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Studies
in Information Technology Applications: A GENDER EMPOWERMENT
PROJECT |
SINCE 1999, SITA has been providing
computer skills training to some of the neediest of India's
poor—women.
So far, the infoDev-sponsored project has trained 448 needy
women from in and around the city of Delhi using an adaptation
of MS Office 2000. More than the specific technology used,
though, the principal factor in its success has been SITA's
customized, contextual approach:
 A
Success Story.Unfortunate family
circumstances forced Kiran Arora to
learn computer skills so that she could support her family and
the education of her child. Kiran distinguished herself in SITA
as a trainee and later as a trainer, and represented the project
in the Stockholm Challenge 2000 competition. Kiran—now
a self-reliant desktop publishing professional—is a role
model for younger trainees. She is also likely to become manager
of the women's co-operative which will take over SITA's activities
in 2002.
Among the large number of students trained by Kiran, special
mention has to be made of the following:
 Archana,
who took part in the development of SITA's Resource Package; |
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| Yasmeen,
an orphan from an orthodox Muslim family, who has specialized
in Urdu word processing; |
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| sixteen year-old Gulshan,
the eldest of five children whose father was incapacitated
in an accident, who is now self-financing her ambition
of higher education; and |
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| Yogesh,
the twelve year-old son of illiterate parents who work
as office assistants for SITA, who has become proficient
in computers by just being around—and who now wants
to become a full-time IT professional. |
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Archana, Yasmeen, Gulshan, and Yogesh will
make up the co-operative's core group.
New Directions. Hundreds
of SITA trainees have successfully learned computer skills—employment
in the information economy, however, has not automatically followed.
The inability of SITA trainees to find jobs has caused the project's
management to expand its scope from learning to learning-cum-earning.
Field trials have shown that income generation—a crucial
requirement for survival of SITA-type projects—is possible
by contracting work from the marketplace.
Collaboration with the New Delhi Office of the UN Asia and Pacific
Centre for Technology Transfer (UN APCTT) has opened the exciting
possibility of placing SITA trainees as interns. A two-month
field trial has met the requirements of APCTT who are now enthusiastic
about the wider implications of this idea. The fact that the
trainees have met the professional yardstick of a prestigious
international organization like APCTT is a source of pride for
all concerned, and an important milestone on the path to sustainability.
SITA welcomes inquiries from individuals and organizations wishing
to collaborate in this area (sitah@bol.net.in).
It must be emphasized that SITA workers are not seeking charity
but opportunities to demonstrate their skills so that they can
earn an income through confidence and dignity.
A wish list. SITA's successful
beginning can become sustainable by transforming the project
into a co-operative for women, by women, and of women. Click
here to see plans for MitraMandal
(Sanskrit for 'friends group'). SITA's Core Group is looking
forward to receiving global cooperation in this venture.
References. Awards and acknowledgements
include:
Global Junior Challenge Award, Work Category, December
2000
Finalist, Stockholm Challenge 2000
Finalist, IICD ICT Stories Competition, October 2000
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SITA is being showcased in India and abroad, at such events
as the Bangalore Workshop attended by World Bank President James
Wolfensohn and the Commonwealth Education Ministers Conference
Halifax workshop in November 2000.
Stay tuned. Under the auspices
of the Swedish International Development Agency, a two-member
research team is undertaking an independent evaluation of SITA.
The team will visit SITA during October - November 2001 and
present its findings at an international seminar in New Delhi
in early December. The objective of the seminar will be to examine
the sustainability of socially-oriented ICT projects using SITA
as a test case.
Join the discussion. Developing
human capacity as SITA does is crucial to enable more people
to take advantage of the resources of the Internet. But as the
project itself has concluded, skills without jobs don't really
help. So they have turned to learning plus earning through internships
at a local UN agency and then into a job cooperative that can
market the skills over the net. What other models are there
for making training pay off? What experience has your project
had that might offer solutions to the job creation problem?
Do any of the e-learning models come coupled with immediate
employment opportunities? Click here to share your thoughts with the Digital Dividend Clearinghouse community
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