The Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) programme together with Access Development Services (ACCESS) are looking for the ten best case studies to showcase how Information Communication Technology (ICT) has had a positive role to play in Indian agriculture, enhancing the livelihoods of the rural poor. The results will be announced at the Livelihoods Asia Summit 2014.

BACKGROUND:

The role of ICT to enhance food security and support rural livelihoods is increasingly recognised and was officially endorsed at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2003-2005. ICT encompasses many channels including the use of computers, internet, geographical information systems (GIS), mobile phones, videos as well as traditional media such as radio or TV.

Although it is a relatively new phenomenon, evidence of the contribution of ICT to livelihood development and poverty alleviation is becoming increasingly available. Experience over more than one decade has shown that ICT has played a major role in enhancing agricultural production[1], improving market access, capacity building and empowering smallholders. As a result, there is growing interest by governments, the Private Sector and donors to invest and support technological innovations in the livelihood sector.

ICT-based solutions have great potential to reach out to small and marginal farmers who need timely, accessible and cost-effective information. However, the content and methodology of ICT-based solutions is very important – in order to be relevant, information has to be localised and context-specific as this improves the information adoptability for better farm practices.

INDIAN CONTEXT:

There are some very good experiences in India that show how ICT programmes with improved content and methodology meet the 3As - Accessability, Assessability and Application. However, despite the best efforts of ICT-based solutions and e-agriculture initiatives in the Indian context, there is often a critical missing link to bridge the gap between local needs and supply.

Within India, the PACS programme and ACCESS both work with poor, rural, agricultural communities to build sustainable livelihoods.

PACS is funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID). It works in 7 of the poorest states in India, helping socially excluded people (especially women, Muslims, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and people living with disabilities) to claim their rights and entitlements more effectively. In terms of livelihoods, PACS is supporting civil society organisations (CSOs) to work with socially excluded communities to develop sustainable livelihood models and access relevant policies, programmes and institutions to help them grow.

ACCESS is a livelihoods promotion organisation working across India. They focus on incubating innovations and sustainable models for the livelihoods promotion of the poor. ACCESS work at all

levels of the value chain - implementing programmes on the ground, working with CSOs, government departments, the corporate sector and multilateral/bilateral agencies.

CASE STUDY COMPETITION:

To learn more about how ICT and knowledge management has been used in Indian agriculture to improve rural livelihoods, particularly in reference to excluded communities and under-served regions, PACS and ACCESS have come together to launch this case study competition.

The competition aims to identify the ten best model case studies that evidence successful initiatives where technology-led applications have played a major role in enhancing the livelihoods of small holders and the rural poor in India.  These case studies will be brought together in a compendium of successful and model cases for further scale up and replication.

CASE STUDY REQUIREMENTS:

PACS and ACCESS invite case study applications of around 5000 words.

Each case study should focus on one or more of the following thematic areas:

• Increasing crop, livestock and/or fishery productivity through ICT
• Strengthening small holders access to financial services through ICT
• Strengthening agricultural marketing with ICT
• Improving food safety and traceability through ICT
• Enabling better functioning of farmer/producer organisations through ICT
• Including small farmers in the agribusiness value chains via ICT applications
• Increasing efficiency into value chains through technological innovations
• ICT applications for agricultural risk management
• ICT applications in agri & allied extension and advisory services
• Gender equitable ICT development
• Rural Outsourcing Centres (BPOs) as enablers for creating livelihoods for disadvantaged or marginalised communities by establishing meaningful jobs in the IT/BPO industry
  

The case study application itself should include information about:

• The socio-economic conditions and needs of the small farmers within which the programme was initiated and implemented
• The nature of engagement, intervention, support and strategies of the agency for reaching out to smallholders through ICT
• The impact of the programme in promoting sustainable livelihoods of the smallholders using ICT
• The factors that contributed to the success of the programme
• The critical challenges faced
• The issues in achieving scale and sustainability and efforts made by the programme to address them
  

Please note – the applicants need to be working with the organisation/programme on which the case study is being written.

APPLICATION INFORMATION:

·         All interested participants should send their case studies (around 5000 words) to joy@accessdev.org by 10 October 2014

·         Case Studies will be reviewed by an Expert Committee and a shortlist will be announced by 31 October 2014.

·         A compendium of the 10 best initiatives will be released during the Livelihoods Asia Summit in December 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Joy Moitra

ACCESS Development Services

Tel: 011-26510915011-26510915e-mail: joy@accessdev.org