ICTA concludes second round of e-Society Grants

LAUNCH: The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) launched the e-Society Development Initiative under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take Sri Lanka into a new era where all sections of society would reap the benefits of ICT.

By facilitating more balanced access to information within Sri Lankan society, it is expected that the e-SDI will help in closing the development divide between urban and rural areas and contribute to the broader national objectives of development, growth and peace.

Since its launch two years ago, the Agency has initiated 72 projects under the Community Assistance Programme and 8 projects under the Partnership Assistance Programme. Although it was expected that, even with wide publicity, the response of rural communities to the e-SDI would be marginal in the first year, ICTA received over 190 applications.

By interacting closely with these communities, ICTA has received innovative projects off the ground. These include a "Do- You-Know" contest run across 25 Nenasalas with internet chat which attracted 225 applicants; a project to assist job seekers; creation of local content in local language; remote medical consultation and a host of other projects which have directly addressed the needs of remote rural communities.

Projects using ICT to access learning have deployed computer aided teaching systems and some have also proposed digitisation of question papers of past public examinations. Income generation projects seek to develop market access through better informed pricing, direct access to buyers and sellers.

Communities producing traditional handicrafts which are bought by big businesses at a pittance have sought a wider market by placing their products online.

There have also been projects which seek to document the wealth of knowledge in rural Sri Lanka - traditional herbal remedies, folklore - which is in danger of being lost to future generations. Documenting this knowledge and making it easily available to the general public would not only put these villages 'on the map', it would attract more visitors thereby boosting incomes.

Projects initiated under the Partnership Assistance Programme have resulted in the development of two important educational applications. Shilpa Sayura which enables self learning in 8 subjects from grades 6 through to 11 through an interactive programme and an English Teaching Programme.

Shilpa Sayura has already been successfully deployed in several remote areas while the English Teaching Programme is to be deployed shortly.

A special project for assisting the print for disabled has produced 60 Digital Talking Books in Sinhala and Tamil. English text books for grade 6 to 13 are also being produced in fully audio and text synchronised format for the benefit of visually handicapped children.

Aurally handicapped children and their caregivers will benefit from the sign language software which will soon be deployed through several schools for the deaf.

Other projects initiated through the e-SDI include a Video Audio Tri Lingual Disaster Alert System using an existing FM radio frequency and capacity building of rural micro enterprises through interactive local language industrial content.

Another noteworthy project is being implemented in three Divisional Secretariats in the Jaffna District which addresses incidences of domestic violence against women and seeks to empower women through ICT.