, Mediums and Methodologies and Redressal Mechanism & RTI. By throwing lights to the 3 core areas, not only helped in ensuring effective implementation and proper management of the programme but it has also brought transparency and thereby credibility to the overall implementation.

Objectives:-

• To solicit views of the ground team regarding the audios, videos, Posters and Jingles on government entitlements
• To Share the deliverable and challenges/learning during last 6 months of programme planning and execution
• To seeks inputs on “User interface & information flow of Public schemes dissemination to the end user via a simple mobile application

Expected Outputs/Results

• Better understanding of the programme and its objectives
• Coherent capacity building of the team
• Better utilization of the resources
• Better understanding of the financial guidelines & procedures
• Enhance management and monitoring of the programme

Participants

• Osama Manzar, Founder Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation
• Deepshikha Sharma, Project Officer, Delhi
• Abdul Vahid, Project Officer, Delhi
• Masot Zinkhai, Coordinator-Outreach, Delhi
• Mahinder Singh , Finance Manager, Delhi
• Saurabh Srivastava, Graphic Designer, Delhi
• Dinesh Chauhan, Video Grapher and Editor, Delhi
• Ravi Guria, Script Writer, Delhi
• Mubeen Siddiqui, Photographer, Delhi
• Shah Alam , CIRC Project Coordinator, Delhi
• Moti Lal , RTI Activist, Baran
• Vijaya Roy, IT, Baran
• Brijesh Dharma, District Technical Manager, Tehri Gharwal
• Rajinder Negi, Block manager, Tehri Gharwal
• Muhhamed Isarar, Block manager, Tehri Gharwal
• Praveen Panwar , Block Coodinator, Tehri Gharwal
• Manoj Singh Chauhan, Block Coodinator, Tehri Gharwal
• Manish Chauhan, Block Coodinator, Tehri Gharwal
• Shishir Purohit, District Technical Manager, Barmer
• Javri Lal, Block Coordinator, Barmer
• Om Prakash, Block Coordinator, Barmer
• Narpat Ram, Block Coordinator, Barmer
• Amedaram, Block Coordinator, Barmer
• Sona ram, Block Manager, Barmer
• Muhammed Aijaz, District Technical Manager, Ranchi
• Pradeep Poddar, Block Manager, Ranchi
• Suresh, Block Manager,Ranchi
• Sameer Kongari ,Block Manager, Ranchi
• Rehan Kousar, Block Coordintaor, Ranchi
• Lankesh Block Coordintaor, Ranchi
• Arun, Block Coordintaor, Ranchi
• Manoj Jaiswal, Block Coordintaor,Ranchi
• Nagendra Chaturvedi, Block manager, Guna
• Pawan Kushwaha, Block manager, Guna
• Suresh Dheemar, Block Coordintaor, Guna
• Abhinav Pandey, Block Coordintaor, Guna
• Bhagwan Signh Kirar, Block Coordintaor, Guna
• Naval Kushwaha, Block Coordintaor, Guna
• Balaji Madiq, Block manager, Guna
• Suraj Kumar Saini, Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Arvind Kumar Rao, Block Manager, West Champaran
• Manish Kumar, Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Amlesh Sharma, Block Manager, West Champaran
• Akshay Kumar Anand, Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Prabhu Kumar, Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Suraj Kumar Saini, Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Komal Kumari , Block Coordinator, West Champaran
• Deepak Sharma, Fellow, West Champaran

Day 1_21^st December, 2014

SESSION 1.1- INTRODUCTION

Workshop was commenced with the brief introduction of the teams (head office and ground) followed by the quick updates and learning of the field one after another.

SESSION 1.2- A QUICK UPDATE AND LEARNINGS OF THE FIELDS

Each team presented their achievements, learning, challenges and how they can make Soochna Seva a success. This session was to share a swift update and learning by each team to let know others about their progress and journey so far with Soochna Seva. Meanwhile each team member has been provided with a form to fill called as ‘Pre Assesment form’ in order to check their knowledge level about the whole concept of Soochna Seva and other aspects of it. At the end of the workshop they had been provided with the same form which is been analyzed later. The finding has been shared in the outcomes.

Initiation of giving presentation was started from Barmer District; a glimpse of all has been shared below:

1. Barmer Team

Achievements so far;

Major challenges;

Internal challenges

1. Scattered area
2. Repetition in forms

• Need e-friends and notary

1. Lionising with the Administration
2. Block Coordinator related
3. Community recognition and benefits to the beneficiaries

• Introduction of the modes of new digital services to the community
• Building of self-sustainability

External challenges

1. Need to change Panchayats
2. Area specifications (reasons of new Panchayats committees)

• Inadequate officials

1. Need finance management
2. Require internet facility at block level
3. Expenses of mobile bills of employees

2. Tehri Garhwal Team

Scheme wise achievements so far;

Major challenges/problem faced;

1. Transportation to commute in catchment area
2. Field staffs to walk due to non-availability of roads in rural areas

• Lack of mobile connectivity in rural areas.

1. Don’t have sufficient time to understand the new schemes because of the pressure to achieve the targets.

3. Ranchi Team

Achievement so far;

Major challenges/problems faced;

1. Nexal Bandi
2. Madira Pan

• Election- Code of conduct

4. Guna Team

1. Involvement lacking in social mapping due to inadequate information at village level.
2. Improper direction from head office

• Capacity building trainings not conducted

1. Panchayats shuffling
2. Reduction in manpower in future
3. Connectivity of internet and electricity cuts

• Required monitoring formats at each level

5. West Champaran Team

West Champaran was a sole District of Soochna Seva where activities were commenced quite late in mid of November, 2014 (everything from hiring the team to implementation). Despite of it team put their extra-ordinary efforts and opened the bank accounts of 1118 beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. Now all activities are being carried out in a time bound manner.

SESSION 1.3- DETAILED DISCUSSION ON SOOCHNA SEVA AND ITS VARIOUS ASPECTS  

Explained Introduction, Objectives, Model, Information delivery channels, major targets, and activities of Soochna Seva. In addition of it some formats those are needed were also discussed in details. The formats comprises of Standard application form, MIS, Labharthi card, case study, plan of action, social mapping, Annual reporting format and other format suggested by the team. At long last a plan of action for six months was also discussed with the team, the plan is as follows;

Session 1.4- Financial Guidelines & Procedures

The session was focused on to describe the guidelines and procedures of finance related things using different-2 formats. Finance Officer has explained the proper use of the budget and he emphasized the importance of keeping and submitting the supporting documents and three quotations if amount exceed the limit. In addition to this importance of signing the documents has also been shared. He covered all aspects and resolved the queries asked meanwhile.

The formats discussed include the following:-

• Assets sheet
• Attendance Sheet
• Cash & Cheque Summary Expenses
• Conveyance Form and
• Vehicle log sheet

Day 2_22^nd December, 2014

FIELD VISIT

The whole Soochna Seva team visited the HUB center of Ranchi and Bisa, a village in Garkheda Panchayat of Angara Block.  The visit was made to learn the ground realities and activities are being carried out i.e. the functioning of HUB centre from monitoring perspective, and also to interact with the community. First visit was made to Angara centre wherein computer training program of around 20 girls under CIRC was going on. When asked by Mr. Osama Manzar about the knowledge they (girls) have gained after completing one month period. A joint reply from the girl’s students was that they have basic competencies of computer and internet and can work on Paint, Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point etc. Interaction with girls learning Basic Computer Course (BCC) has pointed out that most them travel 4kms away from home for learning BCC and most of the girls are in 8^th standard. In addition to this women aspire to learn computer as they realize that computer skills are required everywhere nowadays for any work. Out of 22 girls 4 had mobile phones. They are using it for Bluetooth data sharing, song downloading, Facebook and Whatsapp. The first basic computer course in Angara had 55 trainees in 1^st batch and 2^nd has 35 trainees.

Under W2E2 (Wireless for Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment) 7 women has already learnt computer. For their further enrichment of the skills been provided to them, can be involved in soochna seva or either can open up another W2E2 center but for that following needs to be provided:-

• Computer
• Digital photo camera
• Passport size photo printer
• Simple Printer
• Revision of Computer training

Observations/Reflections:

• Majority of the people in the village has Aadhar card and Voters ID card.
• Need training for trainers.
• Most of the people in the village have opened their bank accounts under PMJDY through Soochna Seva, though they do not have much knowledge about what Soochna Seva is.
• The village has many wall paintings with Soochna Seva phone number.
• The community does not have much knowledge about government schemes/entitlements

Suggestions:

• Broad vision of Digital Empowerment Foundation in the context of CIRC and Soochna Seva should be shared with the community as a whole.

• At all Soochna Seva Kendras resource related documents should be available physically.

• It has been seen that wall painting are very prominent in the area so it can be adopted as a tool in all future interventions.

• After the discussion with the community members, it has been noticed that the there was a gap in the interaction due to language barrier.

• Quality interventions are required which can only take place through the involvement of stakeholders. No internet connection yet, therefore should provide broadband connectivity. Broad band should be taken in the name of the local team and the ground team has to take approval of the scheme they are taking forward. And not to be taken in the name of DEF as there are too many formalities if taken in organizations name.

SESSION 2.1- BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF MEDIA 

Presentation on Basic understanding of Media (Videography and Photography) followed by open discussion- Difficulties to understand media tools i.e. Jingle, Text, Audio, Video, SMS and Poster. Also includes screening of films for promotion of Soochna Seva. Beti Bachao, Sharva Shiksha Abhiyan, Pradhan Mandri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mandri Gram Sadak Yojana, Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, MGNREGA and Soochna Seva Introduction film. A discussion on correct lighting and composition in photography also took place so that ground team can take a good quality picture which can be further use for other purposes.

Suggestions:

• Media tools should be in local language like Marwadi, Garhwali, and Bhojpuri etc.
• Should have a universal toll free number and the same should go in all the media tools.
• Name of the concerned department should be added
• All the centrally sponsored schemes should be customized as per the states criteria.
• All videos should have signature view
• The starting of videos can be healthy like in all the videos it is going sad which is not appropriate.
• Special focus should be given on the schemes meant for SC/ST/Weaker sections of the community.
• Role play can also be used in the videos, which means rather than showing the scenarios it can be dialogue based.
• More details should be added and special focus should be given to the benefits of the schemes.
• Right based videos should be made i.e. Right to Information, Right to Education etc.
• Quality of Branding/Tagging of Digital Empowerment Foundation should be the first priority
• Need to get a memorable phone number for Soochna Seva so that people can easily remember & call.
• Ground team can help contribute by giving voice over of the language they want
• Digital camera should be provided in each center.
• Digital photo printer should also be provided to save time and money

SESSION 2.2- INFORMATION AND ADVERTISEMENT

The session was very short, basically to draw inputs/suggestions from the ground team about the posters designed so far, so that changes can takes place at the very first level.

Suggestions:

• The poster of “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” looks like branding poster of Soochna Seva so it needs to be changed.
• Name of the entitlement/scheme should be reflected in all the media tools.
• Text size should be increased.
• Actual photographs of the beneficiaries can be used after taking their prior concern.

SESSION 2.3- MAJOR AND EFFECTIVE ENTITLEMENTS/SCHEMES

This slot was meant to showcase the Citizen Entitlement Database from various states to serve the information needs of the beneficiaries. The aim was basically to share the detail of the database developed and complied for citizen entitlement schemes at Pune in May 2013. It included covered, beneficiaries, no of schemes from 14 states, delivery platforms, typed in state languages, Major Subjects/Departments.

SESSION 2.4- BROAD OBJECTIVE OF DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION AND ITS VARIOUS PROGRAMMES AND HOW THEY ALL ARE INTERLINKED WITH EACH OTHER

The idea to organize this meeting has been given by Mr. Osama Manzar to meet the whole staff of Soochna Seva, and this is the first time happened when a big chunk of people have hired and he has not met them all. Mr. Rajender Negi, Moti lal and Rameshwar Prasad are very old friend of DEF and he always believes to meet the person personally to build good relations in order to work better in the future. It is always better to meet people because it helps in connecting to them to see their perspectives or thoughts. From the last one year there is sudden hike in the people hired and from the times when there used to be 9-10 people in the whole family, current strength of DEF is approximately 250 people. It is always easy to connect, talk and learn from the villagers and very difficult to talk to people living in the urban cities.

The session was to know if the Soochna Seva staff is aware about the vision and mission of DEF. Before 12 years, on 16^th December DEF has been registered. Mr. Osama used to run a software company (Hindustan Times website has been made by him), also he worked as writer in some Technology Magazine.

Before starting DEF one thing has been understood that the people in India are not poor because they do not have money but information poverty is the main reason which ultimately leads to poverty of thinking. Since years group of people are coming from other countries with the mindset that they will think and we will work, which puts end to the capacity, capability and power of our mind. We only left to implement their thoughts and processes; it used to be the trend where people are coming to India to rule the country, now it has become embedded in our life style and blood.  In old times write and read was the only medium and it is being said that 70 % of the people in India is illiterate, although it is also said that around 57% of the population is literate but they are not functionally literate. Like the women during the field visit, they can sign but they cannot understand and read the things, but when you will talk to them they can talk easily which means Pen and paper is the medium, if you don’t know how to use it then you are illiterate. It is because of the medium of Pen & Paper we have been called ‘illiterate’ but the fact is we have a vast amount of knowledge and we do not know to pen it down. In this case the people are said to be knowledgeable illiterate, when your knowledge does not counts if you can’t read and write.

From last 10 years this so called medium is changing and now digital mediums i.e. Mobile, Computer, IT, and whatever you are writing on paper you can write it digitally. We are now trying to learn that medium so that we will not be called as digitally illiterate for the next 100 years. It has been understood that now we need to learn this medium through which we can get all the information and provide the information to others as well. When we are saying Information it does contain text, content, knowledge, videos, money, schemes, entitlements, jobs, accounts, banks etc. everything is there. These days money (information) is flying which means the money can be transferred online, so it has become necessary to have the knowledge of this how it can done so that we can save our money from getting steal. Secondly because of this medium the whole world is coming to us and selling the information to us. Example of PEPSI can be taken, though we are not the inventors of it these days we can see the hoarding of PEPSI anywhere if visit any village or any corner of city. This information of this sweet water has been inserted in our asses so gently on the other hand our knowledge/information of making Sharbat, Amla, hand woven cloth, Khadi, a house which is cold during summers and warm during winters is not going anywhere because we are not making  it but we are taking others wrong information. That clearly means we are always purchasing the goods from others so we need to sell the information so that others can buy. The concept of Global Village says that all have united but it’s not the case, we have become united according to them, if they will also buy from us that mean a real global village for us.

The other aspect of it is like India there are so many other countries that are under developed (Africa, Latin America) have vast amount of knowledge so we have a sole responsibility to save people from using wrong information, to get sick after having their medicines. For example these days Google search engine has become so common in use if somebody ask for any kind of information we are like totally dependent on it, don’t care if it is validated or not. Ultimately we are dependent on them for any kind of required information.  If we will not take part in disseminating our information/knowledge so how people will be able to search ours in that common library that means we are not available and ultimately we are totally out and vanish (The availability of Indian knowledge is not present in the world markets because Americans have established their position in such a way that a common man have lost his conscience of what is actually happening). If we want to have an existence in the world for the next 200 years, an urgent planning is needed to make our own identity by our own knowledge and power that is what not happening at all. Constantly we are in a situation where no knowledge exists and which ultimately result to the deprivation of scheme information. Taking the benefit of the same a Middle man will jump in between, deliver whatever he have and he will get paid for it too.

“A Bisleri Bottle worth ₹20 and it is mentioned over there on the bottle the maximum retail price, the big shops and hotel are selling it on higher prices which is not legal but we are not aware of the information that we can file a case against them and he can be sent to jail for this”

This is the reason why DEF have been formed, the whole game is not about technology but the Information flow & it should be equal from yours and ours side. Exploitation of equality will be considered if it is one sided. We have been brought up in such culture, environment where we are habitual of taking not struggling to distribute the information. Business plays a very important role in breaking in the rule of equality like MNREGA brings equality as it gives you some kind of work form which you get money. Same in case of RTI says you have a right to all the information you want to get, this is the reason why it is pain in the necks of government official, because ultimately it brings transparency and transparency brings equality. Business players do not want this to happen, as per their policy only one man would be given power to take decisions who will sit on their head top. Power is something which makes a common man becomes offensive and exploitive, so every should have power but we need to understand the limits and control over it.

Within the organization of 250 people it is very easy to manage people with the help of power but being equal and manages the things well is something very hard to adopt. Our DNA had been encoded with this information that it is mandatory to be inferior and let the elder superior, respect them whether they are right or wrong. Gandhism philosophy is something very well known by each and every citizen of the country but if you will ask somebody they follow their thoughts nobody will say yes.  Internet use has reached to the level where one can get and share any kind of information to anybody; social media has become a biggest tool of internet. Nowadays people are so active on social media this is the reason why the government and politicians are very much visible on Facebook and Twitter like mediums.

10 year work of DEF never formed this thought that technology can change the world; it is basically a short cut tool to bring development, equality at one place in order to cross any hurdles/barrier. Soochna Seva comes under one of the programme of DEF dealing with one of the issues and concerns. A package of programmes run by DEF can bring a drastic change if done in a manner to impact the larger number of audience. Inequality has taken a very integral part of our brains which is resisting us to think about a common man who does have a house and struggling hard for a single meal. Even in the construction of roads the same thoughts and perceptions can be seen where the design of roads has been made in such a way that no separate road for pedestrians or cycle users are there.

World has come to the point where rich are becoming richer and poor are becoming more poor. There is so much of inequality and inaccessibility of information prevailing continuously in the society. It is very important to understand that the term equality what actually means? Does it mean treating men and women equally? In our society women have not been treated equally to men and the basis of discrimination is being calculated as per their work responsibility/daily chores.  Equality is directly linked with justice; both should complement each other in a way to bring change in the mindsets of the society of equal rights and equal opportunities. When a man is talking about equality that means he has a feeling of justice in himself and vice versa. While connecting to DEF one should have a feeling of equitability in terms of religion, caste, class and gender. Every individual irrespective of caste, class & gender should get a chance to step out and take part in the all kind of social activities. Establishing soochna seva kendra is not the main objective but it is just a weapon of information used to fill gap the between awareness of information and access to the information. It has been clearly understood that how a business of information is being used to violet the rights of people specially the deprived sections leading to dissemination of faulty information. In addition to this if you think on higher level than rest of the small things does not mean you. Do not let the problem over power you, there are some people who will make you see the problem huge and some people are very calm as if they have nothing to say. In this case one is giving chance to let the problem overpower him/her and other is not doing so.

The diversity of DEF lies in the work areas covered within different components of the development sector to maximize the impact. If we think about India or any village of India subdivided in 4-5 main pillars and the government never dare to attack or affect them. ‘Government/Governance’ is the first pillar used to run the country accordingly. Second one is the ‘Social Sector/society’ being run and represented by all Non- Government Organization and Panchayat has been run by Government.  And the 3^rd pillar is ‘Market’ or ‘Business’ not being run by the stock market but actually it is being operated by the Micro (Company of 1 0r 2 people) and Macro enterprises. This is the reason when a business crisis happens it does not affect India, because the economy is being run by the small-small enterprises.  The real stock markets contain the maximum number of micro enterprises.  Health is the other major pillar which is measured in terms of IMR and MMR i.e. the no. of new born died at the time of birth and the no. of new born died after the birth. The situation of our country is worse than the African countries, and which indicates the scenario of the country whether it is developing or under developing. ‘Education’ is one of the huge pillar can be called as schools from the perspective of India. Last is ‘Access’ in terms of availability of infrastructure which is something crucial to change the world. For e.g. internet has become such a useful thing these days, if you get the access/connectivity of it you can be the real change maker.

(A diagram showing five pillars & focus areas of DEF)

Therefore basically DEF have focused these 5 pillars in order to impact the larger audience. How it can be understood? For e.g. we won’t be able to make individual impact on each and every person a village and we know at village level Panchayat bodies works. Therefore if you are capable enough to improve governance at village level i.e. Panchayat; you can cover all 28 subjects of water, sanitation, electricity etc. can bring in place because the flow of money takes place from this end. We are not talking about impacting individuals we are here focusing on a system that works at every level of government. According to the registration department in India it is to be said that for every 450 people there is 1 working an estimation of total 33 Lakhs have calculated. Let’s say if 10 % of them are working well or we make them digitally literate it bring pressure and transparency to the social sector and parallel to this governance will start working properly. For that reason DEF is making the social & governance sector stronger by generating the website of Ngo’s, Panchayats; and it has not been intimating that it is a process of bringing transparency to the system which can result in controversies. The condition of market is worse than Ngo’s which assumes to be another big sector because of the existence of small enterprises in high numbers around 26 million (In the rural areas it has seen that there are so many vegetable sellers, who struggle a lot for one time meal). And these millions are there to sell their products & services but fail most of the time due to inaccessibility or no connectivity they have. However there is no address or any other information displaying anywhere else to these tiny companies which makes them deterrent to show their existence in the trade world. In this digital era email address or contact numbers has become so useful and helpful credentials like if a person has opened a new company he/she will promote the company through those credentials only.

Scenario of Health in rural areas has been calculated by around 20 lakh Anganwadi’s being run by ASHA worker in contrast to this, these workers are not able to work properly which is again not a negligent situation. The reason is government bodies i.e. PHCs, CHCs, Dispensary are not functioning the way they are supposed to because nobody wants to work in villages, consequently overloading the ASHA workers. Health sector is also being run like a business hub hence their purpose is not to provide good treatment but they want you to fall sick again & again and keep their business functional. If we get success in connecting these PHCS and CHCs to internet and the doctors can only guide what we should do or  what should not do, through online mediums we can assume that our 90% of problem will get resolved i.e. preventive health.  Preventive health is taking precautions beforehand so that you do not get ill for e.g. washing hands before and after eating, washing fruits and vegetable properly. In here health sector is being managed by business cycle that teaches you to get you sick and then prescribing and selling medicines. Therefore it has also become mandatory to cover health as sector by providing access to internet services, which will in turn bring change without even becoming a problem.

Status of Education is also like same with 90% drop out rate in 10^th class, that means if we have a population of 100 children and these much perhaps take admission to school but only 10 of them continue after tenth class. In India, the amount invested on Education is very small, the reason is if each and every citizen will become literate most of the problem of the country will get solved as education will bring equality. Thus DEF has targeted schools not the colleges & university because the loop holes remains in the roots of primary and secondary education. Now the road towards success remains in the providing access. Here meaning of access has become different and can be defined as crutches, the power of which lies in the information/knowledge, is not an endowment or donation it is our right. To be informed is the right of every citizen which should be exercised by all of us. It should be become the mandate of all of us to get internet or broad band connectivity to reach every corner of the country. Once we get access, we become empowered enough to solve problems our own of Food, electricity water and other social issues to.  This is how DEF’s system are put in place with different programs like one if Soochna Seva. The Ecosystem of the organization has been created in such a way that CIRC and Soochna Seva can reach to every village which in turn will provide accessibility of each panchayat, Ngo, school, PHC’s, CHC’s and micro enterprise. These days corporate are contacting to open up centers in a village that too because they want to invest their 2% revenue for a social wellbeing under CSR norms.

But the mandate of DEF lies in providing accessibility, literacy, empowerment, equality, digital penetration, positive thinking and capacity building of all the districts, blocks and with 2.5 lakh panchayat of the country and if needed villages can be targeted. Besides this DEF wants to expand its ecosystem within every household by providing those resources and accessibility and it can only be done with good intentions of non-exploitative approach, non-violent, thought equality. So this is our mission, to cover governance sector we have ‘Digital Panchayat’ programme under which websites of panchayats has been developed. Think of the power of information we will have when all the 2.5 lakh panchayats will have their websites displaying their data/information to the world which in turn will bring transparency to the overall system of governance at village level. On the other side the scenario is panchayats have zero presence online, there is no information on panchayats or their name, work done by them, elected member etc. In one panchayat there are 12-15 members that means approximately 30 lakh people has been elected through these panchayats only & almost all are digitally literate. To bring them online will cater the need of digital literacy, connectivity, transparency and therefore accountability. And gradually all the information whether it’s a scheme/entitlement, villages, or any programme can be looked by anyone.

‘E-Ngo programme’ targets another pillar wherein development of Ngo websites has been carried out. There are so many Ngo’s working at village with no recognition of their honesty and work since years, and also the knowledge gathered by them. Under this programme DEF is trying to bring up this kind of small organization online so that their data social knowledge can be shared with the world  and it would be very unfortunate if does not happens. Till date DEF has brought 3,000 Ngo online without any charge and 80% of them has got renewed and updated with data limitation for which they have paid an amount of Rs. 3,000 as a fees. Hence it will make any organization transparent, help in raising fund, sharing of information. DEF has become enough confident now, can be worked in any location now this is because of the contacts/network we have formed in the social sector through the digital approach.

In the sphere of Health DEF has not worked much except in Baran, Rajasthan (with Sankalp) and connected a hospital with the community. DEF is more likely to cover this sphere at policy level, to bring out changes in the policies through its full renovation. Another sphere, Education is again not much being explored by DEF, except providing digital literacy to the students of those nearby schools where CIRC & Soochna Seva are working. Besides this DEF is also trying to bring schools online, to provide broad band connectivity & IT Lab, all this to be included in the agenda. Gradually 14 lakh schools will be connected to internet and consequently the entire school teachers will become digitally literate.  CIRC has been serving as a small DEF in the villages and that need & access to have digital tools is been fulfilled by these centers only. Different forms of CIRCS are there, functioning as per the requirement & need of a particular area i.e. 25 Soochna Seva centers, 3 Digital Library (Funded by Gated Foundation), DCIRC (funded by Vodafone Foundation). Digital library has been opened as a counterpart of district libraries which are now converted into heritage houses and dilapidated because of the constant ignorance by the district bodies. Thus under this programme these libraries has been digital part, IT aspect has been manifested with 10 libraries as of now and 50 more are going to be adopted. It has been decided to equip all the libraries with digital resources for which corporate sector will be asked to adopt any one libraries and provide fund for the same. Slowly the penetration of such kind of libraries will accrue and give a sensation of their second home where you get some knowledge/information every time you visit. On the other hand Soochna seva is also serving the purpose of a library, containing repository of schemes/entitlement and the ground is acting as the library or soochna sevak.

Lastly, access is being covered by the ‘Wireless 4 Communities’ programme wherein providing internet connectivity is the sole purpose through free spectrum. In total 10 W4C’s are present in different locations & out of those Guna District (Madhya Pradesh) is the largest hub.  Moreover in future DEF can be function as ‘Rural Internet Service Provider’ through this approach. Furthermore ‘National Digital Literacy Mission’ making people digitally literate, E-heritage include promotion of heritage sites by making their websites which in turn will enhance tourism For e.g. once upon a time Ranchi used to be the Kashmir of east, very and few are aware of this because it has not been promoted. Same like tourism Entertainment can also be sold, which should not be considered as luxury it is actually a necessity, in fact every person want to get entertained. Like in urban cities there are many sources of entertainment such as cinema; in contrast to this is nothing in our villages. But these days it is possible to get a source of entertainment like YouTube in villages through internet connectivity.

Hence the significance of overall discussion can be concluded in a way that anyone can make contribution to the work of DEF in some way or the other for e.g. by making the websites of the panchayats; micro enterprises; heritage sites; schools, promote e-commerce digitally, run a small CIRC etc. Being a Non-Governmental Organization, we cannot work like government, corporate or any other private sector so the scale of impact of ‘Positive Thinking’ & ‘Bring Change’ in the society. A lot of scope is there to enlarge the network here, in order to impact a larger audience with a good will.

‘Technology is the supremacy of Humans not humans are being controlled by technology’

SESSION 2.5- MODES, MEDIUMS AND METHODOLOGIES

The session contained showcasing of one of the medium i.e. “MERA APP-User Interface”. The teams have been explained about the usage and functioning of MERA APP and given the prototype to discuss among them how the overall concept of this application can be more effective from the perspective of beneficiaries. Discussion among team members went on descriptive and enthusiastic too for 30 minutes the result of which some of very practical inputs were generated. After the long conversation each team has presented their suggestions for the better development of MERA APP.

Suggestions:

SESSION 2.6- SOOCHNA SEVA A COMPONENT OF CIRC

A detailed discussion on Community Information Resource Center and how Soochna Seva is a part of it went on more interesting when the Soochna Seva ground team has started asking their queries. The session started with a basic definition of CIRCs; are digitally enabled community resource centers run by and for the Community to ensure bottom up empowerment through information & ICT services. Various other aspects of CIRCS have also been i.e. Literacy Information, Capacity building & skill development Entrepreneurship & livelihood generation Services (internet, computer, and social media) Social togetherness Campaign & advocacy has been discussed.

The objective of the session was to inform the team about the main components of CIRC (Digital Literacy Mission, Digital Panchayat, eNGO, W4C, Citizen Media Network, Soochna Seva) and how they functions as a whole big programme.

Suggestions:

• Should have Common E-Mitra Kiosk
• Sharing of Success stories
• Model of CIRC should also be shared with all the Soochna Seva Kendras
• Stories of Citizen Media Network should be shared with Soochna Seva
• Shishir Purohit would work for Digital Panchayat in West Rajasthan
• One CIRC official should be deployed at all the Soochna Seva Kendras
• W4C requirement by Shishir Purohit.

Day 3_23^rd December, 2014

SESSION 3.1- REDRESSAL MECHANISMS AND RTI

In depth discussion on RTI majorly focusing on its most important clauses which can be used by the team has been discussed. This exhaustive discussion on “Right to Information Act 2005” and National Campaign for People’s Right to Information had taken its right path when it got merged into the concept of Soochna Seva.

RTI importance of information and the use of RTI Act is the main agenda of the session. The core reason behind inequality between the rich and the poor is because of the lack of information and corruption remains the same at every aspect. RTI is a must, which ever benefits that are laid down for the poor are not reaching them because the “Soochna” or information is not reaching them. If we talk about a poor man he has nothing but the only weapon for him is the Information or Knowledge with power of unity, once they know their rights and gather to fight for their rights.

The first movement in Rajasthan ran was totally agreed with the fact that a marginalized first need to be educated or informed, then make organized group of the people for the same cause to fight for their rights in order to put a step forward in the world of development. A Beautiful video has been developed on this whole movement of RTI, how it has emerged in order to showcased it to the parliament and the committee who has been assigned the task of drafting this act. (To see the video please click the link:)

Once the right information reaches the right people at the last mile the middleman will be completely abolished. There are two most important elements for equality, which are right/valid Information and the other is people’s union/organization to fight for their rights in unity. The voices of a group of people are stronger and more effective than an individual’s voice.

In Rajasthan Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and Aruna Roy lead a ‘Andolan’ or ‘Movement’ cum rally on RTI and MGNREGA/ employment Act. After a long fight there was a committee formed in the parliament for RTI. It is the right of the people to have the correct information they require. In every department there are Information officer and it’s the people’s right to take the required information from them. For every RTI application that is submitted in any government office the person will receive a recite. Without this recite the application is not valid. In RTI Act it is clearly stated that an individual will receive his/her information within 30 days of their appeal for RTI. If the information is not received within 30 days the person can send an application to the commissioner mentioning the date of the appeal, and for each day 150 Rs. fine to up to 25,000 Rs. will be imposed. Unity is very important to make the peoples voices heard. A voice raised by the union is much stronger the voice raised by one, therefore more such union for the people should be made.

There are many dangers that also arise for the person who strongly fight for/ ask for his/her RTI. For this, Whistleblower bill has been passed in the parliament, and when this bill is made into an Act there will be a proper guideline as to how the government will give protection to the person who has demanded the RTI. At times some people send their RTI application to the wrong department; it is the responsibility of the information officer to send the application to the right department within 5 days.

One important right given to the beneficiaries in MGNREGA scheme is that there are social audit within every 6 months of the financial year. In this social audit the expenses spent on the workers are tracked to see that the money is spent in the right way. And every bill and expenses within the 6 months are made online.

Motiji said that corruption happens when people allow it, when poor people fine that there is nobody to help them fight for their rights, they agree to work under less payment because they have no other means. In such cases union and civil societies have great responsibility to fight for and stand up for them. Everything about MGNREGA is made online. In Rajasthan making use of this information civil societies have started looking into the proper workout of the scheme, and for insuring the benefits reaching the people without corruption.

Osama Manzer also mentioned that the people are demanding for the information from the government because the government themselves are not pro-active enough to give out the information by themselves therefore people must put enough pressure to make the government start “pro-active disclosure”.

SESSION 3.2- DESIGN, CONTENT, CONTEXT OF SOOCHNA SEVA CENTRE’S AT DISTRICT/BLOCK/PANCHAYAT/VILLAGE LEVEL

The whole session was focusing on the design, content, context of soochna seva centre’s at district/block/panchayat/village level.

Suggestions:

• RTI Booklets should be available at all the Soochna Seva Kendras
• Application Forms or related documents of schemes like RTI, MGNREGA etc.
• List of all Soochna Adhikari
• List of Schemes/Directory of Schemes
• Directory of Phone numbers (Toll Free) of State departments
• Hierarchal list of Government Officials from state department.
• Resource Directory (District Level and State Level)
• Roadmap/Demography of all the Panchayat
• Voters List at District/Block/Panchayat Level
• There should be a Suggestion Box/Sujhav Patika at all the centres
• Maintain register for social mapping, which contains information like Population of village, Name of the panchayat, No. of Schools, Anganwadi’s, Balwadi’s etc.
• A Generalize format for Social Mapping
• Self-Monitoring tools and House Monitoring Separate Folder
• Kisan Sewa Call Centre contact numbers
• Brochures/Pamphlets of the following:-
• Forest right Act
• Right to Information, 2005
• How to FIR (Process)
• Woman Rights
• MGNREGA
• BPL Card process
• Adhaar Card Process
• Bank Services
• RTE

FINAL OUTCOMES

Pre-Assessment Result-The target audience of the workshop was District Technical Managers, Block Managers, Block Coordinators and Fellows of Soochna Seva Project. There were few domains participants don’t have knowledge i.e. mera app, Intelligence search system, modes of information delivery, Objectives of Soochna Seva etc. and some has lesser clarity on CIRC, activities, RTI etc. In-spite of it team members still don’t have full clarity on modes of information delivery, they require more trainings. In this regards, it was also decided by the Project Officers to made quick field visits sequentially at every Kendra in order to build the capacity. At the outset a pre-test assessment form was given to each participant and availed their inputs and found that participants have not adequate knowledge about whole concept, strategy, and use of media tools of Soochna Seva.

Post-Assessment Result- Each member had given her/his inputs in a way to avail knowledge by sharing ideas, experiences and live examples of the filed. All quarries were addressed by the facilitators followed by the concrete resolution. Participants were enthusiastically involved in every task/session and provided valid suggestions to polish the intervention. There were some proactive fellows updated the team with the live picture/examples of the field. It is learnt that some ground team have tremendous innovative outreach which was shared with rest of the teams. Every aspect of Soochna Seva was covered properly holding a healthy discussion among the team. It was a great learning and exposure for the team.

1. Analysis-

The workshop’ attendees performance on the post-test increased by more than 75% (approx.) compared to the pre-test. This indicated a highly significant improvement in the understanding of the key concepts of the Soochna Seva tools, techniques, interventions etc. The workshop was highly interactive in discussing the key concepts and facilitating the project of this important. Each member had given her/his inputs in a way to avail knowledge by sharing ideas, experiences and live examples of the filed. All quarries were addressed by the facilitators followed by the concrete resolution. Participants were enthusiastically involved in every task/session and provided valid suggestions to polish the intervention. There were some proactive fellows updated the team with the live picture/examples of the field. It is learnt that some ground team have tremendous innovative outreach which was shared with rest of the teams. Every aspect of Soochna Seva was covered properly holding a healthy discussion among the team. It was a great learning and exposure for the team.

1. Action points-

A new Soochna Seva Kendra was inaugurated with the support of Oracle in Itki, ‪Ranchi
August 10, 2016

Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Plan training was organised in Narender Nagar Block, Tehri Garhwal
August 9, 2016

Digitally abled students find job security
August 9, 2016

Enabling the disabled
August 9, 2016

Intervention for Equality
August 9, 2016

SOCIAL SECURITY: Pension
August 9, 2016