Grameen Gyan Abhiyan (Rural Knowledge Network) is a multi-stakeholder alliance advocating the use of ICTs to empower rural communities through the establishment of rural knowledge centres. This case study illustrates planning, implementation and development of a mass movement-oriented advocacy campaign to bring ICT access to rural India. Building on an initiative of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in South India in 1998 that tested the concept of Village Knowledge Centres, the project evolved into the campaign “Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre” with the goal of extending the benefits of ICT access to 600,000 villages in India. The case study describes the evolution of the campaign from small beginnings into a mass movement that has influenced similar initiatives in Asia and Africa and has mobilised high-level support from public, private and civil society organisations.

This case study reports on five years of advocacy for policy change in Nigeria to enable the establishment of community radio services. It has been included in the toolkit as an illustration of the challenges of campaigning for ICT policy change. At the time of writing there is still no community radio in Nigeria. A well-organised campaign, launched in 2003, has built a substantial civil society coalition and gained commitments of support from government, politicians, the broadcast regulator, civil society organisations and international development agencies. Yet the goal of the campaign remains elusive and the advocacy effort has required continuing renewal. The case study highlights some lessons learned: the pace of change can be uneven and unpredictable; key decision makers in government may be replaced, requiring new relations to be established; commitments to change may not translate into action, particularly when they are not backed by political will; advocacy campaigns require sustained access to resources if they are to maintain consistent and effective pressure.

Advocacy is the active support of an idea or cause expressed through strategies and methods that influence the opinions and decisions of people and organisations. In the social and economic development context the aims of advocacy are to create or change policies, laws, regulations, distribution of resources or other decisions that affect people’s lives and to ensure that such decisions lead to implementation.1 Such advocacy is generally directed at policy makers including politicians, government officials and public servants but also private sector leaders whose decisions impact upon peoples lives, as well as those whose opinions and actions influence policy makers, such as journalists and the media, development agencies and large NGOs. By “pro-poor advocacy” we mean advocacy for political decision and action that responds to the interests of people who directly face poverty and disadvantage. For those pursuing the goal of equitable and pro-poor ICT access, advocacy is appropriate where existing ICT policies have the effect of reinforcing poverty and discrimination or when appropriate ICT policy change could be expected to improve poor people’s lives and livelihoods. As part of a wider programme of support for pro-poor ICT access, advocacy can assist to increase the impact and mainstreaming of results.

This is a list of online resources for the Policy and Regulation Module

This case study looks at different approaches to extending fibre backbone into rural areas. Market forces alone are unlikely to extend optical fibre backbone into rural areas, where access to high bandwidth and reliable internet access can contribute significantly to a comprehensive pro-poor ICT policy. Even more than in urban areas, high bandwidth services such as videoconferencing can open opportunities to poor communities in terms of service provision and communication and can also support the aggregation of usage of low-bandwidth services such as e-banking, VoIP telephony and delivery of some public services. There are various options for the provision of rural broadband backbone, from direct investment by a government-owned operator (as in India), to the provision of “open access” fibre backbone through a public/private consortium (as proposed in parts of Africa), to mechanisms that encourage infrastructure sharing and build complementary infrastructure. Funds can be raised through a variety of universal access mechanisms, and significant savings are possible through providing shared backhaul services to mobile operators who otherwise tend to build low-bandwidth dedicated solutions. Once fibre is available to rural communities, further mechanisms can be designed to extend the services and benefits to poor users.

FITEL in Peru offers an early and successful example of a universal access fund adopting an innovative approach to achieving access in rural areas, now widely replicated: the lowest-subsidy auction. This is an efficient mechanism for minimising the subsidy required for commercial telecoms companies to extend the network into non-commercial areas, by awarding the contract to the bidder seeking the lowest subsidy. Despite shortcomings, this pioneering programme brought a number of social benefits, and activities have since expanded from public telephony to include internet access.

This overview synthesises key issues and emerging options in the area of ICT policy and regulation as they affect access and affordability for poor people and communities.

This document discusses the importance of pro-poor ICT access, the different tools and technologies available and the major barriers the poor in developing countries face to bridge the access gap. The modules in this toolkit will look at the experiences and lessons in pro-poor ICT access provision in terms of:

Policy and regulatory issues

The implementation of projects at the community level

Advocacy strategies and approaches

Universal access, freedom of expression and invoking the accountability of states are not possible without affordable, equitable access to communications infrastructure. In a world where access and opportunities are unevenly distributed, many information and communication technology (ICT) enthusiasts are developing innovative new solutions to bring people inside the communications revolution. The Pro-poor ICT Access Toolkit is a resource that outlines the issues relating to equitable access as well as case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia.