Academic discourses in the recent times have highlighted the need for pursuing development strategies that place due emphasize various socio-economic backgrounds, infrastructural strengths and weaknesses of different countries. Within this context, it has also been recognised that developing countries stand to gain as much from sharing knowledge, technology and information within themselves as they might have done by following the dominant developed-to-developing country outflow approach.
Peer-to-peer learning becomes especially relevant in areas like the digital divide, given the sharp differences between the resources and availability of technology in developing and developed nations. However, opportunities for such informed interchanges remain limited to random and scattered events. Grassroots knowledge workers are best positioned to serve as these new learning historians.
Peer to peer learning is all about people involved in similar kind of work and vision getting together to share their experience, activities, learning's and challenges. This learning exchange clubbed with practical learning by visiting the project implementation sites adds value to the learning process. Peer to Peer sharing helps in brining out the right issues and solutions on a common platform of understanding. This knowledge sharing process helps in grassroots communities translating the acquired knowledge into action
ARAVIS, TERI and MSSRF from India and Eastern Province Womens Development Association, Zambia; Mazumbuka Community Radio Station, Zambia; KFM, Uganda; Kubatana and SAFIRE, Zimbabwe from Africa participated in the Exchange Programme, which was organized from 18th March 23rd March, 2005 in India.
The six-day learning exchange programme gave participants a practical overview of various ICT initiatives in India and, more importantly, gave an insight into various models of ICT intervention in rural India. Achieving sustainability was the key to all the initiatives.
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