irrigation with a manual pump: impact of treadle pump ...

Working Paper

193

CITIZEN CENTRIC ICT INITIATIVES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN CONTEXT: A PARTICIPATORY FRAMEWORK Harekrishna Misra, B.N. Hiremath and D.P. Mishra

The purpose of the Working Paper Series (WPS) is to provide an opportunity to IRMA faculty, visiting fellows, and students to sound out their ideas and research work before publication and to get feedback and comments from their peer group. Therefore, a working paper is to be considered as a pre-publication document of the Institute.

Institute of Rural Management Anand Post Box No. 60, Anand, Gujarat (India) Phones: (02692) 260181, 260186, 260246, 260391, 261502 Fax: 02692-260188 Email: [email protected] Website: www.irma.ac.in May 2006

CITIZEN CENTRIC ICT INITIATIVES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN CONTEXT: A PARTICIPATORY FRAMEWORK Harekrishna Misra1, B.N. Hiremath2 and D.P. Mishra3 Abstract Information and Communication technology (ICT) initiatives for rural development in India are not new. Many of these initiatives have shown mixed response. Most of these projects are incubated with government support. A development project to be sustainable, it should move from “supply-driven” mode to “demand driven” (citizen centric). Rural citizens deprived of infrastructural support and opportunity to earn sustainable livelihood, are not capable of leveraging the services created for them. This paper attempts to understand what the citizen-led design process is, the factors contributing to the design process, and then discusses a participatory appraisal tool to create an ambience where citizens assess their requirements and influence the service providers to perpetually create and deliver the required services through feasible ICT options. A framework is discussed to address these issues through design of metrics. Lastly, relevance of this tool is discussed through an illustrative example which was applied in a village during our study. Keywords: User, ICT, Information System Metrics, Participatory Rural Appraisal Methods, Development Process, User-led Information Systems, Rural Citizens

CITIZEN CENTRIC ICT INITIATIVES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN CONTEXT: A PARTICIPATORY FRAMEWORK

1.0

INTRODUCTION

Information and communication technology (ICT) projects require proper identification of users‟ needs. ICT is a bundle of hard and soft components, where hard components are technology driven (system software, communications and power) and the users do not have any control. Soft issues relate to understanding processes, modelling and their automation. Managing the soft issues and technology enabled processes depend on the users‟ capability. A synergic effect is possible when the soft issues are supported by the right kind of infrastructure in the supply-chain. These require a rigorous information system (IS) planning (Ward and Peppard 2002). Identifying the right types of services with users‟ perspective is important to make an ICT initiative successful (Jokela 2002). While there is phenomenal growth in ICT-enabled processes, decrease in cost of computing, increase in acceptability of e-business, e-commerce and m-commerce activities failures plague the projects. Despite having a good method, many projects fail due to less usability. There is a growing concern over evaluating, managing, and measuring effectiveness of ICT infrastructure created (Lycett et al. 2003). Indian ICT initiative makes the situation even more critical, not because it involves the rural infrastructure, but the complex process of involving the rural masses. These masses (the rural citizens), who lack basic livelihood 1

opportunities, are least concerned with ICT initiatives. It is therefore, important for the policy makers to direct the ICT initiatives for addressing not only the feasible business practices (e-business, e-commerce etc.), service oriented opportunities (e-governance, e-government etc.), but also integrate the demand-based services for these citizens. Unless directed towards creating “services on demand” and “stakeholder-ownership oriented development” initiatives, the projects taken up for intervention may not guarantee success. In order to make the interventions successful, it is essential that the people themselves identify their issues, prioritise their needs, manage their infrastructure and services with the support of government, NGOs, etc., monitor their resource utilisation and draw benefits. Increasing their capability to list issues and to lead the intervention process is quite complex. Before embarking on any initiative in general, and ICT initiative in particular, it is important to understand these attributes (Prabhu 2004). If processes are understood and prioritised properly, ICT interventions would bring in significant improvements in addressing the issues in development process and citizens‟ role is of paramount importance (Bhatnagar, 2004; Satyanarayana, 2004). In this paper we discuss how the ultimate stakeholders, who are considered to be the system users, can be involved in the planning process to elaborate the soft issues leading to a better IS planning and eventually create an effective ICT infrastructure. Besides, they would also be able to monitor and evaluate the interventions carried out for their development. We discuss the concept and importance of user-led design process and the role of IS planning and its effect on ICT planning. Further, we elaborate the development process and effect of cooperation in the development process. The importance and use of participatory rural appraisal (PRA) as a tool to involve the ultimate stakeholders (the system users) in the planning process are presented. System metrics are identified through PRA methodology. Besides, a causal framework citing the relationships among the metrics is also discussed in order to appreciate the IS planning process that may lead to evaluation of opportunities to introduce ICT. Finally, an application of the PRA as a tool 2

for the IS planning and development is illustrated through a case. We conclude the paper with an analysis of the findings and provide an indicative direction to further research. 2.0

CITIZEN-LED ICT INITIATIVES

The ICT initiatives based on various business and governance models are still evolving and are being considered for scaling up. However, it is not encouraging because of lack of interest among rural citizens (Bhatnagar 2004; Mishra and Gachhayat 2004; Prabhu 2004; Satyanarayana 2004). Besides, poor ICT and related infrastructure such as electricity, education, transport etc., are affecting these initiatives considerably. It is therefore, essential that any rural ICT initiative in Indian context should primarily be led by the rural citizens (the user) with the active support of agencies involved. 2.1

Citizen-Centred Design Process

User-centred designs (UCD) is one major area of research in current context and in this paper the rural citizens are defined to be the users. UCD practices are aimed at understanding the users, their perception and incorporating them in the product/service delivery. ICT initiatives for rural development can also therefore be mapped with this perspective. Normally, UCD (Jokela 2002) practices are described through ISO13407 as shown below in Figure1. Citizens‟ acceptance is a major concern for success of ICT initiatives. The citizens neither have the exposure nor the ability to evaluate any of the attributes described in Figure 1. Presently the initiatives are conceptualised, put as pilots and then used without citizens‟ active participation. Innovations are necessary for harnessing experiences gathered and then evolving these initiatives to scale up. ICT initiatives need careful consideration of the factors responsible for successful scaling-up and one of these is “User Acceptance” (Lamb and Kling 2003). The user acceptance model for information technology (Venkatesh et al. 2003) is presented in Figure 2. 3

1. Plan User centered Processes

2. Specify the context of Use

5. Evaluate against User requirements

3. Specify User Requirements

4. Produce solutions User Acceptance

Figure 1: UCD Framework

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Individual reactions to use ICT

Intention to use ICT

Actual use of ICT

Figure 2: Concept of User Acceptance

It is essential to understand citizens‟ needs for considering ICT options for income generation and other desired services. The chosen ICT options should showcase the possibility of scaling up. Presently, Indian ICT interventions are focused on e-governance, e-government perspectives (Satyanarayana 2004; Bhatnagar 2004) with a view to providing citizen centred services. There are also other models with business perspective like ITC e-Choupal (Sivakumar 2004), composite kiosk based services (Mishra and Gachhayat 2004). However, poor acceptance of all these models is due to lack of concerted effort to map the citizens‟ priorities rendering these initiatives to remain supply-driven. Without a strategy to convert these supply-driven projects to demand-driven it is unlikely that such projects would succeed during scaling-up.

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Citizens-Led IS Projects

AgencyLed IT Projects

Demand on ICT Services

Supply of ICT Services Figure 3: ICT Projects for Rural Development

Citizens‟ acceptance determines the scope to transform the initiatives to be “demand driven” (Bhatnagar, 2004). Citizen-led IS planning can create a good demand for ICT services (Figure 3). Effectiveness of projects/ programmes is determined by responsiveness, community-rootedness, frontline acceptability, respectful trust, relationship, and usability. This will happen only when the projects are citizen-led. 2.2

ICT and Development Initiatives

Rural ICT initiatives, especially through various e-governance, egovernment, e-business models, have hastened the development process (Bhatnagar 2004). There is evidence that ICT can be applied for enhancing opportunities for rural livelihood, generating employment, provide business opportunities and rendering ICT enabled services such as e-health, eeducation etc. (Prabhu 2004; Mishra and Gachhayat 2004). However, these ICT initiatives are not free from challenges. The digital-divide syndrome, which was primarily perceived as a problem rather than one of the symptoms led to poor design of the ICT initiatives across the world (Greenberg 2005). In India, despite having ICT policies, the problem is still mounting and there 6

is no sign of a sustainable solution to the complex problem of rural development (I4D 2005). The challenge to garner benefits of ICT as a tool for development process is not by its automaton, but by aiding this process since automation might lead to unemployment (Greenberg 2005). Besides, deployment of ICT infrastructure in rural areas is not commensurate with the perceived benefits (Bhatnagar 2004), thus restricting their usability in the right context (I4D 2005). Another set of challenges that Indian ICT initiatives face, are organising an affordable, scalable and self-sustaining ICT infrastructure to provide services for income generation, e-government and conducting business in a convergent manner. The challenge is therefore, to revisit the development process in the context of ICT interventions and explore possibility of citizens‟ participation. 3.0

UNDERSTANDING PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Approaches to development action have transformed over the decades (Friedman 1992). Understanding of development has undergone a lot of change over the decades. Consequently it has changed the approach to development action. Early concern with development viewed it as absence of poverty; poverty was defined only in economic terms, as the absence of income. Many development policies and actions were undertaken based on such an understanding. The resultant experience, in particular the observation regarding resilience of poverty, forced scholars to examine the other conditions associated with poverty. This led to an enlargement in the understanding of poverty to include socio-political and psychological aspects over and above the economic view of poverty. In contemporary development thinking poverty is viewed as a multi-faceted condition and described as the following: “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not being able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about

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by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom”4.

Associated with this view of poverty are conditions like hunger, shelterlessness, poor health, illiteracy, joblessness, uncertainty about future and absence of access to myriad basic services and facilities. But the basic idea underlying these conditions is the sense of powerlessness arising out of lack of freedom and voice in the socio-political context. The life experience of the poor is informed by their inability to deal with mainstream political institutions, and relevant/influential actors in the market place. While traditional income generation and/or poverty alleviation programmes aim at decreasing the income poverty they by and large fail in enhancing the social conditions of the poor in the absence of any specific efforts at addressing the other facets of poverty. Theorising on civil society is increasingly emphasising the need for „organising‟ among the poor and marginal sections of society; it is through the process of organising and their „organisation‟ that the poor begin to acquire the mutual support system and self-belief in dealing with other democratic and market place institutions, which in turn contribute to the development of „citizenship‟5 and sustainability of their livelihood related activities. It is such reformulation in understanding of poverty that has led development practice to embrace „empowerment‟ as the central goal. Recognising the poor as stakeholders and animating their participation in the development process, through conscientisation and organising, has emerged as the core strategy in development action. Development interventions seek to facilitate participative processes in which the poor themselves, through consultative/ deliberative process, develop critical understanding of their situation, its constraints, and opportunities, and decide on the activities to engage in. It is through participation in forums created for and by them, the individuals undergo transformation at individual and collective levels that result in „empowerment‟. Thus the development process is succinctly described as a bottom up, participatory, deliberative, and collective process that creates 8

collectivities of the poor, which in turn enables them to assert and realise their civic and political rights and engage in economic exchanges with their individual volition. 3.1

Development Management

The changed understanding of development process has made the task of development management complex. First, it has been turned upside down. From the earlier approach of starting out from „project level objectives down to specific operations‟ it is now imperative for development managers to start from the other end, i.e., stakeholders. The only available signpost is the development organisation‟s broader institutional goals and value commitments. The process begins with participatory exploration of the conditions and knowledge of the stakeholders, their needs, wants and aspirations, and then builds „projects‟ that respond to them. Second, the development organisation is no more the „director‟ of the process but a „facilitator‟ of the process. Thus, the organisation could experience variety in the conditions and aspirations of the stakeholders across sites. These two characteristics of development management have strong implications for information management. In the earlier mode, the organisation „knew‟ what information to seek, where to collect them, and how to record and process them. In the new mode, only the broad parameters of information could be anticipated. Specific data and information could be varied across stakeholders and across habitation sites. Secondly, the process throws up far more data and information since the stakeholders are not bound by an „external framework‟ but are enabled to articulate themselves from their vantage point. Thirdly, the nature of data/information could take multiple forms. Due to the intrinsic variety and quantum of data now available, there is a danger that, a lot of it would not get used because of information handling and processing constraints. It is here that ICT has a role to play. But for this role to be played rightfully the information system design must have built-in capabilities and robustness corresponding to the quantum and variety of data. 9

4.0

CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION

There have been two distinctive approaches to citizens‟ participation in development projects; one is the classical top-down approach where the development agency identifies projects and invites the community to participate and the other is for the citizens to identify projects and invite a development agency to form an equal partnership with it to develop the project. Techniques like Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) are means of generating data for gaining an understanding of needs, preferences and priorities within communities (Suresh 2002). They contribute to improving thinking, analysis, and decision-making processes related to the production, dissemination, and efficient use of lessons learned from participatory development experiences. 4.1

Why PRAs?

There are several constraints in conventional methods of data gathering like high cost, time consuming, questionable accuracy, lack stakeholder participation, quantitative information generated does not explain real life situations and local knowledge is not utilised in information processing. PRA methods are essentially a process of learning about people‟s conditions in an intensive, iterative, and expeditious manner (Chambers 1992). The techniques are adopted to achieve increased accuracy at low costs both in terms of time and money. Development projects need relevant and good quality information. By definition, development interventions are oriented to changing people‟s lives. They attempt to target those who are marginalised and vulnerable to disruptions. Projects are designed based on information that they have about the people in question, their needs, conditions, and concerns. When organisations base their actions on insufficient or faulty information, the result is a misplaced intervention that has little correspondence to the needs the poor. Such projects may actually have a negative effect on poor as they undermine traditional practices or cause local communities to invest their 10

scarce resources in unviable activities. Vulnerable populations may actually become more destitute as a result of such poorly informed interventions. Until recently top-down methods were dominant in which most essential decisions about what issues will be addressed and how the information will be used were made by “specialists” (as opposed to community members). The local people‟s role is generally limited to answering questions that are designed by outsiders. Today, the methods have become more participatory as local people play a greater and more active role in the information gathering process. Responding to a questionnaire is one of the most limited forms of “passive” participation. A more active type of participation involves diagramming or participating in more open-ended discussions. Both of these types of interaction allow local people to express their own concerns rather than merely responding to outsiders‟ questions. A still higher level of participation is attained when villagers set the agenda for the study, define the questions, gather the information, and are integrally involved in the analysis and use of the information. If, the objective is getting the local people to become more involved in decision-making, then the participatory aspect becomes vitally important. The more that community members are active participants, the more likely that they will feel a stake in the process and, the more they feel a stake in the process, the more they will be motivated to take on greater responsibilities in decision making and leadership. Thus, peoples‟ participation is a vital requirement in improving the quality of rural service delivery. But where quality is perceived merely in terms of technical feasibility, financial viability, risk assessments and managerial complexity, ignoring direct and serious peoples‟ participation in the planning process, the quality of rural service delivery becomes doubtful. Competent decisions and accountable performance is required from a range of stakeholders, some of whom have been systematically alienated in the past by conventional approaches to planning. The main concern of participatory approach6 is to facilitate rural service users identify their needs, rank options 11

among competing possibilities, and assemble these in the form of community plans for action and thinking through solutions. Participatory approaches7 address some of the lacunas of the past and assist in eliciting people's own analysis of their poverty and well being provided a deeper understanding of dimensions of poverty other than mere income and consumption indicators. They are useful in understanding complexity and multiplicity of peoples‟ livelihood strategies, barriers to their participation, social exclusion and assessing social capital of different groups differentiated by gender, age, caste, ethnicity and literacy. One of the key and expressed goals of such techniques was to make PRA accessible to the illiterate and others who might be left out of traditional information gathering processes. PRA relies, to a great extent, on mapping, diagramming and public dialogue about community problems and issues. An in-depth and situation bound nature of participatory approaches can provide insights for policy and practical actions with high benefits for poor people in their own terms. The process of participatory approach emphasises the linking of information from communities to broader policy dialogue with CBOs, NGOs, local and national government officers, academics, donors, among other stakeholders. 4.2

Participatory Planning - Tools and Techniques

Participatory Planning is the involvement of stakeholders in planning or reviewing actions that affect them. This usually results in a programme or plan of action and activities that have been researched and designed by stakeholders. An example might be a participatory exercise to devise resource co-management plan of action for a given area. 4.2.1 Diagrams Diagrams are drawn by participants to explain better issues of common interest. They include various kinds of maps for giving a bird‟s eye view of the community or zone; transects which give a horizontal view of an area or zone and act as complementary information to maps; calendars which give 12

information on time and those changes that take place during the course of seasons and times (there are seasonal calendars, labour calendars, crop calendars and the like); historical profiles that show what important events have taken place in the life of the community; Venn diagrams that help to explore institutional information, the societal power fabric including invillage groups and organisations as well as those operating in the community from outside and their linkages. 4.2.2 Ranking and Quantification Methods The importance of ranking and quantification tools lies in the fact that there is no need to have absolute figures for information such as people‟s income. In fact, informants are unlikely to share such information. For many purposes, relative rankings are just as useful and a lot less sensitive to obtain. There are times when quantification techniques are useful even when participatory appraisals are better at getting qualitative information. Here, it is the use of countable objects such as pebbles, beans and nuts to help determine quantities and magnitudes of issues. 4.2.3 Preference/Problem Ranking Ranking gets the community to prioritise their preferences/problems, concerns or strengths of their opinions on various issues. The first step here is to decide on what is to be ranked and/or prioritised. For example, in ranking problems it is recommended to list all problems voiced by the community. The problems are ranked taking two at a time and scores are assigned according to their priority. Probing is done to ensure that views and opinions are expressed after each comparison of pairs. After the process the scores are added and rated in order of priority resulting from individual scores by problem rated.

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5.0

CITIZENS’ INFORMATION SYSTEMS PLANNING: THE CAUSAL FRAMEWORK

The PRA methodology discussed in previous section is a tool to prepare citizens charter and their priorities for sustenance. This exercise leads to a metrics based measurement system which is an important stage for ICT acquisition life cycle (Pandian 2003). The goal-question-metrics (GQM) methodology (Basili et al. 1994) strongly fits in to the deliverables of PRA exercise since it quantifies appropriate deliverables through metrics and these metrics are related to the long-term aspirations of the rural citizens. A framework is presented in Figure 4, which discusses the causal flow among various stages of the development process involving stakeholders and eliciting various ICT options that can be generated for interventions. Resource

Citizens Metrics

PRA Exercise

Interventions and Measurement

ICT Options

Intervening Agencies

Figure 4: PRA Based IS Planning Framework

As explained in Figure 4, PRA based IS planning exercise needs to be conducted through the active participation of citizens. Usually in Indian context, villages are taken up for PRA exercise since villages provide common resources for livelihood, agriculture, irrigation, education, communication, power, transport etc to the rural citizens. Besides, each household also owns its resources in the villages for sustenance. Each household and village receives infrastructure-oriented benefits and services 14

from the government. All these resources form the basis of support for the village and household. IS planning exercise therefore, is aimed to elicit responses from the citizens for development of these resources, providing access to information and support services available for augmentation of these services and prioritising them. 5.1

PRA Tools and Techniques for IS Metrics elicitation

PRA tools as discussed above are used for involving rural citizens to share information on common as well individual resources, their problems, expectations, and limitations in earning their livelihoods which is the most important issue before them. Rural citizens depend mostly on the resources available in the village; support received from the agencies like government, NGOs and community based organisations (CBOs). In most cases these supports are not commensurate with their expectations and therefore, leading to deprivation in earning the sustainable livelihood. These expectations are captured through the PRA process which attempts to deliver certain metameasurable indicators the citizens consider to be important. In Table 1 below, application of PRA tools and expected deliveries are discussed and these expectations are mapped in the form of some metrics to define the livelihood security that rural citizens perceive. These metrics are evaluated through the maps related to community resource, village resource, social activities, etc. Another important exercise through the PRA, i.e., “problem tree” provides the causal prioritisation of the problems/issues faced by rural citizens themselves. The metrics generated by the citizens with the help of this tool therefore permeate basic characteristics of their problem and these metrics bear the potential for proper IS developments.

Table: 1: Citizens’ Metrics Elicitation through PRA Tools Inputs

PRA Process

PRA Deliveries Delivery Metrics

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Remarks

Village Resources Individual Resources Agency Support o Government o NGO o CBOs

Focus Group Discussions Time-Line Analysis

Community Resource Map Village Resource Map

Food Security Education Security Health Security Infrastructure and Services

Venn Diagram

Social Map

Social Security Emotional Security

Problem Tree

Mapping Livelihood Deprivation Causes

Development Metrics

Describes present scenario of the community development plan and its impact Describes prioritisation of the social problems and social stress Organising Development Options and Prioritisation

Information systems (IS) are logical reflections of the physical processes and their behaviour (Fenton and Pfleeger 2002). It also advocates for an ownership. Behavioural analyses are important characteristics of any process and these are mostly measured through agreed attributes. Understanding of these attributes is initiated through certain measurable terms which are identified as metrics. These metrics normally evolve with the process and their maturity brings in a measurable behaviour of the process thus leading to measurable metrics. IS practices with metrics provide an interface between the physical process and information communication technology (ICT) orientated processes (Kan 2002). Options for ICT interventions need to be carefully chosen on the basis of their strength and weakness. ICT as a technology is seen as a process improvement tool and this is possible through an IS-ICT alignment exercise (Weill and Broadbent 1998; Lamb and Kling, 2003). The alignment exercise looks alignment exercise (Weill and Broadbent 1998; Lamb and Kling 2003). The alignment exercise looks for the requirements of a process (process metrics), lists the possible deliveries through the systemic approach being made (IS metrics) and provides scope to leverage the strength of ICT options through an analysis of each option 16

(ICT metrics) (Pereira and Sousa 2005). Strategic IS-IT alignment models advocate a metrics based approach for successful alignment among processes and IS; IS and IT (Luftman 2003). ICT interventions effectively contribute towards managing transactions, organised process, and bringing an overall improvement in information dissemination (Bergeron et al. 2004; Pereira and Sousa 2005). Therefore, it is imperative that prior to organising ICT resources, information systems with feasible metrics are developed which are demand driven. In Table 2 below, three metrics driven dimensions of alignment exercise are discussed. Table 2: Metrics Based IS-IT Alignment Strategy Demand Driven Citizens Metrics Food Security

IS Metrics Goal

Health Security

Infrastructure and Services

Sustainable Livelihood Security

Education Security

ICT Metrics

Transactions

Process

Information

Transactions

Financial Labour

Income generations

Modes Time Location

Quality Interfaces

Financial Knowledge Sharing

Income generations Literacy

Modes Time Location

Quality Interfaces

Financial Expert Services

Income generations Mortality

Modes Time Location

Quality Interfaces

Financial Utility Services

Income generations Convergence

Opportunities Policies Market Agencies Cost Opportunities Policies Market Agencies Cost Opportunities Policies Market Agencies Cost Opportunities Policies Market Agencies Cost

Modes Time Location

Quality Interfaces

Process

Information Access Cost Agencies Policies Market Cost Access Cost Agencies Policies Market Cost Access Cost Agencies Policies Market Cost Agencies Policies Market Cost

Social Security

Subjective Assessment of IS Metrics Obtained

Subjective Assessment of ICT Metrics Obtained

Emotional Security

Subjective Assessment of IS Metrics Obtained

Subjective Assessment of ICT Metrics Obtained

Development Metrics

Evaluation of IS Metrics, Options and its Prioritisation by Rural Citizens

Evaluation of ICT Metrics, Options and its Prioritisation by Service Providers/ Agencies

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5.2

Transactions and Rural Citizens

In the context of feasible and dynamic rural livelihood options, the rural citizens are subjected to transactions with various markets such as labour, land, water, financial (institutional and non-institutional), input and output, information etc. These dynamic sets of transactions make their information systems complex. Two of the major attributes of a transaction are its “lifecycle” and “mode”. These two attributes provide an indication as to how effective the transactions are and therefore, help in considering ICT options. Besides these attributes, the interfaces between the transaction owner (the rural citizens whose literacy level determines appreciation of the technology) and the process(es) through which these transactions are carried out provide challenge to make a transaction successful. Though there are enough ICT tools to make this interface happen, it is difficult for the rural citizens to appreciate if the transactions do not directly benefit their livelihoods. It is therefore, essential that the transactions are demanded by the citizens and served by the agencies as per agreed terms. These demands can be effectively elicited through PRA exercises. 5.3

Processes and Rural Citizens

In order for having effective transactions, processes with certain measurable metrics need to be in place (Ould 1995; Weill and Broadbent 1998). These processes being citizen-centric, need to be well defined with their deliveries. For example, income generation is a process and various options do exist before the rural citizens. However, success of income generation process should be evaluated with possible metrics such as income level, migration, expenditure on education, health, socio-cultural events, etc. It is possible to generate these metrics through a PRA exercise as well since it recognises the role of each identified process through the goal setting exercise.

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5.4

Information and Rural Citizens

Rural citizens face myriad problems associated with poverty, deprivation and related socio-economic issues. One of the major attributes for such problems is “lack of information”. Information on resources, support services related to livelihood goal and goal related citizens‟ metrics (see Table 2) is essential for the rural citizens. Accessing information with minimised constraints is a problem that rural citizens encounter. ICT helps in minimising these constraints through right sizing the information-processing environment with a proper information structure (Bergeron et al. 2004). PRA helps in recognising the demand for information and therefore, provides a support for preparation of information structure. For example, income-generating option for supporting livelihood needs a complex and dynamic approach such as tracing various markets, locating demand, and reaching these sources. Collating these options with a right context and making it available to the rural citizens in their own understandable terms are easier said than done. Here, ICT options can be evaluated depending on the infrastructure available such as communication, data transfer, data access, power, applications such as information portal and maintaining these sources on a sustainable basis. 5.5

PRA Exercise

Each village and household has its problems, preferences, strength as well as priorities and PRA exercise captures these in a participatory mode as explained in the previous section. Through the PRA exercise, various common issues related to village, household and individuals are listed. These abstracted versions are the metrics and these form the basic input for measuring the deliverables of the IS planning process. The metrics are supported by measurement criteria set by the citizens themselves to determine its critical success. Metrics developed by the village, household and individuals in the village are studied by the agencies involved in addressing the issues gathered through PRA. While exploring the options, the critical success factors are listed for consideration. During PRA exercise a series of options are generated for interventions and providing services to the 19

citizen as well as to augment infrastructure. Besides, measurement criteria are also indicated by the citizens. Agencies involved in the development process therefore are now equipped with the required indicators for interventions, measuring the possible outcomes. ICT enabled services at this stage are selected and provided. PRA exercise is a continuous process (Suresh 2002). The feedback is therefore an important factor for evaluating the interventions and this needs another possible PRA exercise. 6.0

AN ILLUSTARTION

The natural, physical, and social assets play a vital role in people‟s livelihoods. Yet, there has been a steady erosion of these assets. In rural areas, ecological problems such as deforestation have played havoc in peoples‟ livelihoods in many ways. Climate change, soil erosion, water depletion, habitat loss, energy overuse and species extinctions are all symptoms of economic processes that deplete resources. With increasing pressure on land, individual households have exploited their resources leading to unsustainable livelihoods. If the goal of development is to build sustainable livelihoods, the very people who depleted the resource base have to be involved in problem identification, analysis, prioritisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects. This calls for the bottom-up participatory approach. 6.1

Gonda Village

Gonda village (name changed) is located in a semi-arid district, Gujarat, India. In collaboration with a local NGO, PRA exercises were conducted involving villagers for the purpose of developing a micro-plan. The steps involved are shown in Figure 5. After the preliminary introductions and ice-breaking formalities, the PRA exercises started with a village map (natural resources and social: refer to Figure 6) detailing roads, forest area, wells, ponds, check-dams temples, houses, schools, etc. Names of each head of household were also noted. This 20

map provided the general profile of the resources and infrastructure of the village.

Source:Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT).

Figure 5: Steps Involved in PRA for Micro-Planning

The Social Map is a very powerful tool in providing information on caste wise location, water resources, education, religious centres, etc. This map, after marking each home, can be used for generating information like baseline surveys on population, literacy, assets, etc. It can also be used to focus recall on issues like food security, major illness and mortality. The social map can be used for developing a house-wise profile of people below the food security level. This was followed by information gathering on soil resources and cropping pattern. Pie diagrams were used to develop an understanding. Figure 7 provides information on the people‟s perceptions of the different soils in their village while Figure 8 depicts the use of these soils

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for food crops in two seasons (Kharif and Rabi) to meet their family food requirements.


Figure 6: Natural Resource and Social Map

Stony 13%

Sandy 10%

Black 5%

Brown 72%



Figure 7: Village Soils

Figure 8: Cropped Area in the Village

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The discussion led to the conclusion that the food produced by most households was insufficient to meet the food and fodder needs of the family and their livestock. Therefore, further information was required as to the reasons for the food shortage. A flow/process analysis was also undertaken to define the reasons for food insecurity at household level. Participatory problem analysis helped in isolating specific reasons for food shortages in the community (Figure 9). Based on the problem tree developed by participants, specific solutions were also developed.


Figure 9: Problem Analysis (Example: Not Enough Food)

Similar insights can be gained by participatory exploration for all branches at different levels of the tree and local solutions can be generated. The list of reasons can be further ranked/scored for eliciting preference/priorities for achieving food security. Similarly, seasonal analysis of the food security can be done for understanding the food availability, season-wise or month-wise, and how people cope up with food/fodder deficits in different periods.

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Although, problem analysis technique provides useful analytical information, the origin of the problem is rooted in the wider environment. A participatory historical trend analysis provides a clearer understanding of the cause/s. Peoples‟ perceptions of changes in 50 years (1950 – 2000) are depicted in Figure 10 with respect to forests, animals, soil fertility, rainfall and population (columns 2 - 5 in Figure 10).


Figure 10: Historical Trends in the Village

It is fairly evident that with depleting forest cover, soil degradation and changing rainfall patterns, peoples‟ livelihoods have become vulnerable. Decline in animal population on which peoples‟ livelihoods were partially dependent on and concurrent increase in human population have contributed to the decline in food security. A Venn/chapatti diagram (Figure 11) was constructed leading to the identification of individuals/groups/institutions that influence the village. This provides valuable information on peoples‟ perceptions of different individuals/groups/ institutions that play critical role in their livelihoods. The magnitude of importance is indicated by the size of the circle while the distance from the centre indicates the centrality to their livelihoods. 24

For example, according to peoples‟ perceptions, although a doctor treating their family members has greater importance compared to a veterinary doctor as indicated by the size of circles, the veterinary doctor seems to play a more crucial role than the doctor that treats their family since the veterinary doctor is closer to the centre of the circle (Figure 11). The findings from the Venn diagram provide an immediate list of key persons, groups and institutions who need to be contacted about proposals which affect the larger village.


Figure 11: Venn Diagram

A four directional transect with key informants involved observing, asking, listening, discussing, learning about different zones, local technologies, introduced technologies, seeking problems, solutions and identification of a major opportunities for development. The transect also helped in crosschecking details of the resource cum social map (Figure 6). A unidirectional cross-section of the transect is presented in Figure 12. In order to identify the poorest of the poor households, a wealth ranking exercise was carried out with a group of villagers, based on the list of 25

household heads made on the social map. Wealth ranking started with identifying and grouping households into some categories (ranging from very rich to very poor) identified by the people themselves based on their own characterisation of “wealth”.


Figure 12: Village Transect (Unidirectional)

Integrating information generated by PRA methods provides a holistic understanding of the village and its people, its resource base, the social structure and dynamics, problems (their origin and causes), among other things from peoples‟ perspectives. It helps us see their world through their eyes and understand their complex realities. This integrated information was utilised for micro-planning with the people. Figure 13 provides a view of the micro-plan developed by residents of Gonda. Each card represents a problem and is placed in concentric circles depending on the urgency felt by the people (both men and women). The problems in the innermost circle needs immediate attention while the problems listed in the outer most circle can be taken up at a later stage. The problems listed in the outer most circles do not necessarily mean that they are any less important. 26


Figure 13: Village Micro-Plan

Based on the village micro-plan, an implementation schedule for five years (Figure 14) was developed by the people themselves indicating their preferences and urgency.


Figure 14: Implementation Schedule Prepared by Villagers

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7.0

IS PLANNING PROCESS

Based on the application of GQM principles on the PRA exercise conducted in the village provided an insight to the preferences of the citizens‟ services. The goal of most of the citizens in the village is “sustainable livelihood security”. We analysed the goal and understood that citizens have their measurable preferences to meet their goal. These are termed as the “metrics” and listed as “food security”, “health and sanitation facility”, “education facility”, “financial security”, “social security”, “cultural security”. Among these metrics we took two most important metrics as chosen by the citizens which are “food security” and “health security for them as well as their animals”. In Table 3 we discuss various measurements that citizens attached to each metric to understand the existence of these facilities to verify these metrics. Further, all these measurements are examined with possible ICT options that can be used for interventions so as to measure the metrics identified.

Table 3: Identification of PRA Based ICT Options Goal Sustainable Livelihood Security

Metrics Food Security

Measurements

Demand on ICT Options

Self sufficiency on food Self sufficiency on fodder Migration for supplementin g food

Income Generating Opportunities

Availability of work opportunity locally

Least Demand

Demand for Information on employment opportunities Demand for Information on employment opportunities from government and other agencies

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Remarks Kiosk based services for citizens Nil

ICT Option Ranking8 Ia

Ib

e-Government applications

Id

e-Government applications

Ic

Goal

Metrics

Health Security (Human)

Measurements Access to input and output market Public Health Service Traditional Health Service Health Education

Immunisation Services

Accessibility to Health Infrastructure

Livestock Security

Clinical Service Artificial Insemination

Availability of Medicine

Dairy Cooperative

Demand on ICT Options

Remarks

ICT Option Ranking8 Ie

Opportunity on marketing

e-Business applications and services

Providing opportunities in the village Rendering services to other Villages

e-Health Services

IIIa

Nil

IIIe

Creating Opportunities in the Village; Maintaining Records Providing Information on Immunisation details and history Providing Information on Doctors, Interaction with Doctors, Receiving advice from Doctors Maintaining Health Records Providing facilities in the village, access to information on availability Providing facilities in the village, access to information on availability Providing facilities in the village, access to information on marketing inputs, pricing

e-Health Services

IIIb

e-Health Services

IIIc

e-Health Services

IIId

e-Health Services e-Health Services

IIa

e-Health Services

IIb

Dairy Information Kiosk

IId

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IIc

7.1

Discussion on ICT Options

In the illustrative case study of ICT options listed in Table 3 suggest that villagers have ranked e-government/e-governance applications for livelihood security as top priority (Rank-I) followed by animal services and then human health services for households. This citizens‟ priority ranking is generated through PRA exercise and reveals their intentions to use the services, if provided. 8.0

CONCLUSION

ICT is being strongly believed to be a service enabler tool in development process and it is also advocated that ICT acts as a medium to poverty alleviation (Greenberg 2005). In the Indian context the policies for poverty alleviation are being planned with a top-down strategy making it “supply driven”. As discussed (Figure 3), supply driven projects do not generate much demand unless the planning process involves the citizens. Creating an atmosphere for eliciting the requirements and prioritising the needs of citizens is a complex phenomenon because of the spatial, political, social, religious and cultural dynamics. It is therefore, necessary to balance the system that encourages availability of the supply driven services with active citizens‟ participation. As illustrated in the Gonda village case, the priorities are defined by the citizens captured through PRA exercises as depicted in Figures 5 to 14. However, the demands elicited are illustrative in nature and a detailed study is necessary to fine-tune any such prioritisation. Authors plan further research to substantiate the findings from the work done in this area. Acknowledgement

Authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by Gramin Vikas Trust, Dahod, in conducting PRA exercises and for providing logistic support. Our special thanks are due to Mr. Arun S. and Mr. Kalpesh Soni of Grameen Vikas Trust (GVT) for their support.

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Endnotes 1.

The author is Associate Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand – 388001, Gujarat, India. (email:[email protected])

2.

The author is Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand – 388001, Gujarat, India. (email: [email protected])

3.

The author is Professor, Institute of Rural Management, Anand – 388001, Gujarat, India.(email: [email protected])

4.

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/mission/up1.htm, 21st Feb. 2004

5.

Citizenship, in the discourse on State and Civil Society, presupposes rights and entitlements. In this genre of literature, therefore, spreading of „citizenship‟ is equated with „empowerment‟ and treated as both a means and an end of development and democracy.

6.

The concept “participatory approach” refers to both a set of methods and a methodological approach, which in turn is influenced by the attitudes, training and political orientation of researchers. Core features of participatory research include the following:

i.

Concern with relations of power: It emphasis on the perspectives of poor and disadvantaged people and offsetting biases in dominant or outside paradigms

ii.

Analysis by local people: Researchers facilitate local analysis in order to learn with and from them. This requires analysing the process of discussions and interviews as well as the data these produce. Learning takes place face to face and on the spot.

iii. Continuous analysis and progressive, systematic learning: The process of inquiry is cumulative. It favours use of open questions and semi-structured interviews rather than pre-set questionnaires. Joint analysis takes place in several phases and these are context specific.

iv.

Seeking multiple perspectives: It recognises complexity and looks for diversity of individual and group perceptions to understand contradictions and differences. This can involve purposive sampling rather than statistical sampling for participants.

v.

Triangulation: Cross checking by using different methods, disciplinary perspectives, sources of information, and entities sampled.

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vi.

Visual medium: It uses forms of diagramming that are visual and open to groups can encourage participation of marginalised people; by making the process open to those who do not read, are not used to verbal communication or do not share languages, diagramming can have an equalising effect, although maps and diagrams often have to be localised in order to be easily understood. Visual techniques include mapping, time lines, seasonal analysis, matrix ranking and scoring.

vii. Context specific: Researchers are encouraged to use methods flexibly, to innovate, and improvise with conscious exploration in different circumstances. No research process is ever the same so there is no blueprint for researchers. The adaptability of methods and possibilities for different sequencing according to local conditions encourages greater sense of ownership.

viii. Leading to change: The process of inquiry embodies a strong capacity building element for local participants, research team and other stakeholders. Dialogue and joint analysis help to define changes and motivate people to act. Depending on commitment of participants and stakeholders, action can include further capacity strengthening for implementation of desired changes, or for increased participation in advocacy, decision-making and policy development. 7.

Some of the most influential participatory approaches developed since the late 1970's include Rapid rural appraisal (RRA), Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and Participatory learning and action (PLA). RRA aimed at flexible progressive learning, multi-disciplinary research teams, community participation, outsiders gaining information from rural people in a timely and cost effective manner; while PRA was a shift from extractive mode to empowering and facilitating active local participation in planning activities; and PLA placed additional emphasis on mutual learning, attitudes and behaviour of researchers, and taking action on the outcomes.

8.

Suffix a, b, c, … denotes intra-group prioritisation

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