I was delighted to see this message. My company, Encore
Technologies, has just begun a program for ICT in Bhutan, based
on our Simputer products. We signed the deal at the recent WSIS
meeting. Our partners can help you with all of the issues you
describe. More comments below.
> > Impression on Hyderabad YES Regional Forum 2003 - by
> > Delegates from Bhutan
> >
> > We feel most fortunate to take part in the YES Hyderabad
> > Forum 14th Dec.-18th Dec. 2003.
> > We thank YES Team members, especailly the most
> > diligent Madam Poonam, Mr.Fred, Mr.Dumi and Madam Puneetha
> > of EDC Boston, USA, for giving us this golden opportunity
> > to take part in the Forum and expose ourselve and cement our
> > relationship with different Nations with one vision "Youth
> > Employment".
oneVillage Foundation has been working on Youth Employment
programs in Africa, and would be delighted to discuss how their
programs could be adapted to your circumstances.
The plan, in outline, begins by having youth groups assemble
computers from parts and sell them at a modest markup. Their
products are thus much less expensive than complete imported
systems. Then they can get paid with their first computer, and
begin to learn how to use, maintain, and administer ICT. We have
an integrated development plan that calls for ICT training and
creation of ICT employment at universities and other educational
institutions, and in villages also. This in turn depends on
programs to increase agricultural productivity and profits, to
allow villages to form agricultural cooperatives on a local,
national, or even international scale, to support village
entrepreneurs, and much more.
Microcredit is an essential part of the program. We are
partnering with the Grameen Foundation USA in its Village
Computing Project, and with the village banking system of the
Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka.
> > We are more indebted to the Regional Forum
> > Invitation Committee for inviting our delegation to YES
> > Hyderabad Regional Forum. And of course we are highly
> > obliged with Hon'ble Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu
> > who committed to make happen such an august campaign
> > at our doorstep with excellent arrangements. The best of
> > the display was the enthralling hospitality which
> > captivated the hearts and souls and brought the
> > congregation closer together.
>
> > The Forum opens with lighting the lamp by the Chief
> > Minister, in presence of State Ministers and high ranking
> > dignitaries adorned with festivities of cultural
> > extravaganza. The next four-day deliberations progresses
> > with discussions and sharings on the various vital concerns.
> > Principally, the water and sanitation,HIV/AIDS, Renewable
> > Energy, On-farm and Off-farm technology, and ICT were the
> > most identified sectors which can help in tackling
> > unemployment issues and create sustainable livelihood.
The oneVillage Foundation has programs for water, sanitation,
HIV/HIV/AIDS, Renewable Energy, On-farm and Off-farm technology,
and more, and Encore Technologies together with many other
partners has the ICT technology--not just the hardware, but
software, training, and organization for education, health,
economic opportunity, e-governance, and much more.
> > Participating in this Forum was a privilege, which gave us
> > chance to hone our capabilities by meeting and exchanging
> > ideas with people of varied nations and communities and
> > re-think to create a homely living home in our community.
The most important aspect of ICT for the villages is giving
several billion more people a voice in the conversation about
their future. They will have a lot to talk about.
Networking and contact management are critical to what we are
trying to do. Please look at my Ryze page,
http://www.ryze.com/go/Cherlin
and at the links to my friends on Ryze that you will find there.
Many of them have programs that would be of value to Bhutan. (Of
the various networking sites I have tried, Ryze is by far the
most effective.)
> > At this hour of emerging problems of youth unemployment this
> > Forum was an eye opener to all the perplexed societies which
> > unfolds solutions with myriads of opportunities for
> > all-round improvement of the unemployees through varied
> > sectors. The esence of it , to put into practice in our
> > country, suited to our geographical location, I recommend
> > are:
> >
> > 1. Renewable Energy: Renewable energy is found to be viable
> > and sustainable option in our country for youth employment
> > as well as environmental conservation. To exploit this
> > treasure we need to commit three-fold efforts. Firstly,
> > build awareness; secondly, engage multi-stakeholder
> > dialogues and thirdly, train the local youth to harness
> > natural resources.The country possesses an abundance of
> > natural resources and excellence of natural beauty in which
> > we can open resorts and promenade to attract more tourists
> > which could generate funds for employees by itself.
Our partners can provide affordable solar, water, wind, biomass
(alcohol or methane) and other renewable energy systems in
appropriate forms to meet individual, village, or regional
needs, and more importantly can teach people how to make their
own, primarily using local resources.
> > 2. Water and Sanitation: 80% of the population live in the
> > rural areas. Owing to the mountaineous terrain and lack of
> > improved water supply maximum people are affected.
> > Therefore, considerable employment opportunities can be
> > created in this sector to boost up water and sanitation and
> > enhance living standard.
There are simple, low-cost measures which people can take today
to make the available water supplies much safer. There is also
technology in the reach of villages to improve their water
supplies, again using local resources.
> > 3. Information and Communication Technology: ICT is learnt
> > to the vital source of edutainment. It is a means of
> > exposure.It has created one people,one world. Open knowledge
> > network is the essence of ICT.It is a tool to bridge a gap
> > between fortunate and deprived.
We don't like to talk that way. We mean to obliterate the gap.
The economics of computers and communications are quite different
from any earlier technology. As George Bernard Shaw said, "If I
have an apple and you have an orange, and we exchange them, then
I have an orange and you have an apple. But if I have an idea
and you have an idea, and we exchange them, we each have two
ideas."
Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) is one of the keys to this new
treasure house. The Open Source textbook movement is another.
The gradually accelerating move to free distribution of
electronic scientific journals is yet another. After all, Tim
Berners-Lee invented the World-Wide Web specifically to share
preprints of high-energy physics papers around the world.
> > Thanks to the modern
> > technology. This is a platform where youths can discover
> > their destiny and unfurl their barricades themselves. We
> > have youth unemployment problems but ICT makes youth
> > themselves a solution. This is possible through maximum
> > youth accessibility to ICT.
> >
> > To conclude, we are very much inspired by Mr.Pervaiz
> > Tufail's saying "We are not part of the problem, we are the
> > solution; we are not useless, we are used less; we are not
> > careless, we are cared less."
> >
> > We are confident that we will be able to implement what we
> > have learnt in this YES Forum, long way to go and so much to
> > learn,working hand in hand with dedicated and hardworking
> > Youth leaders of the World under the same umbrella of YES
> > Sectretarist Team Members' aspiration!!!!! Without your
> > guidance and encouragement,we would have never been part YES
> > Campaign..
> >
> > Tashi Delek! (Thank you) for being our backbone!!!!!!
> >
> > Ms. Dechen Wangmo
> > YES Bhutan Coordinator
-- Edward Cherlin, Simputer Evangelist Encore Technologies (S) Pte. Ltd. Computers for all of us http://www.ryze.com/go/Cherlin[this message first appeared on the LearningChannel.org Education list. This list is a project of OneWorld's LearningChannel.org (www.learningchannel.org). For the archives of this discussion, visit: http://www.dgroups.org/groups/education/ To send message:education@dgroups.org]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 01/16/04 EST