ICTs help poor get access to public services: OWSA report

05 July 2006

New Delhi, July 05: OneWorld South Asia (OWSA), has published reports and tool kits on an four-country action research that establish the role of ICTs in enabling people, to have better access to pro-poor government services.

Using ICTs for development

The two�year action research - Improving transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of pro poor government services � was supported by DFID�s Knowledge and Research (KaR) programme. The research was conducted from January 2004 in Croatia, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. OneWorld South Asia was the international management organisation and also the India country chapter of this research.

The action research, established clearly that ICTs- in their broadest definition � using VOICE as a primary interface, had a role in facilitating transparent and responsive delivery of these services to the poor.

Each of the country teams chose a specific area of research. In Pakistan, the focus was on water and sanitation, in Croatia � waiting lists for surgeries in hospitals, India on access to services in a maternal and child health hospital and in Nigeria on primary education.

ICTs for education

OWSA, is keen to share the learnings from the project with the stakeholders. Towards this, individual country reports from three countries (Croatia, India and Pakistan) and an overall International report have been published to document the learnings.

Importantly country specific and International Toolkits have been developed to provide a step by step guide to stakeholders � NGOs, CBOs, Government Agencies and Policy Makers on how to use ICTs in effective delivery of public services.

Click here for the report.

For more details:

Geeta Sharma
geeta.sharma@oneworld.net
Sr. Programme Manager,
OneWorld South Asia
International Project Manager, DFID KaR Research
http://www.oneworldsouthasia.net

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