[WSIS CS-Plenary] Grassroots Caucus at WSIS

[T N Anuradha]

MISSING!! GRASSROOTS VOICES AT WSIS

Community worker from Nepal demands for an Information Society for the
Grassroots

 

OneWorld South Asia on behalf of the Grassroots Caucus organized a side
event "Missing Grassroots Voices" at PrepCom 3 on September 27th.
Grassroots voices have always been missing from policy making fora. The
event started with a film screening on grassroots people sharing their
development concerns and how ICTs could offer possible solutions to
them. This was followed by a presentation by Mr Basudev Dhungana who is
a grassroots community worker from Nepal and representing the grassroots
Caucus at PrepCom 3. The discussion was moderated by Ms Conchita Poncini
from the inetrnational federation of university Women. She is also the
president, NGO Committee on the Status of Women. 

 

Basu expressed his pleasure at being able to speak at such a platform.
However, he also expressed his concern regarding the engagement of
grassroots voices at WSIS. In his presentation Basu raised the key issue
of how the information society is going to address basic human rights
issues whether related to education, health, livelihood options, gender
inequality or environmental concerns. In a situation where 42% men and
78% women in Nepal are illiterate and of the literate only 10%
understand English, is the information society going to be able to reach
these people in their own languages and provide them with relevant
education and information? In a country where only 12 out of every 1000
household has a telephone connection, is there a clear commitment and
plan in the WSIS process of providing equitable and affordable access
and infrastructure to the people which is a pre-condition for
establishing an information society? These were some of the questions
put forth by Basu to the participants.

 

The participants, while endorsing the views presented by Basu, also felt
that there was need for using new and traditional communication
technologies and methods while reaching out to the people. The WSIS
process has largely ignored the potential of media like community radio,
print media or even the more traditional ones like theatre. While it was
certainly important to provide communities with new technologies like
the internet, it needs to be done in synergy with older media as well,
especially those that the community have been using and are comfortable
with. In some instances, mobile telephones had successfully been used by
illiterate men and women to share information and the tremendous
potential of various forms of media cannot be ignored.

 

Financial constraint was another concern voiced, especially for projects
that were working on local content and in local languages. There was a
need for the private sector and governments to pro-actively come forward
and support such projects if the WSIS process is to have a far reaching
impact on the lives of people. 

 

Clearly, the WSIS process needs to take these very relevant concerns
into account as they move forward with finalizing the documents. The
plan of action will have to be based on the premise that the information
society will need to address the very real needs of the people who have
been largely missing from the decisions taken so far. It is still not
too late and is therefore imperative, that grassroots communities be
recognized as key stakeholders in the formation of an information
society and not just as mere beneficiaries.

 

WSIS Grassroots Caucus

 

 

 

 

 
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