Ministry of Information and Communications/ UNESCAP/ADB

Press Release

8 May 2007

National Stakeholders Workshop, 9-10 May 2007-05-04
For the implementation of
JFICT9068:Empowering Rural Areas through Community e-Centers

Ministry of Information and Communications (MOIC) is implementing the Project entitled, JFICT9068: Empowering Rural Areas through Community Electronic Centers (CeCs). Funded through the Grant Assistance of the Asian Development Bank, the project aims to reduce poverty, empower communities and improve quality of life though increased Information and Communications Technology (ICT) connectivity & accessibility in rural areas of the four participating SASEC countries including Nepal.

More than eighty percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas and most are involved in agriculture activities. Rural development through ICT would have an enormous impact, if implemented in a planned and coordinated manner. For example, if prices of farm products and marketing information were made available through ICT, rural populations would be better able to negotiate with middlemen and customers. Information on improved farming techniques would help to integrate rural communities into the mainstream economy and enable them to deliver better quality products and services.

Recognizing the limited resources available and the small number of people in rural areas who can afford individual home connections, Community Electronic Centers shall be established which will provide shared facilities, this being the most cost-effective way of providing public access to ICT-based services and applications. These Community Centers shall allow the public to use basic telecommunications services, access the internet and use ICT applications for socioeconomic activities.

It has been targeted to establish at least 5 pilot CeCs with measures designed to: (i) Ensure the financial sustainability after 3 years of operation (ii) Increase community productivity and profitability by at least 10% by applying various ICT applications to socioeconomic activities (iii) Improve the capacity of the local government and communities to manage and use ICT by ensuring at least 50% of the ICT-illiterate population is able to use ICT (iv) Develop at least two ICT applications for farming and government public service, and at least three types of local content for community information, employment information, and social service information, based on the information needs and characteristics of communities.

Part of a South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) programme with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India as the participating countries, this Project is being executed jointly by the ADB and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific (UNESCAP).

As part of this project, a National Stakeholders’ Workshop is being held in Kathmandu on 9-10 May 2007 with the participation of Officials of the Nepal Government, representatives of the local governments, the NGOs, CBOs involved in the field of establishing and managing community telecenters, together with Officials from the ADB, UNESCAP and other donors.

At the Workshop, communities for setting up of the pilot CeCs shall be identified in line with the national policies and recommendations obtained on the probable CeC models to be implemented, sustainability considerations and possible services and applications to be offered through the pilot CeCs. During later phase of project implementation, stakeholders meetings are scheduled at community levels to determine locations of the pilots, and needs assessment studies are also to be carried out at the identified communities.

(Mr. Narayan Prasad Regmi)
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Information & Communications