Does IT work for all?
Exploring new ways in which IT can bridge the information gap

January 29th -30th , 2003

VOICES, in collaboration with FES, New Delhi & MCRP University, Bhopal, facilitated & participated in a consultation on “IT for Social Transformation & Empowerment”, held in Bhopal. The consultation focused on the role of IT in empowering marginalized communities such as the rural poor, women, victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy etc. The proceedings included discussions on govt. policy and case studies of practical applications such as the role of radio as a key information & communication technology in the rural sector & the development of software packages in the vernacular.

December 11th -12th , 2002

VOICES , in collaboration with FES, New Delhi, facilitated and participated in a consultation on “IT & Social Change”, held in Bangalore. The emphasis was on IT as any medium or technology, including computers, which facilitated information collection & dissemination, instead of IT being restricted to computers only. In this context, the consultation focused on IT-led initiatives pertinent to transparency & accountability in governance & the role of citizens’ engagement .

October 28th-30th, 2002

VOICES, in collaboration with FES , New Delhi, conducted a workshop on basic website construction and maintenance, held in Bangalore. The workshop was aimed at NGOs who do not have a website and who do not have enough resources for getting one developed. Participants were trained on developing a basic website and are being given some free webspace onto which they can upload their organizational webspace as they create it. Participants included NGOs working with the rural poor, the visually impaired , speech & hearing impaired etc.

August 1st-3rd, 2002

VOICES facilitated and participated in a UNESCO Consultation Meeting held in Bangalore. The objective of the meeting was to assess the impact of Information Communication Technology for poverty reduction. Thirty resource persons from all around Asia and Communication experts from London and Australia participated in the meeting and presented various case studies and proposals.