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SIGN
UP TO THE
WSIS
GRASSROOTS CAUCUS RECOMMENDATIONS
An
Information Society for the Grassroots
We
the members of grassroots caucus firmly believe that the success of an
information society can be directly measured through its impact on the
quality
of lives at the grassroots.� Grassroots
communities should be recognised as one of the key stakeholders in the
formation of information societies and not merely as beneficiaries.� Grassroots communities should be given an
active role in the planning, implementation and monitoring stages of
forming
Information Societies.
GRASSROOTS
CAUCUS RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE
WSIS PLAN OF ACTION
1.
Grassroots
communities should be consulted in the process of
managing finances for ICT4D to prioritise areas of funding such as
capacity
building and content development.
2.
Ownership
for management
and
running of Rural Information
Centres
should lie with the grassroots communities.
3.
Government/private
sector to ensure that the required ICT
infrastructure facilities are made available at the grassroots such
that the
costs for ICT services could be recovered from the grassroots.��
4.
Capacity
Building
of grassroots communities
to own, operate and manage
telecentres should be recognised as the prime need.
5.
Capacity
building through training, South�South
and North-South Learning exchange programmes has
to be ensured as a priority.
6.
Grassroots
communities should be recognised and acknowledged as repositories of Local Knowledge.
7.
Grassroots
communities should be actively engaged at all stages
of locale-specific content
management
such as needs assessment, content aggregation and dissemination based
on the
their own needs.
8.
Value
added relevant content
has to be
made available at the telecentres based on grassroots needs.
9.
For
the grassroots communities, content should be a judicious blend of local and global
knowledge.
10.
Content
flow should involve a top down and bottom up approach.
11.
Content
has
to be provided in the local
language of the
communities.
12.
Information
Societies should be sensitive to the needs of women, children, youth,
disabled
and marginalised groups.
13.
Information
Societies should respect
the cultural practices
and safeguard the traditional
diversity that exists
in grassroots communities.
14.
Traditional
Media
like folk, print, audio and video
have to be recognised as key sources of information dissemination at
the
grassroots.
15.
Information
Societies must ensure Equitable
Access to
Knowledge, breaking the barriers of social status, religion,
gender,
economic status, language, literacy and age at the grassroots.
Secretariat
of Grassroots Caucus
OneWorld
South Asia
basheerhamad.shadrach@oneworld.net
Grassroots
are:
-
Communities, many of whom are living below poverty line with minimum
literacy level and a limited knowledge base.
-
Community Based Organisations (CBOs) who are directly working with
grassroots communities, enabling them to acquire more
information and knowledge to improve their quality of life.
-
CBOs stationed in the target community and comprising of members from
the community. .
-
NGO who work with the CBOs and are indirectly in touch with grassroots
communities.
www.grassroots-caucus.org
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