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| Source: http://www.iicd.org/stories/ |
| Author : Krishna V.Sane Date added : 2000-08-29 Brief Project Background An important question confronting many societies is how to bring the physically and/or socially disabled sector into the mainstream applications of emerging technologies (e.g. information technology). A 18 month pilot project, sponsored by the Information for Development(InfoDev) Program of the World Bank, is designing a computer skill program tailored to meet the employment needs of low-income and socially disabled women. The InfoDev Project titled SITA (Studies in Information Technology Applications : Training in Computer skills for Low-income Women) is hoping that its initiative will become self-evolving and self-sustaining in due course. Results Introduction
Small batches of selected trainees are given intensive hands-on computer training based on real life exercises using Ms Office 2000. Wherever possible, each trainee is attached to a potential employer. At the end of the course, successful trainees are given a Certificate and assistance in getting employment. The entire training program is totally free but every trainee is required to offer part-time services as an assistant to a Trainer, after completing her course. Project SITA has so far registered 427 needy applicants. It also has developed a Resource Package consisting of
Success Stories: The story of SITA is connected the story of Kiran Arora. Unfortunate family circumstances forced Kiran to learn sufficient computer skills so that she could earn an amount adequate to support her family and the education of her child. Her extra-ordinary tenacity fuelled by difficulties and disappointments and her better-than-average aptitude to learn computer skills, has turned Kiran into a role model for SITA trainees. Her success story - Kiran is now the Head Instructor and a self-reliant DTP professional - is an inspiration for other members of the trainer group. Amongst the large number of students trained by Kiran, special mention has to be made of the following individuals who constitute the Core Group of SITA. Archana, the Senior Instructor in Project, has specialised in DTP and multimedia skills. She is also involved in the development and testing of the Resource Package. Archana is a key member of the team formulating the follow-up to SITA described later. Yasmeen comes from an orthodox Muslim family. But unlike her two sisters and four brothers, she is not only a graduate; she has also acquired computer skills which have today made her self-reliant. Moreover, she is involved in the processing of a mathematics book and is able to support her family, 16 year old Gulshan is the eldest of 5 children with a father - the sole earner - who was recently incapacitated by an accident. Her rapid progress in picking up basic computer skills has given hope to her family that the day may not be far off when they can again expect some regular income. Shanti (the Office Assistant in SITA) and her illiterate husband are unable to give proper schooling to their two very bright children but the availability of SITA computers next door has enabled her 12 year old son Raju to show his learning skills while his 7 year old sister Puja is finding that arithmetic and spellings can also be fun if you have a tutor who uses multimedia CDs. Introducing computers to disadvantaged children - a side benefit of SITA-is going to be pursued vigorously by some of the Project trainers. Kamal Kumar underwent the traumatic experience at the age of 5 of seeing his mother burnt alive in a family dispute. Unable to complete even school, he drifted from place to place until he found a priest in a temple to look after him four years ago. Kiran has played a major role in Kamal's rehabilitation. With an above-average ability, Kamal has now learnt quite a few vocational skills with particular emphasis on servicing hardware and computer maintenance. The future There is no doubt that the one year old InfoDev initiative SITA has helped to focus on a matter of widespread concern namely How to secure a few lanes on the information highway which the not-so-fortunate can use in such a manner that some of them are even able to overtake some of their more fortunate fast- track colleagues? International appreciation of the Project's modest beginning has come through selection of SITA as a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2000 competition in June. Invitations to showcase the Project have come from various places e.g. U.K. in June, Malaysia in October and Canada in November. The trainees have acquired enough confidence and skills to start preparing for entering in the ebizchallenge competition in Dubai and the Pirelli International Award 2000 competition in Rome. One pleasant experience of the Project is that though a typical SITA trainee has limited reading, writing and communication skills coupled with low-confidence levels, most of them have achieved commendable proficiency in basic computer-skills. A not-so-pleasant fact is that a majority of 300 women trained by SITA so far have failed to find jobs. This has also resulted in a high drop out rate. Even though the underlying socio-economic factors are complex and not easy to overcome, SITA is determined to overcome this unanticipated problem. Field trials have shown that small teams of SITA trainees can undertake contract work like data entry, making Visiting Cards, Letterheads, Posters or processing DTP manuscripts etc . This approach has the great merit that a fresh trainee need not wait for a formal placement to start earning but she can be paired in a team with a senior trainee who can help her not only in gaining practical experience but who can also share a part of her earning. An electronic co-operative In as much as learning and earning have to go hand in hand if a SITA-type project is to survive and grow, it is proposed to establish an electronic cooperative SHRANKHALA (Sanskrit for 'chain') with a Training Wing TALIM (Urdu for 'total education') and a Jobwork Wing PRAYAS (Hindi for 'effort') which will network the trainees and the trainers. The Training Wing will carry on as per the strategy developed under Project SITA. However, this Wing will now introduce the `learn now-pay later' scheme so that needy women can avail free training but pay the fees in affordable instalments after joining the Jobwork Wing. The coop - an organisation for women and by women - will use a judicious mix of contact mode and distance mode for training and for collecting/distributing jobwork. To summarize, Kamalni's wish to empower socially disabled women through Informatics has taken shape in the form of InfoDev initiated Project SITA. It now appears that the unsparing efforts of Kiran and the Project team will lead to institutionalisation of the idea through SHRANKHALA - an electronic cooperative by women for women. Lessons Project Information Organisation : -Total budget in US$ : - Contact Information Krishna V.Sane |
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