OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Geneva: 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 part of the OneWorld official delegation to PrepCom 3.

Basu expressed his pleasure at being able to speak at such a platform. “I am truly fortunate to have the opportunity to speak in the presence of such an august gathering, and would like to thank all of you on behalf of my community, my country and my fellow grassroots community workers who are also members of the Grassroots Caucus, but are not present here today”, he said. However, he also expressed his concern regarding the engagement of grassroots voices at WSIS. “It makes me very happy to know that governments and big organisations are discussing the formation of an information society, but are they taking into account our needs in this entire process?” he asked.

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 all forms of media had cannot be ignored.

Financial constraint was another concern voiced by many, 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.