Digital Partners: Discovering the potential within

Challenging the way NGOs think and making them look at profitability is not an easy task. And yet that is exactly what Digital Partners attempts to accomplish. Bringing the concept of viability to the social sector is probably the one thing that will bring about much needed development in the rural sector, as was highlighted at the recent conference in Baramati. Chris Ann Fichardo reports

Jay Inslee, Arun Shourie and Sharad Pawar at the ICT conference

The soaring temperature outside was not a deterrent to the enthusiasm that prevailed inside the auditorium that hosted the Third Annual Baramati Initiative on ICT and Development. Representatives from 16 countries around the globe came with their ideas to the remote sugarcane belt of Baramati in Maharashtra. And not all of them were there just to seek financial aid.

The hub of all this excitement were discussions and debates that formed the theme of the conference, ‘Creating the Infrastructure for the Future.’ Conducted by Digital Partners, a Seattle-based non-profit organisation whose aim is to use the digital economy to empower the poor, this annual event has gained in stature and importance since it was first held in 2001. The impressive campus of the local IT institution, Vidya Pratishthan’s Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), was a meeting ground to explore ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) is used to bridge the digital divide. Digital Partners executive director Dr Akhtar Badshah says the Baramati meet emphasises the role of social entrepreneurs who effectively use ICT to open new market-driven avenues for the poor to participate in e-government, e-commerce, and e-education initiatives.

So whether it’s the new endeavours of voluntary organisation MITRA to ensure that the rural artisan get a higher monetary return from the sale of handicraft products in the global market, or listening to how the Class V dropout Rataben Harilal Gedia from SEWA Gujarat conquered the computer to now teach students in and around her village, or discovering why Martha Voelcker left a profitable family-run business to start Fundacao Pensamento Digital in her home country Brazil in a bid to share computer skills with the underprivileged—all get a forum to share their experiences at Baramati and gain from the vast experience from those who matter. These include the likes of Walter North, director for United States Agency for International Development, Prof Kenneth Keniston, director of projects in Science, Technology and Society at MIT and Motoo Kusakabe former vice president of the World Bank. Lending an interested ear were Indian minister for IT and communication Arun Shourie, US congressman Jay Inslee and Sharad Pawar.

It is heartening to learn that the largest democracy in the world is also the ground for the most number of IT projects being undertaken in the social sector. And though most of these IT endeavours are quite recent, other developing nations look upon India as a role model. But perhaps the best news of all is that the projects being implemented in the social sector are finally looking at profits as a positive attribute. This new attitude towards money will probably be the one main influencing factor that will bring success to a fledging ICT kiosk in rural India. Walter North describes it best when he says, “We need to treat social investment with the same seriousness as private investment.”

India has contributed a lot towards IT; it has provided some eminent engineers who have contributed significantly towards changing the way the world communicates. Now those who have made their millions in IT want to contribute to a society where the need is great. All that they ask in return is for the investment to find a worthy cause. Once we realise the potential within, the change that could emerge would not just be far-reaching but also colossal.