Livelihoods / Moyens de subsistance

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    Reaching the Unreached: Community Based Village Knowledge Centres and Village Resources Centres
    (2010) Nanda, Suchit; Arunachalam, Subbiah; Nanda, Suchit; Arunachalam, Subbiah
    The book explores the history, initiatives and achievements of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF). These include the bio-village initiative, designed to encourage the development of market driven on-farm and non-farm enterprises, and unskilled to skilled work through the sustainable use of natural resources; as well as the Village Through the VKCs (Village Knowledge Centres). The aim is to bridge the digital divide and thus address social exclusion and poverty associated with it. Through Village Resource Centres and VKC information and technology communication for development (ICT4D) strategies many communities in India have been positively impacted.
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    Report of Writeshop : a Writeshop to enhance the capacities of IDRC post Tsunami project partner in India on documentation, 29 September 2009 – 02 October 2009
    (Association for Stimulating Know How (ASK), Gurgaon, Haryana, IN, 2009)
    To assist researchers in understanding the importance of project documentation, a post-tsunami workshop was coordinated for practitioners in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction, and community resilience building, to help build capacities to document research and practice: being able to conceptualize the narrative text, comprising conceptual, technical [field tested methods (tools) and approaches (process)] and stories of community change (case studies). The writeshop facilitator and participants shared suggestions and comments for improving content for case studies.
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    Strengthening resilience in tsunami-affected communities : coastal bioshields, livelihood development, and village knowledge centres in India and Sri Lanka; final report (April 2006 to March 2009)
    (M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, IN, 2009) M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
    Mangrove and non-mangrove bioshields, livelihood development and diversification, and information and communications for resilience: all were addressed in this project. The project linked ecological rehabilitation, livelihood development, and access to information, through building local capacities of affected coastal communities and grassroots partner organizations. With participation of community and strategic partners, mangrove bioshield is established in about 280 ha, and non-mangrove bioshield in 27 ha and these strategies are showing promising results. Project components include community mobilization and organization, establishment of mangrove and non-mangrove bioshield, establishment of Village Resource and Village Knowledge Centres, strengthening livelihoods, and community-based disaster risk reduction.
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    Global Communications Newsletter, October 2010
    (IEEE Communications Society, 2010) Bregni, Stefano
    Broadband Internet should be considered an indispensable service to an information-driven society. This newsletter provides topical information, events and effects of ICTs in development. More specifically in this issue: the FCC plan to increase faster web access and innovation in telecommunications, making connectivity available to poor and rural communities; the iREACH rural empowerment programme in Cambodia; and workshops and conferences in Lebanon and India.
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    How iREACH has contributed to local communities
    (Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health (iREACH), KH, 2009) Grunfeld, Helena; Hak, Sokleap; Pin, Tara
    The Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health (iREACH), an ICT4D pilot project in Cambodia funded by International Development Research Center (IDRC), started in 2006. Using primary data from field research and secondary data from desk studies, the paper reports on whether and how iREACH has contributed to capabilities, empowerment, and sustainability (CES). The findings suggest iREACH has propelled communities along the CES virtuous spiral by contributing to capabilities in education, health, agriculture, and community cooperation. It has had an empowering influence particularly for women, who are now more involved in community activities. Community sustainability has improved through better farming skills.
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    Connecting communities - improving livelihoods
    (2011) ENRAP
    The focus of the issue is improvement of rural livelihoods through the use of ICTs. Tailor made information delivery to farmers in five Indian villages via mobile phone technology, has resulted in an increase of net income by 15% in one of the studies. The aim was to develop and provide last mile accessibility tools through short message service (SMS) to farmers’ mobile phones. The bulletin also covers the use of ICTs among casual workers in Sri Lanka to improve livelihoods of the rural poor by matching them with employers.
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    i4d (information for development) : gender and ICTs, vol. VII no. 7, July-September 2009
    (Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, 2009) Gupta, Ravi
    i4d contains articles, case studies and essays on the theme of ‘ICT for development’ (ICT4D) and related issues. The articles in this issue provide new ideas regarding gender and technology, covering topics such as the ‘Networking for Success’ project, initiated to train Nigerian women activists in use of web 2.0 tools; Gender empowerment and ICT4D in relation to Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health (iREACH); ICTs and illiteracy eradication; alongside many other ICT projects aimed at overcoming the digital divide and securing sustainable livelihoods through ICT4D.
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    Outcome mapping learning community : newsletter no. 1, 2009
    (ODI, London, GB, 2009) Cardoso, Eva; Hearn, Simon
    The Outcome Mapping Learning Community is a global group of over 1200 individuals dedicated to collective learning and sharing of knowledge around Outcome Mapping (OM). The focus of this issue is complementary approaches and tools for OM. The newsletter also shares new resources and upcoming events - in particular the 2nd Outcome Mapping Users Conference in Uruguay, organized by the Latin America Centre for Outcome Mapping (CLAMA). Articles in the issue demonstrate a number of OM approaches, experiences, and tools that have been tried and tested by members of the OM community.
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    iREACH : lessons from a community owned ICT network in Cambodia
    (Information Science Reference, Hershey, PA , US, 2011) Grunfeld, Helena; Siochrú, Seán Ó; Unger, Brian; Im, Sarun
    The Informatics for Rural Empowerment and Community Health (iREACH) project in Cambodia invited community members to become active participants in the production of the ICT environment, including the physical infrastructure, management, training, capacity building, content development and use. Two pilot community-owned networks in poor rural areas comprise both a cluster of local telecentres (10 in each area) and a mini-telecoms enterprise run by the communities. The paper describes the iREACH approach which focuses on capacity building in all aspects associated with operating a telecommunications business. Gender equality, livelihood matters, and governance issues also characterise the project.
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    Improving rural livelihoods in Bhutan through addressing identified information needs : a study of two community information centres; final report
    (Department of Information technology, Ministry of Information and Communication, Thimphu, BT, 2008) Namgay Wangchuk
    The report highlights two Community Information Centres: at Kuenga Rabten, Trongsa; and Tangmachu, Lhuentse in Bhutan. The centres were provided with dial-up and broadband (VSAT) Internet connection. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony service was installed in Tangmachu covering 78 households using Wi-Fi technology. The paper provides details of the project, outcomes and outputs
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    Homeworkers and ICTs : South-East Asia; regional report
    (eHomemakers (Corpcom Services Sdn Bhd), MY, 2006) Chong Sheau Ching; Czarina Saloma; Tham Lai Chun; Wong Peck Lin; Sumathi Dilling
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    Impact of ICT carried livelihood information on rural communities of Bangladesh (October, 2005-June, 2007)
    (Development Research Network (D.Net), BD, 2005) Raihan, Ananya; Hasan, Mahmud
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    Research into the development and effective use of ICT-enabled rural extension system in Afghanistan : final technical report
    (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Andhra Pradesh, IN, 2007) International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
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    Fostering sustainable disaster resilient communities : a concept paper, v2.1
    (LIRNEasia, Colombo, LK, 2008) Udu-gama, Natasha
    The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami highlighted the need for disaster risk reduction actions to minimize the harm that can be caused by hazards in general and by rapid-onset, large-scale geographical hazards such as cyclones and tsunamis. In 2006-07 LIRNEasia and Sarvodaya conducted a pilot project to evaluate last-mile hazard information systems in 32 tsunami-affected villages, in the context of Sarvodaya's strategic commitment to make all of their 15,000 villages (around 40% of the total in Sri Lanka) disaster resilient. Based on the research, it was concluded that disaster resilience would require a focus on village organization and an effective melding of communication over time (through contingency planning, training and simulations) and communication over space (using ICTs found to be effective in the pilot project). It is also necessary to have a hazard information hub (HIH) that functions on a 24/7 basis and effective protocols and procedures for its efficient and reliable operation. The planning, training and simulations have to be done on a continuing basis with the trainers returning to each organized village at regular intervals…
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    Two complementary mobile technologies for disaster risk reduction through warning
    (LIRNEasia, Colombo, LK, 2008) Samarajiva, Rohan; Waidyanatha, Nuwan
    Disaster risk reduction is a core function of government. It is possible to significantly improve this government function using mobile application and leveraging the explosive diffusion of the technology even among the poor in developing countries. Coordination within government, including communication to first responders responsible for evacuation and localized warnings, and communication to mass media who serve a critical function in public warning, can be achieved through the use of an SMS engine supplemented as necessary by an informative and robust website. Cell broadcasting can serve as an extremely useful addition to the conventional public warning methods, especially in countries with significant mobile penetration.
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    Evaluating last-mile hazard information dissemination : a research proposal
    (LIRNEasia, Colombo, LK, 2008) Samarajiva, Rohan
    This is a comprehensive and detailed report regarding implementation of a first-responders ICT strategy for emergency communication and disaster management in Sri Lanka. The project showed that ICTs can be incorporated into communities and form a critical infrastructure. However, from a technical perspective all ICTs used in the hazard information dissemination system (HazInfo Pilot) need upgrading to receive Complete Full-CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) messages before their use in the Last-Mile Communities of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan society is not used to working according to plans, nor adhering to concepts of deadlines. Disastrous weather events and ongoing civil conflicts are impediments to pilot project planning.
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    Hazard warnings in Sri Lanka : challenges of internetworking with common alerting protocol
    (ISCRAM, Brussels, BE, 2007) Gow, Gordon; Anderson, Peter; Waidyanatha, Nuwan
    There is a growing call for the use of open source content standards for all-hazards, all-media alert and notification systems. This paper presents findings on the implementation of Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as a content standard for a community-based hazard information network in Sri Lanka. CAP is being deployed as part of the HazInfo project, which has established last-mile networking capability for 32 tsunami-affected villages in Sri Lanka in order to study the suitability of various Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for a standards-based community hazard information system. Results to date suggest that the basic internetworking arrangement at lower technical layers has proven to be reasonably robust and reliable but that a key challenge remains in the upper layers of application software and content provision. This is evident in the apparent difficulties faced when implementing CAP messaging over multiple last-mile systems that include commercial satellite and terrestrial network technologies (C/L/X-Band, GSM, and CDMA in modes of voice and text). Lessons learned from silent tests and live exercises point to several key bottlenecks in the system where the integrity of CAP messages is compromised due to problems associated with software interoperability or direct human intervention. The wider implication of this finding is that content standards by themselves are not sufficient to support appropriate and timely emergency response activities. Those working with content standards for hazard information systems must consider closely the interoperability issues at various layers of interconnectivity.
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    Last-Mile Hazard Warnings System : evaluation of a pilot for a national implementation plan
    (IEICE, Tokyo, JP, 2008) Waidyanatha, Nuwan
    The plan of the Community-based Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS) is to complement the efforts at the National and Global levels by preparing the last-mile communication segment of an end-to-end hazard detection and notification chain of systems. While the main focus in the world is on detection and monitoring systems very little or no emphasis is given to ‘last-mile’ segment of a National Early Warning System (NEWS). The LM-HWS pilot phase completed in May 2007 deployed and assessed various alert and notification Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and the relevant processes intended to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to natural and manmade hazards in the last-mile of Sri Lanka. The project adopts an “all-hazards, all-media” approach designed around a set of five wireless communication technologies. The pilot project involved deployment, training, and field-testing of the technologies, in various combinations, across 32 tsunami-affected villages, using Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) for data interchange with content provided in three languages (English, Sinhalese and Tamil). This paper reports on findings from a series of field tests conducted in Sri Lanka to compare the performance of the centralized message five ‘last-mile’ devices with their relative effectiveness in terms of alert and notification capabilities. One finding indicate that overall performance of the alert and notification system is enhanced when a village is equipped with a technology combination that enhances “complimentary redundancy” in reliability and effectiveness. Second finding indicates that the reliability can be enhanced by introducing a Multilanguage single input multiple output software application (i.e. CAP Broker) at the central message relay. Further implications of these findings for planning and future research are discussed. Third aspects of the findings imply that the first responders require rigorous training and certification in emergency communication to avoid ambiguity and misinformation. The Last-Mile Hazard Warning System takes an all-hazards all-media approach in reacting to global and local hazard warnings The LM-HWS project is pioneering this work providing policy makers in the region with assessment methods and analytics to justify the best practices in deploying a communication system for multi-hazard alerting and notification.
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    Challenges of optimizing common alerting protocol for SMS based GSM devices in last-mile hazard warnings in Sri Lanka
    (LIRNEasia, Colombo, LK, 2008) Waidyanatha, Nuwan; Dias, D.; Purasinghe, H.
    The aim of the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS) is to deploy various alert and notification wireless technologies intended to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to natural and manmade hazards in Sri Lanka. The project adopts an “all-hazards, all-media” approach designed around a set of five wireless communication technologies. The pilot project entitled, “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination”, or the “HazInfo Project”, involved deployment, training, and field-testing of the technologies, in various combinations, across 32 tsunami-affected villages, using the “Common Alerting Protocol ” (CAP) for data interchange with content provided in three languages (English, Sinhalese and Tamil). Results to date suggest that the basic internetworking arrangement at lower technical layers has proven to be reasonably robust and reliable but that a key challenge remains in the upper layers of application software and content provision. This is evident in the apparent difficulties faced when implementing CAP messaging over a LM-HWS that included two GSM Technology solutions. Lessons learned from silent tests and live exercises point to several key bottlenecks in the GSM solutions where the integrity of CAP messages is compromised due to problems associated with technological boundaries, technical difficulties, software interoperability, and direct human intervention. Those working with content standards and development of software for hazard information systems must consider closely the interoperability issues at various layers of interconnectivity as well as compromising technological uncertainty caused by human mishaps. As field trials suggest, text based alerting such as cell broadcasting (or short message services) can not be introduced for public alerting until a common content standard is agreed upon that takes into consideration the restrictions imposed as a result of miniaturization of mobile handheld devices that prevent from displaying unambiguous alert messages. This paper reports on findings from a series of field tests conducted in Sri Lanka to compare the reliability of the two GSM solutions with their relative effectiveness in terms of alert and notification capabilities in the last-mile of an early warning system
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    Community-based hazard warning in Sri Lanka : miniaturization assessment of terminal devices in the last-mile link
    (LIRNEasia, Colombo, LK, 2008) Waidyanatha, Nuwan; Gow, Gordon; Anderson, Peter
    The M=9+ earthquake in Sumatara, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004 at 00:59 GMT triggered destructive tsunami waves, which greatly affected Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, and Thailand. People were caught unawares as there was no warning system in place for tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. Overall it is estimated that more than 250,000 in the region perished. The aim of the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS) was to deploy various alert and notification wireless technologies intended to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to natural and manmade hazards in Sri Lanka. The project adopted an “all-hazards, all-media” approach designed around a set of five wireless communication technologies: Addressable Satellite Radios for Emergency Alerting, Remote Alarm Devices, Mobile Phones, Fixed Phones and Very Small Aperture Terminals. The pilot project entitled, “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination”, or the “HazInfo Project”, involved deployment, training, and field-testing of the technologies, in various combinations, across 32 tsunami-affected villages, using the “Common Alerting Protocol ” (CAP) for data interchange with content provided in three languages (English, Sinhalese and Tamil). The ultimate LM-HWS intentions are to introduce Alerting and Notification to improve the “situational awareness” of all-hazards in 15,000 Sarvodaya embedded Communities in the Island of Sri Lanka. While this paper discusses the overall performance of the LM-HWS its main purpose is to report on one aspect of the effectiveness measure - identifying the need for miniaturized terminal devices that not only can be used during hazard alert and notification but also during the response and recovery stages of the disaster management cycle. The measure introduced gives a set of guidelines for equipment manufacturers as well as a mechanism for planners to set a strategy when introducing terminal devices in to a Last-Mile warning system.