PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme - UTM

PAN ASIA 

ICT R&D 

Grants 

Programme 

Brief review of research projects funded by the Programme

PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme 

Primary Contributing Partners 

International Development Research Centre 

PO Box 8500 

Ottawa 

Ontario K1G 3H9 

CANADA 

Tel: (1 613) 2366163 

Fax: (1 613) 5677749 

E-mail: pan@idrc.ca 

Asia-Pacific 

Development 

Information 


Asia-Pacific Development Information 


UNDP-APDIP, 

GPO Box 618, 

Bangkok 10501, Thailand 

Tel: (66-2) 288-1234; 288-2129 

Fax: (66-2) 280-0556 

Email: info@apdip.net 

Asia Pacific Network Information Centre 

PO Box 2131 

Level 1, 33 Park Road 

Milton QLD 4064 

AUSTRALIA 

Tel: (61 7) 38583100 

Fax: (61 7) 38583199 

E-mail: info@apnic.net 

Administrative Partner 

Asian Media Information and Communication Centre 

Jurong Point PO Box 360 

SINGAPORE 916412 

Tel: (65) 67927570 

Fax: (65) 67927129 

E-mail: nanditha@amic.org.sg 

Additional Supporting Organisations 

Internet Society International Secretariat 

1775 Wiehle Ave., Suite 102 

Reston, VA 20190 

USA 

Tel: +1 703 326 9880 

Fax: +1 703 326 9881 

Microsoft Operations Pte Ltd 

1 Marina Boulevard 

#22-01 One Marina Boulevard 

SINGAPORE 018989 

Tel : (65) 6882 8572 

Fax : (65) 6882 8284

CONTENTS: 

Overview ...................................................................................................... 4 

Learning from our partners ...................................................................... 6 

Wireless Internet 

Post Office 

16 

Telemedicine System 

Development 

28 

Life Skills Education 

for Youths 

8 

Character-Based Nastalique 

Font for Urdu 

Regional Geographic 

Information Infrastructure 

36 

Unsung Among Us 

20 

32 

Community - Based Injury 

Surveillance Tracking System 

24 

Internet Exchange 

40 

Distance Learning Programme 

About the ICT Grants Programme ......................................................... 44 

12 

3

This regional information and communication technology 

(ICT) competitive grants programme originated and evolved 

from the PanAsia RnD Grants Programme that was funded by 

the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) 

starting 1997. The current active partners to the programme 

are IDRC, the Asia-Pacific Development Information 

Programme (APDIP), the Asia-Pacific Network Information 

Center (APNIC), the Asian Media Information and 

Communication Centre (AMIC), the Internet Society (ISOC) 

and Microsoft. 

The Grants Programme has been in operation for eight years 

and during this time it has funded 79 projects from over 28 

countries in the Asia-Pacific. The national-level grants for 

supported research projects, among others were done in India, 

China, Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, 

Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. They total approximately 

over 2.8 million US dollars. 

Funding methodology and drive 

Funding for the Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants meeting is provided 

by the Pan Asia Networking Programme of IDRC, UNDP’s 

APDIP, APNIC, ISOC, and Microsoft. 

The funding methodology for the programme is based on a 

philanthropic approach, where projects are funded to develop 

solutions to development problems. Through publications 

such as this magazine, the R&D grants program hopes to 

disseminate the lessons gained through these projects and hence 

develop the appropriate knowledge base to enable pilots to 

go to scale. 

The Programme is overseen by a Committee established by 

the partners. There are two rounds of the grant competition, 

held in March and October every year. 

The programme supports legally incorporated organisations 

that include not-for-profit organisations such as government 

agencies, academic institutions, NGOs, and private sector 

companies for their role as agents of development and change 

in Asia. It aims at providing a sustained, open, and flexible 

mechanism for encouraging these institutions to identify 

specific instances in which ICT-related intervention – be it in 

Internet-based applications, systems or policy, can contribute 

to problem-solving for development. 

Grant funds are disbursed through the competition modality 

in order to widen the channels through which prospective 

clients and partners are reached. The Committee was also 

4 

The Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme 

Overview 

looking to learn about ICT needs in the region from the grants 

applications received. This method allows for a built-in 

feedback about the fast developing ICT field and alerted the 

Committee to the changes required in the programme. 

These grants serve to provide opportunities for problemsolving 

by the least developing country organisations that can 

produce quick results. For many institutions, it was their first 

attempt at submitting a project proposal application and 

winning a project grant. 

Programme Objectives 

The PanAsia programme operates under the partners’ mandate, 

with the following objectives: 

1. Supports applied research in ICT conducted by developing 

countries in the Asia-Pacific region. 

2. Provides opportunities to develop country personnel to 

learn to use emergent Internet-based technologies through 

hands-on experimentation, networking and training. 

3. Develops a critical mass of change agents to help integrate 

technology into the processes, systems and structures of 

R&D agencies in the region. 

4. Encourages developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region 

to innovate solutions for defined and specific 

developmental problems in Asia through applied research 

in the field of ICTs. 

5. Promotes an active research and development 

environment for ICT applications, systems and policy 

research in the Asia-Pacific region. 

The on-going projects are monitored by the partners with onsite 

visits, progress reports, and presentations by project 

personnel at committee meetings. For more details, kindly 

visit: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-9609-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

Grant Area of Focus 

The focus of the proposals submitted have been wide. Broadly, 

the proposals have covered the application of Information 

Communication Technologies in the following areas: 

� Reducing social economic inequalities and information 

gaps 

� Creating and increasing information access via Internet 

Kiosk and IT Centres 

� Rural Governance and Development 

� Research and managing areas of Digital Entry/Networking 

Convergence of Technology 

� Preserving Arts/Language 

� Agriculture/Biodiversity/Irrigation/Environment 

� Creating replicable models for E-Governance, management 

policies in Public Services and study of ICT 

initiatives 

� Bio Informatics/Medicine 

� Improving Health Information access, telemedicine 

systems and data collection 

� E- Learning/Education/Heritage 

FOCUS 

Internet access & performance 

MIS & remote information 

Policy & Market studies 

Arts & Culture 

Women & Children 

Software Localization, Fonts & text-to-speech 

Networking & information sharing 

Rural development 

Telemedicine 

Agriculture & environment 

E-government 

Education, E-learning & Online Indexing 

Evolving with new partners 

In 2002, the Programme took on a new title, “Pan Asia ICT 

R&D Grants Programme” with IDRC, APDIP and APNIC as 

the primary contributors. AMIC is the administrative partner, 

and subsequently ISOC and Microsoft joined as the additional 

supporting organisations. These important collaborations 

serve as catalysts for the evolution of the Programme to a 

broader ownership-base that involves key national, regional, 

and international agencies in the Asia-pacific region. 

This publication is produced to facilitate prospective partners’ 

participation in the Programme. 

We hope the Programme can continue to facilitate the pooling 

of resources among organisations that share common interests 

in building capacity for ICT research and development in the 

region. 

We also hope that this publication will provide researchers in 

the Asia-Pacific region with ideas on the opportunities that 

exist in the ICT sector, and encourage them to engage in 

research and development efforts to advance regional, national, 

and local interests. 

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 

Number of awards 

Thematic representation of grants awarded (from 2002 onwards)

The projects that have been funded by the Grants Programme 

are principally aimed at capacity building, which is the core 

value of the Programme. The dissemination aspect of the 

project includes sharing ideas, tools, techniques, and results of 

projects with other researchers and communities. This sharing 

of information between researchers and the public will 

hopefully prevent and duplication of efforts, and will help to 

ensure the partners in Asia and the rest of the world learn from 

the outcomes and synergize their future efforts. 

The Asia-Pacific region has enormous diversity in ICT usage. 

In additon to funding innovative development work by 

applying new ICTs, the Programme also targets the least 

developing countries and marginalised societies in the region. 

These projects allow people in local communities to access 

information and gain expertise in the use of ICTs. Access to 

information empowers these communities, notably through 

helping them make more them to make more informed 

decisions as well as to become more competitive. Moreover, 

project personnel are able to network with other local, national, 

and international researchers, civil society institutions and local 

governments to share their findings. 

Role of the Grants Programme 

Some identified goals among others which drive the ICT R&D 

Grants Programme are: 

� Accessing and disseminating information. 

� Seeding innovation and providing a test bed to reveal 

the issues that need to be addressed in order to overcome 

the adverse effects of the digital divide. 

� Creating networking opportunities across borders. 

� Assisting in building capacity through building skills 

and expertise from the projects; such as: research-relevant 

skills, skills to develop a networking-based application, 

multimedia and Internet technology, teamwork, project 

management, etc. 

� Funding applied research and on-going projects in ICTs. 

� Identifying new research partners. 

� Increasing the Programme’s outreach to marginalized 

communities. 

� Producing high-quality R&D outputs which contribute to 

the development of the Internet in the region. 

� Supporting the use of the Internet at the grass-root level. 

Lessons Learnt 

Learning from our partners 

Benefits, roles, and lessons from the Programme 

The overall lessons that have emerged from the projects funded 

so far have helped to foster an environment of innovation as 

well to promote an active research and development environment 

for ICT application systems and policy research in the 

region. 

Some of the researchers and practitioners surveyed contributed 

the following thoughts on the uses and importance of ICT 

for development: 

“Information is the way to empower people”. 

“ICT represents the powerful tools for accessing and disseminating 

knowledge”. 

“Problems in health, education, human and women’s rights, etc 

can be solved by ICT. But to implement ICT we have to find the 

right regional technology that can be accessed by our people. 

They are facing a digital divide, lack of information access, 

computer illiteracy, etc. The solution of ICT should consider 

these matters”. 

“ICTs are a vital component in the attempt to narrow the 

knowledge gap regarding development issues. ICTs assist in 

the timely delivery of urgent social economic and health 

messages”. 

Such emerging trends are not immune to potential pitfalls. 

For example, most communities in developing countries have 

limited knowledge of, or skills in, ICTs. 

To address this challenge, the development of human resource 

capacity in ICTs, needs to be identified as a priority. Thus, 

capacity building is the primary objective of the Programme. 

Capacity Building 

The Programme seeks to understand the positive and negative 

impacts of ICTs on people, culture, the economy, and society, 

so as to strengthen ICT uses that promote sustainable 

development in the region. some of the grant recipients had 

the following comments to make on that topic: 

“The Programme is really helpful for our digital library and 

community development”. 

“By providing a means to provide universal access to information, 

that could be “just” information or high quality and state 

of art learning material on a continuous basis that can keep us 

updated with development and advances”. 

“Tremendous impact to facilitate adaption of e-commerce in 

places where English is not wide-spread use among the 

population”. 

“The project helped to research technologies that would enable 

rural women cooperatives”. 

“The project has helped to improve employment opportunities of 

underpriviledged Filipino youth through establishing Computer 

Livelihood Training Centers”. 

“Methodologies for conducting ICT sphere research where 

studied and adopted to local enviroment”. 

6

Networks and Scaling Up 

At times, a small project that deals with a problem that seems 

quite regionally specific and rooted in a local environment 

has the potential to expand into a multi-country regional network. 

The Pan Localization project is a classic example of the 

above. Through the initial small grant tools were generated to 

create a character based font for Urdu so that the language, and 

culture, could be better represented on the Internet and computers 

in general. The project on Urdu then expanded into a 

vast program helping to generate tools to translate internet 

content into local languages, build capacity for local language 

computing, and advance policy for local language content creation 

and access across Asia. Armed with the tools to publish 

online content in local languages, Asian people can create for 

themselves a comprehensive bank of locally relevant knowledge, 

resources, and materials. And this vast and important 

localisation network simply started with a seedling: an R&D 

small grant. 

Generally, project staff reported that their work was helping 

to forge these synergistic relationships and extend it to 

professional networking. 

As a result of the R&D programme several scaled up research 

projects were launched together with local partners. R&D 

grants programme staff are therefore creating a vast databank 

on science and technology that consists of many information 

sources. Programme staff can then serve small enterprises with 

this information and help to ensure that greater capacity is 

built and knowledge shared. 

Moreover the programme staff is trying to develop 

partnerships between industries, institutions, administrators, 

developers, and community. 

Fund Mobilizing 

During the grants programme evaluation conducted by Dr 

Ally in 2002, ninety per cent of the people who took part in the 

evaluation said that the grants of the Programme became important 

seed funding to catalyze later activities such as: 

7 

“Attracting local research specialists to project implementation, 

establishment of partnership ties with local and regional 

research agencies, improvement of existing computer facilities, 

extending e-commerce sites, strengthening linkage with 

academia and project being launched in other regions”. 

“The project funding is the key factor to take up such innovative 

project where the actual need of stakeholders at villages can be 

understood and provide required information in appropriate 

methods”. 

Adapted and updated from Mohamed Ally 

(January 2002) ”PanAsia RnD Grants 

Programme Evaluation Report” 

Innovative Projects Featured 

This publication tells the stories of nine of the most innovative 

projects undertaken under this grant scheme. These are examples 

of pioneering research and development activities using new 

ICTs. A complete listing of the projects supported by the 

Programme is available at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-11785- 

201-1-DO_TOPIC.html 

� Wireless Internet Post Office (India) 

To build a wireless Internet post office capable of 

ensuring digital access to the widest possible population 

at the lowest cost. 

� Unsung Among Us (India) 

To document and showcase amongst the most 

marginalized of communities, the “unsung people” 

through a participatory method that ensures that through 

generating photography and film-making capacity in 

these communities, they are able to have a voice. 

� ICT-Based Telemedicine System Development (Indonesia) 

This project serves to help inform as well as make 

recommendations in the context of reforming Indonesia’s 

ICT policy. The project will essentially look at issues of 

social-equity and community sustainability of Internet 

usage for applications in health. 

� Regional Geographic Information Infrastructure (Nepal) 

To build a regional geographic information infrastructure 

that facilitates sharing, integration and use of 

geographic information across a broad user base using 

the Internet. 

� Establishment of Nepal Internet Exchange 

To establish a switching exchange to address problems 

associated with Internet traffic routing within the country 

for bandwidth preservation and cost-saving. 

� Character-Based Nastalique Font for Urdu (Pakistan) 

To create a character-based Nastalique font for Urdu so 

that Urdu web and other publishing can be implanted 

effectively and efficiently. 

� Community-Based Injury Surveillance Tracking System 

(Philippines) 

To improve healthcare delivery in the public health 

sector through the development of a computer-based 

information system for public health centres using 

strategies that are focussed on people not technology. 

� Life Skills Education for Youths (Philippines) 

To improve the employment opportunities of under 

privilaged youth through establishing computer livelihood 

training centres. 

� Distance Learning Programme (Solomon Islands) 

To provide improved educational opportunities for rural 

communities by exploiting new possibilities stemming 

from ICT.

1. 1. Wir ir ireless ir eless Inter Internet Inter net P PPost 

P ost Of Office Of ice 

(India) 

(India) 

Project Budget 

Grant Awarded: US$ 30,000 

Project Purpose 

Solve the multitude of technical and 

system design issues that define a 

Wireless Internet Post Office (WIPO) 

capable of delivering digital access to 

the widest possible population at the 

lowest usage and capital cost. 

Project Objectives 

This project aims to couple advances in 

consumer electronics and digital 

communication to design a system that 

can provide text based communication 

to remote areas underserved by 

traditional communication infrastructure. 

Target Audience 

Villagers who want to contact relatives 

in distant locations; farmers who want 

pricing, access to markets, and advice 

on disease and pest control; small 

business owners who want access to 

distant markets; educators who want 

teaching materials; and medical and aid 

workers. 

Wireless Internet Post Office 

Project Output 

The main output of the project is the 

end-to-end design of a Wireless Internet 

Post Office capable of delivering textbased 

messaging services to remote 

villages through a mesh network of 

wireless relay stations. 

The research team designed, tested and 

documented the system components to 

enable others to build and deploy the 

system and replicate the model. 

IT engineers testing the wireless 

connection 

Hardware & Software 

Pentium III PC 

128 MB RAM 

40GB hard drive 

10/100 Intel EEPro network adapter 

Internet connectivity 802.11b Cisco 

Aironet 350 Series WLAN cards 

Directional Yagi Antennae for the 

purpose of long-range communication 

between the various wireless-postoffices 

or relay stations, and PDAs. 

The mail server is sendmail-8.12.5-7 

configured. 

Sendmail-doc-8.12.5-7.i386.rpm 

provides all the documentation for 

sendmail including the sendmail FAQ. 

Impact 

The project benefits the end users and 

all the people involved. The project also 

can turn villagers into entrepreneurs. 

The Project Team 

The team from the Indian Institute of 

Technology is led by Dr. Huzur Saran 

who specializes in Algorithms, as well 

as Wireless and High Speed Networking. 

A member of his team is Dr. B.N. Jain 

who is the co-founder of ERNET. 

The specialist consultants are Thomas 

G. Zimmerman from IBM Almaden, 

and Rajeev Shorey from IBM India. 

Contact Address 

Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz 

Khas, New Delhi 110016 

India. 

E-mail: saran@cse.iitd.ernet.in 

Website: http://genie.iitd.ernet.in/ 

wipo/ 

genie.iitd.ernet.in/wipo/ 

8

Inf Infor Inf or orma or ma mation ma tion Ex Exchang Ex hang hange hang e Ser Services Ser vices to 

to 

Remote emote Indian Indian Villa illa illages illa es 

Villagers as the end-users, opening doors of opportunities 

Project Background 

Digital connectivity is a distant dream 

for the one-third of the world’s 

population living without electricity. 

Cost, lack of infrastructure, and the 

complexity of computer technology 

create a wide digital divide between 

networked and unconnected citizens. 

However, advancements in technology 

and the mass commercialization of 

handheld computers (PDAs) and 

wireless networking (WLAN) now 

offer the opportunity to break down 

these traditional barriers to digital 

communication. 

This project aims to couple advances 

in consumer electronics with an 

entrepreneurial model to foster the 

deployment of text based digital 

communication. The project team 

produced the end-to-end design of a 

Wireless Internet Post Office capable of 

delivering text-based messaging 

services to remote villages thorough a 

mesh network of wireless repeater 

stations. 

The team minimized cost and 

complexity by using off-the-shelf 

components. WLAN radios (802.11b) 

operating in the international licensefree 

band (2.4 GHz) combined with 

directional antennas provide longrange 

the needed inexpensive wireless 

networking. Medical and aid workers, 

teachers and government employees 

can synchronize a low-cost PDA at a 

wireless repeater station, much like 

dropping off and picking up mail at a 

post office, then bring the PDAs into 

the field. 

Economic issues relevant to a rural, 

agrarian society such as current, fair 

market prices of various goods can 

potentially revolutionize a wiredvillager’s 

economic standing in society. 

Informing villages of weather forecasts 

can now be done on a village-byvillage 

basis. This kind of information 

increases efficiency in the farming 

community, and it enables the masses 

to gain from advances in digital 

communication. 

Enterprising villagers who pur- 

chase a PDA can go into business as 

“scribes”, reading and writing e-mail 

to the illiterate and as “information 

workers”, providing crop and fertilizer 

pricing, pest and health alerts, and 

matching sellers with distant buyers. 

The project team design goal was to 

deliver reliable asynchronous text 

communication at a minimum cost 

with a strong emphasis on what is 

practical and most likely to succeed in 

the field. The project includes a system 

of Internet gateway components, a 

multitude of fixed wireless relay 

stations that form a mesh network, and 

PDAs synchronized with the wireless 

relay stations. The combination of 

roaming PDAs and stationary wireless 

synchronization stations is the least 

expensive and most flexible means to 

collect and disseminate information in 

developing countries. 

The project primarily supports text 

e-mail since a number of other messaging 

and query applications can be 

layered on top of the base e-mail 

application. However, since each 

wireless relay station is connected to 

the Internet gateway, the operators 

could offer a full range of Internet 

Directional Yagi antennas relaying 

information over long distances 

9 Wireless Internet Post Office

services at the wireless relay stations 

provided there is an adequate Internet 

connection. This allows the project to 

scale: one can envision the wireless 

relay stations offering Internet browsing 

functions. 

Project Method 

The first Wireless Internet Post Office 

(WIPO) component is the Internet 

Gateway station or Base Station. This 

station is a PC Server and e-mail relay 

connected to the Internet and is the 

gateway between the Internet and the 

roaming PDAs. Since text messages do 

not consume much bandwidth or 

storage, a single PC can serve thousands 

of PDAs. 

While setting up these stations, the 

project team investigated various 

forms of information: from how to 

setup and maintain e-mail accounts and 

services to cost and kinds of Internet 

access in the Asia-Pacific region. 

The second WIPO component is the 

Wireless Networking Architecture. 

The architecture uses a multi-point-tomultipoint 

mesh to network the 

wireless relay stations. The Internet 

Wireless network architecture being 

tested 

Wireless Internet Post Office 

One of the Internet Gateway stations 

uses this robust architecture so a 

message is delivered even if parts of 

the network nodes are down or out of 

range of the PC server. Since asynchronous 

text messages are tolerant of large 

lag times, many wireless relay stations 

may be used, spanning large distances 

between PDA synchronization stations 

and the base station Internet connection. 

Network reliability is important to 

insure the message gets though. The 

project team found that providing 

several redundant paths greatly 

increases the reliability of the communication 

system. The project team also 

investigated: wireless network 

protocols - including packet size, error 

correction and detection; topology 

performance, scalability, “hiddennode” 

problems, robustness; communication 

security; tradeoff of radios to get 

better performance; and power 

management. 

The third WIPO component is the 

Wireless Relay Station. These stations 

bring text messaging out to the remote 

villages and synchronize local PDAs. 

These stations can be backed up with 

batteries, so they can be placed 

anywhere using line-of-sight directional 

antennas for long range. Any 

number of these relay stations can be 

placed in a series to cover vast distances. 

While setting up the relay stations, 

the project team researched: radio 

operation, station installation and 

software monitoring; antenna performance, 

tolerance to realignment and 

tower interference; PDA synchronization 

software; hardware design and 

requirements (processor speed, DRAM 

and FLASH memory); mechanical 

(weatherproofing, ergonomics of 

installation and maintenance); remote 

firmware update mechanism; security; 

and the links from PDAs to wireless 

relay stations (cable, optical, RF). 

The last WIPO component is the 

Wireless Station Power Plant. This 

power plant provides all the power for 

the wireless relay station, making it 

self-sufficient for remote locations (e.g. 

mounted on a mountain ridge to bring 

connectivity to a village located in a 

valley). 

Lasting Impacts 

The project team solved the multitude 

of technical and system design issues 

inherent in a Wireless Internet Post 

Office (WIPO), and made it provide 

digital access to the widest possible 

population at the lowest usage and 

capital cost. The design provides a 

viable and effective means of bridging 

the digital divide and bring low cost 

10

communication to the most needy. 

Wireless networking eliminates the 

painful process of laying cables to 

connect villages. 

Ultimately it is the end users who 

benefit from the WIPO, including 

villagers who want to contact relatives 

in distant locations; farmers who want 

pricing, access to markets and advice 

on disease and pest control; small 

businesses who want access to distant 

markets; educators who want teaching 

materials; and medial and aid workers. 

The WIPO also benefits people involved 

in the wireless network. Each 

component requires an economic 

model to encourage continued deployment 

and propagation. 

A literate villager who purchases a 

PDA can become an “information 

worker”, similar to the entrepreneurial 

model created by the Grameen Bank of 

Bangladesh, whereby villagers who are 

mostly women are given micro-loans 

to purchase a cell phone and sell calls 

to villagers. 

The WIPO creates entrepreneurial 

opportunities for PDA owners to 

become micro-businesses, providing 

services including scribing, data 

collection, crop pricing and referrals 

matching buyers with sellers. 

A networked PC operator can 

provide food coop newsletters, 

fertilizer and fuel price and vendor 

lists , news clippings, translations, and 

other information services to end users 

by subscription or request. The 

wireless relay station owners can 

charge an access fee to client PDAs. 

The project is complete and the 

project team research demonstrated the 

technical goals are achievable and the 

cost of the infrastructure required is 

low. The stable test-bed deployed at 

the IIT campus has also proved the 

worthiness of the technology in the 

real world. These findings enable 

others to evaluate our technology from 

the application perspective and see its 

practical viability in remote areas. 

Initially, the project team faced 

some issues in the implementation of 

the project, however during the course 

of the project they have been sorted 

out. Some of the issues were: problems 

due to the interference due to communication 

over multiple links originating 

from the same node, and problems 

in sourcing the necessary antenna and 

cabling. 

Future projects teams may want to 

identify an implementation agency 

interested in deploying a commercial 

or full-scale network in a remote area. 

Then the team from this project could 

provide technical support 

Mobile access, anytime 

anywhere 

11 Wireless Internet Post Office

2. 2. Unsung Unsung Among Among Us Us (India) 

(India) 



Supplementary Grants 

Implementing organization US$ 16,300 


Document and showcase the unsung 

people living in society. 

Educate the participating public in 

photography, cinematography, sound 

recording, and film editing during the 

process of documenting the unsung 

characters. 


Disseminate the knowledge and use of 

photography and digital technology to 

the indegenous public and educate 

them to build capacity, especially for 

dealing with the cameras. 


Interested local groups and individuals 

from different parts of the state. 


Hardware 

Six multimedia production computers 

One scanner 

Two printers 

Three digital video cameras 


The project created documentary films 

on unsung characters; public awareness 

films; and books on health, sanitation, 

environment management, management 

development mechanism, rural 

employment, women empowerment, 

public participation, etc. 

Impact 

Documenting the legacy of Kunjiramam Nambiyar, an Unsung 

character 

The project successfully identified and 

documented the unsung and educated 

the public. 


This project is directed by Prof. Prakash 

Moorthy, managed by Kalpana, 

produced by Aby Paul. 

The team members include Seema 

K.K., Dileepan R., Anila Jose. 


Grameena Patana Kendram 

Eanikkara, Karakulam, 

Thiruvananthapuram 695564, India. 

E-mail: info@unsung.org 

Website: http://www.unsung.org 

Kothavil Raman is an Unsung character in this 

Kathakali dance sequence 

genie.iitd.ernet.in/wipo/ 

12

Pr Preser Pr eser eserving eser ving Cultur Culture Cultur e thr through thr ough Documentaries 

Documentaries 

Narayananasan, master of “Porattu Natakam” - a fork theatre art being filmed 


The project team conceptualized 

“Unsung Among Us” with a vision to 

collect, document, preserve, disseminate 

and develop indigenous knowledge. 

The project was started as part of 

People’s Plan Programme in 1997 with 

the leadership and ownership of 

Karakulam Grama Panchayath, in 

Kerala. Incorporated as a dream 

project of voluntary activists and 

public functionaries, Unsung Among 

Ussupports local people in their living 

and self-governance processes. The 

program evolved into an organized 

centre focused on upgrading rural 

development through Internet Communications 

Technology (ICT) and 

human resource development through 

self-help and employment training. 

Each of the component institutions 

of the centre has multiple responsibilities 

like Internet Technology (IT) 

education for the rural public, hi-tech 

education at grassroots level, Village 

Resources Mapping and Development 

Research for planning. 

The project team first looked for 

discussion and explain possible ways 

of documentation. 


The project team first developed a 

Participatory Model to achieve a better 

understanding of indigenous knowledge 

through short-term research into 

the cultural and technological history 

of Kerala. Then through information 

collection, documentation and dissemination, 

the team created content 

content is created from all levels of 

society. The documentation process 

empowered those involved, built 

capacity, democratized knowledge and 

demonstrated local strengths. This 

local groups and individuals with 

project also benefited society by 

adequate interest. Then the team 

documenting the unsung and their 

selected the Unsung based on the 

contributions to the community. 

possibility of documenting the unsung 

To implement this project, the 

characters in digital format. Finally, 

Unsung team recruited an organisation 

the team empowered the local public 

called Adikala as the local associate. 

by giving them a chance to participate 

With the partnership and participation 

in documenting the Unsung The project 

of Adikala volunteers, the team was 

team was also able to produce: Anti 

able to: initiate preliminary discussion 

Epidemic Awareness creation films, 

of the project goals and objectives; 

created by animation diploma faculty; 

generate Unsung descriptions; design 

a Signature Song and Film that tells a 

documentary plots; develop scripts; 

Karakulam story; a handbook on 

take still photographs; start filming; 

health, sanitation and environmental 

manage sound recording; edit the 

management; a book on management 

scripts and films; preview the first 

development mechanisms; and 

reels; and project the finished products. 

periodicals on rural 

employment, women Documenting the life of Narayanan Pambadi 

empowerment and 

public participation. 

The teams have 

also implemented 

pilot films at two 

places: one at 

Thiruvananthapuram 

District and another at 

Patha-namthitta 

District. These films 

are shown during the 

workshops to initiate 

13 Unsung Among Us

For the local adoptions in Parumala, 

the project team followed the same 

process. 

To identify themes for the films, the 

Unsung team held a focus group 

discussion with invited experts from 

the fields of social science, science, 

indigenous studies, cinematography 

and applied arts. 

After the focus group, the project 

team started formulating the films 

with content development by networking 

with local people and conducting 

field visits to collect information about 

the Unsung stars. After completing the 

content development, the team was 

able to give preparatory workshops, 

develop the script and finally make the 

films. The completed films cover 

folklore and folk drama, ritualistic art 

forms, linguistics, music, martial arts, 

dalit culture, indigenous technology 

and indigenous medicine. 

The project team also provided 

training in the three different stages of 

the project: cinematography, sound 

recording and editing. Then during the 

last five months, the research team 

worked on identifying, sorting, script 

writing and documenting the proposed 

characters. At the local level, the team 

conducted seminars to brain storm 

with interested groups, discuss 

characters and manage group forums. 

The project team also held a workshop 

on Development of Script and Litera- 

Preserving the wonders of CM Kunju 


Gautham Sarang did not have any formal education, but has deep knowledge in 

various areas, including photography 

ture. This workshop helped the 

participants in the project develop and 

upgrade their skills and train in film 

making process. Finally, during the 

production stage of the test films, the 

team was faced with the non-availability 

of a studio facility and recording 

facility at each rural place. 

The stakeholders, those who 

identified the unsung and initiated the 

process of documenting them, expressed 

a lot of enthusiasm to take 

over the project. The stakeholders 

accepted the same agenda as the 

Unsung project team, because, the 

stakeholders saw a golden opportunity 

to know their own heritage, history, 

and future by documenting the unsung. 

The project team wants to especially 

commend the wholehearted 

involvement of the Unsung themselves. 

The first Unsung among the 

Pilot test films was a very old woman 

singer of the Kaani tribe from the 

Western Ghats. The neighbors and 

communities of the Unsung identified 

the Unsung characters , because of their 

contributions to society. For that and 

their tireless contributions to their 

communities, the Unsung deserve 

special thanks and appreciation. 


The project goal to identify familiarize 

and document those who are living but 

Unsung Among Us was successful. The 

unique films acknowledge the good 

deeds of the Unsung and help preserve 

the tradition those Unsung leave 

behind. 

In the future, the project team plans 

to generate more knowledge and adopt 

more unsung characters. Already, the 

team is planning to organize a workshop 

with participation of experts in 

multiple fields to improve the skills of 

the project team. This workshop will 

help the team evaluate the project. 

14

In the next stage, the Unsung team 

plans to conduct local presentations 

about the Unsung with the assistance of 

the pilot project films; hold a ten-day 

workshop at Trivandrum to train 

stakeholders and people with local 

initiative; and set up a traveling studiocum-recording 

mechanism to impart 

knowledge regarding those areas to 

the stakeholders. 

The project team is also ready to 

install a studio facility in the Integrated 

Information Technology Center (IITC) 

at Grameena Patana Kendram (GPK). 

This studio will provide technological 

know-how and quality control to the 

project. Four members of the team 

have acquired knowledge related to 

documentary filmmaking. This will 

help us generate more creative 

contributions from the stakeholders in 

the future. 

The Unsung team has also established 

a separate office facility for the 

project with an office assistant and a 

technical assistant at IITC, GPK. For 

post-production, the project team has 

employed a group of trained-hands 

from IITC, GPK. Also, two Film and 

Video students from The National 

Preserving the character of Muthuvan Krishnan 

Getting to know K Koya first hand 

Institute of Design, Ahemdabad, India, 

assisted in designing the training 

programme. 

In total, twelve local organizations 

have participated in Unsung Among 

Us: Pazhashi Memmorial Grandashala 

in Wayanadu; Adivasikalakendram 

Pulpally also in Wayanadu; ‘Gothra’ in 

Thrissur; Tagoore Library in Parumala 

Pathanamthitta; ‘Adikala’ in 

Nedumangad, Thiruvanan-thapuram; 

Brothers Library in Kachani, 

Thiruvananthapuram; Folklore 

Academy in Kannoor; ‘C-Dit’ in 

Thiruvananthapuram; Kerala Grama 

Panchayat Association in Thiruvananthapuram; 

Kerala Shastra Sahithya 

Parishath in Kollam; Grama Panchayat 

in Vellinezhi, Palakkad; and Grama 

Panchayat in Pampadi, Kottayam. 

15 Unsung Among Us

3. 3. ICT ICT-Based 

ICT -Based Telemedicine elemedicine System 

System 

De Development De elopment (Indonesia) 

(Indonesia) 




Four sets of PCs from the Department 

of Electrical Engineering ITB. 

Program adopted by Bandung Health 

Office and Community Health Centers. 


Develop, implement, install and 

conduct a trial run of eight medical 

stations for community health centers; 

and a station for each referral hospital, 

health office, and the test laboratory. 

The Primary Community Health 

Center (Puskesmas) medical stations 

were located in selected under-served 

urban and rural areas in Bandung and 

its suburbs. These stations were used 

as a base for establishing a pilot 

network of Internet-based 

Telemedicine 

Establish a Pilot network of Puskesmas 

Internet-based Telemedicine. The 

system will be used as a case study in 

preparing the above-mentioned ICT 

policy recommendation, and proving 

the validity of usage of the above 

mentioned Internet-based Puskesmas 

Telemedicine for selected simple but 

critical Clinical-data transfers. It is also 

expected that the system can deliver 

trial integrated-package of “grassroots” 

telemedicine services, including 

limited teleconsultation, simple 

telediagnostic, telecoordination and 

teleeducation. 

Enhance day-to-day Primary Community 

healthcare delivery, especially for 

the critically under-served Mother- 

Child health-care in Puskesmas through 

the application of Internet-based 

Telemedicine for Primary Community 

Health-care. 

ICT Policy Reform 


Develop a recommendation to reform 

the ICT policy in Indonesia, specifically 

on the social-equity and communitysustainability 

of the use of Internet 

networking for social and community 

application, with emphasis on 

healthcare related activities. 

This includes recommendations on 

infrastructure reform. 


Pentium III 

128 MB RAM 

16 MB VGA 

20 GB hard drive 

V90 external modem 

Active speaker 

Camera 

Unix (FreeBSD/Linux/Windows) 

Apache 

MySQL 

Php/perl-based admin software 

C/C++ based security software 


Network establishment of an Internetbased 

Telemedicine system that 

enhances day-to-day primary community 

healthcare delivery. 

Benefits the critically under-served 

Mother-Child healthcare in Primary 

Community Health Centers through 

the application of Internet-based 


Healthcare. 

Development of a Community Health 

Care Information System (SIPKM = 

Sistem Informasi Pelayanan Kesehatan 

Masyarakat), which is a Web-based 

Community Health Care Information 

System. 

Recommendation to reform the ICT 

Policy in Indonesia. 

Patients waiting for medicine in the 

clinic in Puskesmas Garuda 


Potential users of Internet for Social 

and Community purpose in Indonesia, 

especially for the beneficiaries of the 


Healthcare, under-served communities 

in the rural and urban area, and all the 

major players in the delivery of the 

Primary Community Healthcare in 

Indonesia, i.e.: related healthcare 

providers, Puskesmas, Referral Health 

offices, Referral hospitals. 


The project was conceptualized by the 

Biomedical Engineering Program of 

Institute Teknologi Bandung. It was 

lead by Prof. Dr. Soegijardjo Soegijoko 

Team members include: 

Dr. Ir. Suhartono Tjondronegoro as 

Project System Design & Evaluation 

Unit, Dr. dr. Oerip I. Santoso as Project 

System Engineering Unit ( Development, 

Implementation & Network), 

dr. Yoke Saadia Irawan, MT as Project 

Health & Policy Unit, and 

Ir. Harmoyanti B.K., MT who provided 

Secretarial Support 


Biomedical Engineering Program, 

Department of Electrical Engineering, 

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), 

Jalan Ganesha 10, 

Bandung 40132, Indonesia 

E-Mail: biomed@ee.itb.ac.id 

Website: http://biomed.ee.itb.ac.id/ 

puskesmas 

16

De Developing De eloping a a r rrecommenda 

r ecommenda 

ecommendation 

ecommenda tion 

to to r rref 

r ef efor ef or orm or m ICT ICT P PPolic 

P olic olicy olic 

Prof Soegijardjo Soegijoko giving instructions at the training workshop 


Indonesia, a large archipelago country 

with a population of more than 220 

million, has relatively complicated 

health care problems. A shortage of 

human resources, healthcare facilities 

and financial resources cause these 

problems. Being a developing country, 

the physical-infrastructure development 

in Indonesia, especially in the 

field of communication and transportation, 

is one serious constraint affecting 

the efficiency of national Primary 

Community Healthcare delivery. 

Internet-based Telemedicine system, 

with its relatively low development 

and operating costs, could alleviate the 

current system inefficiencies. 

More than 7,600 Community 

Health Centers (Puskesmas) serve 

more than half of the total population 

in Indonesia. Due to a shortage of 

resources, the primary health care 

system operates on a “referral system” 

that relies on communication and 

transportation infrastructure. In the 

city of Bandung, 70 Community Health 

Centres serve about 5,000 patients per 

day. 

The fundamental problem the 

project team faced was overcoming 

the relatively high Maternal Mortality 

Rate (MMR)and Children Mortality 

Rate (CMR) in Primary Community 

Health Care. Through this project, the 

team plans to continuously decrease 

the MMR and CMR, while also 

benefiting other patients of the 


Healthcare including: under-served 

communities in rural and urban areas 

and all the major players in the 

delivery of Primary Community 

Healthcare. 

The team’s general objective is to 

develop a recommendation to reform 

the ICT policy in Indonesia to encourage 

the use of social and community 

Internet networking, with an emphasis 

on healthcare related activities. This 

recommendation also includes 

infrastructure reform. 

The development project uses 

existing Internet technology to further 

develop PC-based medical stations and 

field-tests in 12 Puskemas stations. In 

the process, we developed a recommendation 

to reform the Internet 

Communications Technology (ITC) 

policy in Indonesia. 

Support from other parties came in 

form of four sets of PCs from the 

Department of Electrical Engineering 

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and 

the adoption of the program by the 

Bandung Health Office and other 

Community Health Centers. 


The system prototype consists of eight 

Puskesmas. The project team first 

developed, implemented, installed and 

tested the pilot network in the eight 

stations. Then, the team expanded the 

network to include one health office 

and one referral hospital. The network 

delivers an integrated-package of 

“grass-roots” telemedicine services, 

which include limited teleconsultation, 

simple telediagnostic, telecoordination 

and tele-education 

Next, the project team implemented 

a pilot Digital Healthcare Infrastructure 

using available Internet technology 

and linked all major components 

of the Primary Community Healthcare 

delivery system (Community Health 

Centers, Referral Health Office, 

Referral Hospital). This upgrade 

strengthened the Health Referral 

system that had been hampered by 

insufficient infrastructure. And it also 

enhanced day-to-day Primary Community 

healthcare delivery, especially for 

critically under-served Mother-Child 

health-care in Primary Community 

Health. 

The employees were trained during 

one-week workshops. One such 

17 ICT Policy Reform

workshop covered “Introduction to impacts. Some of the 

Computer and Telemedicine”. The impacts were 

project team trained the employees expected and part of 

such that once they were trained; those the project objec- 

employees could then train new and tives, but there were 

subsidiary users to sustain the opera- also some interesting 

tional continuity. 

and beneficial 

The main software used in the impacts which were 

community health center was devel- not foreseen at the 

oped using freeware, which was beginning of the 

customized to include modules like project, such as: the 

One of the Puskesmas being used as a test for ICT-based 

maternal health care recording; PC significant increase Telemedicine System 

based physiological measurement for the awareness on the 

early detection; and diagnosis of use of PCs in the 

selected maternal pregnancy. 

target Puskesmas, Health Office and tive personnel from various 

The project team used this project as the Referral Hospital; development of Puskesmas. 

a case study to develop the ICT policy a Community Health Care Information At the start of the project, the team 

recommendation. The recommenda- System (SIPKM = Sistem Informasi had to solve a number of technical and 

tion provides relevant input to two Pelayanan Kesehatan Masyarakat) that management related problems. 

currently drafted related-regulations in includes information on Puskesmas, Through continuous coordination and 

Indonesia, i.e.: Draft of Presidential- medical doctors (general practitioners, efforts, the problems were gradually 

decree on “E-Government” (status – 1st medical specialists, dentists), clinical solved. Finally, the project team would 

draft to be tabled by end 

like to recommend that the Indonesian 

of 2002), and Draft Decree 

Government, ICT related organiza- 

of Minister of Transportions, 

institutions, companies and the 

tation/Communications 

whole community actively promote 

on “Contributions for the 

and provide full support for the use of 

USO/ Universal Service 

ICT for Educational and Health Care 

Obligations” (status – 1st 

applications. 

draft circulated in late 

Moreover, the team would like to 

2001). 

specifically recommend: the Depart- 

The results of similar 

ment of Health, Department of Educa- 

projects in other develoption, 

and Department of Communicaing 

countries indicated 

tion & Information to take necessary 

that even with the 

supports and actions to enhance the use 

relatively low-cost 

of ICT for Educational and Health Care 

internet-based system, 

such usage for social and 

Staff finishing up administration work in an examination 

room 

applications in Indonesia; related 

organizations, institutions and compa- 

community purposes would face laboratories, and pharmacies located in nies (for example: PT Telkom, PT 

problems in operations maintainabil- Bandung. The System is accessible Indosat and other telecommunication/ 

ity and sustainability. The project team through the Internet, as well as 

internet service providers) provide 

proposed appropriate but prudent 

“policy intervention ”to reform ICT 

through the SMS; and 

development of a Finger- 

Computer training for Puskesmas doctors assisted by 

Biomedical students 

policy and infrastructure. If these print Identification system 

recommendations were put in place, for Community Health 

Internet usage for Social and Commu- Care applications which 

nity purpose in developing countries will support patient data 

would become a viable proposition. recording, retrieving and 

reporting system. 

Since human resource 


development is an important 

aspect for the success of 

At the end of the project, the team 

noted a number of direct and indirect 

the project, the project team 

trained 80 medical doctors, 

paramedics and administra- 

ICT Policy Reform 

18

necessary actions (which include: 

special reduced rate, andor free service 

if necessary) to enhance the application 

of ICT for Education and Health Care 

in Indonesia; and further related 

suggestions which directly or indirectly 

provide beneficial supports on 

the use of ICT for Educational and 

Health Care applications. 

After conducting a number of 

training workshops, dissemination 

presentations, and on-site Telemedicine 

System demos and experiments, more 

and more Puskesmas in the Bandung 

area have shown interests in joining 

the Telemedicine program. But due to 

limited resources and time, this 

program only covered about 0.158% of 

the total number of community health 

centers in Indonesia. Therefore, the 

project team hopes further funding 

will help to support further implementations 

of the ICT-based Telemedicine 

System for Community Health Care in 

Indonesia. 

Patients waiting in the clinic in Puskesmas Garuda 

Maternity hospital Astana Anyar, seen on the roof is a 

wireless LAN antenna which connects Astana Anyar 

maternity hospital, Bandung’s City Health Service 

office, Puter Puskesmas,and the Biomedical 

Engineering laboratory in ITB 

19 ICT Policy Reform

4. 4. R RRegional 

R gional Geo Geographic Geo phic Inf Infor Inf or orma or ma mation ma tion 

Infr Infrastr Infr astr astructur 

astr uctur ucture uctur e (Ne (Nepal) (Ne pal) 




International Centre for Integrated 

Mountain Development (ICIMOD) 

contributed US$ 19,000 


Create Regional Geographic Information 

Infrastructure (RGII). 

Facilitate the sharing, integration and 

use of geographic information across a 

broad user base. 

Standardized datasets, data availability 

and facilitation of exchange of information 

using modern information technologies 

including the Internet. 

Encourage the sharing of geographic 

information among potential users and 

providers in a common platform and 

discuss various issues related to the 

application of geographic information. 


Create an Internet system offering a 

one-stop service for geographic data 

needs in the region by: 

a) developing a customized system for 

serving the GIS database on the 

Internet using the latest Internet 

mapping technologies; 

b) developing a metadata system based 

on international standards for searching 

and viewing the metadata through 

the Internet; 

c) publishing the GIS database at 

ICIMOD using the system; 

d) extending the system to partner 

institutions through capacity building. 

Regional Geographic Information Infrastructure 


The researchers, development projects 

and agencies working with GIS in the 

region will be the direct beneficiaries of 

the project. 

The project also aids the above audience 

in accessing and searching the database. 


Among the major outputs are: 

a) a customized Internet-based 

Mapping system for publishing 

geographic data and information that 

provides access 

b) increased availability for multisectoral 

analysis and decision-making 

c) a metadata system based on 

International standards for documentation 

d) search the existing spatial databases 

Impact 

The project has been able to advance 

the concept of providing more geographic 

knowledge to anyone, anywhere. 

The growing use of GIS technology 

with easily available spatial databases 

will help develop more realistic 

policies and action plans which will 

ultimately benefit the mountain 

community at large. 

The adoption of standardized formats 

for database queries and information 

sharing will benefit the whole GIS 

community in the region. 


Two PCs, ARCIMS software, SQL 

Server 2000, Web Server. The site is 

hosted on IIS Web Server with XML as 

the underlying database for metadata. 


The team comprises of Basanta 

Shrestha as the coordinator, Birendra 

Bajracharya, Sushil Pandey, and one 

computer programmer hired especially 

for the project. 


Mountain Environment and Natural 

Resources Information System 

(MENRIS), International Centre for 

Integrated Mountain Development 

(ICIMOD), 4/80 Jawalakhel, G.P.O. Box 

3226, Jawalakhel, Kathmandu, Nepal 

E-mail: basanta@icimod.org.np 

Website: http://www.icimod-gis.net/ 

www.icimod-gis.net/ 

20

Sharing Geographic Information for Sustainable 

Mountain Development in the Hindu 

Kush-Himalayan Region 

Sacred inscriptions with Mt. Everest in the background 


The ecosystems in mountainous areas 

have been gaining the attention of the 

world community.; The mountains 

help support the lives of the people in 

the area. Geographic location and 

surroundings often influence decisions 

relating to mountain developments, 

protection of natural resources and the 

environment, and the mitigation of 

natural hazards. To enable sustainable 

decision making, especially in the 

Hindu-Kush Himalayan region, there 

needs to be a realistic assessment of 

natural resources and socio-economic 

conditions through the systematic 

generation of data indicating the 

present situation and allowing for 

changes. 

The project team’s primary objective 

is to help promote the development 

of an economically and environmentally 

sound mountain ecosystem 

and to improve the living standards of 

mountain populations in the region. 

The region includes eight regional 

member countries – Afghanistan, 

Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, 

Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. The 

availability of consistent spatial 

databases from local, national and 

regional levels would improve the 

investigation of key environmental 

issues in the region. However, the 

databases in the region are isolated due 

to the lack of a proper framework. As a 

Framework for Mountain GIS Portal 

result, information is often dispersed, 

heterogeneous, and inaccessible and 

hence insufficientSince early 1990’s, the 

International Center for Integrated 

Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 

through its Mountain Environment and 

Natural Resources Information System 

(MENRIS) program has been focusing 

on building GIS capacity and networking 

the national institutions in the 

region to promote the development of 

geographic information, its sharing 

and the effective use of GIS . 

This project developed an Internet 

based system to increase the availability 

and accessibility of relevant 

geographic data and enhance the 

exchange of geographic information 

within the region. The researchers, 

development projects and agencies 

working for the mountain communities 

in the region will immensely 

benefit from such a system. This 

system is an important step towards a 

Regional Geographic Information 

Infrastructure (RGII) in the region. 

The project team developed the 

system using the Internet and webGIS 

technology. The system databases on 

the HKH region that ICIMOD and its 

partners developed. 

21 Regional Geographic Information Infrastructure

The overall project objective is 

development of a Regional Geographic 

Information Infrastructure (RGII), 

thereby facilitating the sharing, 

integration and use of geographic 

information across a broad base of 

users and producers in the HKH 

region. 


During this two-year project, the 

project team gave particular attention 

to standardizing datasets, making data 

available and facilitating the exchange 

of information using modern information 

and communication technologies, 

particularly the Internet, Mapping and 

Portal technologies. The project team 

used these technologies to map the 

mountains with a GIS system. Three of 

ICIMOD member countries - 

Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal - were 

the focus areas of the project. 

First the team analysed the requirements 

of the proposed system. A 

detailed discussion with potential 

partner institutions was held to 

identify the most commonly used data. 

A two-day workshop was conducted at 

Kathmandu with two participants from 

Bhutan, two from Bangladesh and six 

from Nepal. From these activities, the 

project team developed a preliminary 

list of the available and the most 

widely requested datasets and identified 

standardized content to be adopted 

for metadata. Then the team designed 

and developed the system available 

Internet mapping technology. 

All text searches and retrievals 

within the system are based on ASP 

(Active Server Page) technology. The 

geographic data was collected into a 

database.. The database is hosted on a 

Windows Advanced Server running 

SQL Server 2000. The system was built 

such that partner institutions can use 

the system to update the database over 

the Internet. Partners with appropriate 

security clearance can make online 

additions, deletions, edits and do other 

general maintenance work. 

Regional Geographic Information Infrastructure 

ICIMOD made 

the GIS project 

platform available so 

that the participating 

member countries 

are able to share 

resources. Lead 

partners were given 

space, access and 

support on the 

Server platform. The 

platform included 

the Internet infrastructure 

needed for 

database management, 

Internet 

Mapping and 

website hosting. 

The site is hosted 

on an IIS Web Server, 

with XML as the 

underlying database for metadata. As 

GIS products from ESRI were being 

used in all the partner institutions 

already, the project used ArcGIS 

software for GIS work and to catalog 

metadata. The setup at the lead partner 

institutions used the same configuration, 

and the training at those institutions 

also concentrated on the set 

configuration. 

To increase usability, the Portal 

interacts with the web browsers of the 

clients without the need for Java 

Census indicators in Nepalese language 

Components of Mountain GIS Portal 

extensions to locate, retrieve and view 

data, maps andapplications from the 

servers. 

The strategic partnership of 

ICIMOD with ESRI greatly facilitated 

the smooth operation of the project. 

The core software used to develop the 

ArcIMS and ArcGIS systems was 

generously provided by ESRI. Further, 

ICIMOD also acquired and distributed 

ArcIMS from ESRI at discount prices for 

its partner institutions in Bhutan and 

Bangladesh. 

22

The outcomes include: 1) develop- was incorporated into the main 

on the Internet has a positive impact 

ment of a metadata system based on system. 

for policy makers on data sharing 

international documentation standards; 

policies in the region by liberating the 

2) discovery of the other pre-existing 

spatial databases spread throughout Lasting Impacts 

conservative attitude of data restriction. 

The availability of consistent 

the Internet; 3) awareness in data 

spatial datasets is going to improve 

sharing and the importance of regional The main objective of this project was our ability to investigate the issues 

cooperation; 4) development of a to encourage sharing of geographic related to natural resources and 

Mountain GIS Portal for publishing information among 

geographic data and information that potential users and 

provides access and increased avail- providers. Such a 

ability; 5) development of a framework system has brought 

for sharing spatial data, metadata, map together the stake- 

and training resources on the Web; 6) holders,develop- construction of a means to access ment practitioners, 

spatial data, maps, metadata and providers and users. 

publications posted by ICIMOD as These target audi- 

well as selected partner institutions ences share their 

from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal; g) data, experiences and 

trained personnel in the partner 

knowledge as well as 

institutions to prepare metadata and discuss various 

use the system for publishing their 

own spatial data; and h) developed a 

issues related to the 

application of 

Mapping the fragile forest resources using the 

information infrastructure 

methodology for web-based GIS, geographic informa- 

which will be useful for future imple tion in mountainous environments. environment management. 

mentation of similar projects and With the active participation of 

The project has advanced the 

extensions of the system. 

providers and users of GIS data in the concept of providing more geographic 

Finally, the project team conducted region, the portal provides the 

knowledge to anyone, anywhere, 

a one-week training program for foundation stone for scientific discus- anytime. 

professionals from partner institutions sions, sharing of data and knowledge The project team recommends 

in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. for the benefit of the mountain people 

future projects may want to take the 

and the sustain- harvesting approach. The harvesting 

abledevelop- concept requires a number of distribment 

of the uted GIS nodes periodically share their 

region. 

data with one another. One central site 

The system then harvests these data and compiles 

was designed them into one comprehensive, search- 

using the latest able catalog. GIS users would then 

ICT and GIS tools connect to and search this central GIS 

to provide a catalog portal. This method requires 

platform for all more resources than the centralized 

the GIS users in approach we adopted. 

the region to 

Based on the results of the project, 

share their data the project team recommends that 

and resources. By policy makers, government bodies and 

bringing together data providers embrace the concept of 

Agricultural resources data in the mountain region 

different coun- RGII by sharing data. 

being made available 

tries, the portal Developing communities must also 

has helped focus on networking as a way to make 

Training included various aspects of promote regional data sharing and use of ICT for development. ICT4D 

the system: metadata standards, inputs cooperation . Participation and 

entrepreneurs are encouraged to make 

and maintenance. The participants partnership are the keys to a successful use of WebGIS as a novel technology 

were involved in the metadata prepa- RGII, and clearly the portal provides for a variety of needs and environration 

of the available databases in such a forum. 

ments. 

their respective institutions, and that Publishing geographic information 

23 Regional Geographic Information Infrastructure

5. 5. Esta Establishment Esta lishment of of Ne Nepal Ne pal Inter Internet Inter net 

Exchange 

Exchange 




The implementing organization and 

other local organization contributed 

US$ 17,218 and Packet Clearing House 

contributed US$ 3,590. 


Establish a Layer 2 switching exchange 

in Ekantakuna area, in Kathmandu 

Valley, Nepal, to address problems 

associated with traffic routing within 

the country. 


Ethernet switch 

Router 

Host for data collection 

Personal computer 

UPS 

Accessories, wiring and telephone lines 



Research, train, and assist in traffic 

management including the migration 

to dynamic routing and separation of 

international and local traffic. 

Preserve bandwidth and save cost while 

providing faster and free downloads for 

local content. 

Document the procedures and process 

of the establishment and operation of 

an Internet Exchange. 

Impact 

With the introduction of NPIX project, 

ISPs have been able to separate 

international traffic and local traffic, 

and the formation of the local Internet 

Exchange facilitates the exchange of 

local traffic. The exchange also provided 

“looking glass” facility for 

research to ascertain the size of Internet 

infrastructure in Nepal. 

Routing Workshop at SANOG 4 hosted by NPIX in July, 2004 in Kathmandu 

(Photo by GRU/NPIX) 


The local Internet industry benefits 

through the fostering of a close knit 

technology group that exchanges 

information and know-how on a 

regular basis. 

Users also benefit, because now the 

connections are faster and much more 

reliable. 

The government also benefits from the 

project, because the Internet Exchange 

is a platform which can host the content 

generated for e-governance and 

government portals. 


Gaurab Raj Upadhaya is the instigator 

of NPIX and serves as its Technical 

Chair and voluntary CEO. He has been 

involved in the formation and smooth 

operation of NPIX from the very 

beginning. 

In his team, Rupesh Shrestha acts as the 

chairman of NPIX, in charge of banking 

and other administrative procedures. 

Other leaders in the project include 

Ritesh Raj Joshi, Binay Bohra, and Rishi 

Raj Dahal. 


E-Mail: info@npix.net.np 

Website: http://www.npix.net.np 

www.npix.net.np 

24

Ad Addr Ad dr dressing dr essing Local Local Inter Internet Inter net Traf af affic af ic 

Routing outing Pr Prob Pr ob oblems ob lems 

Members attend the 2nd NPIX General Meeting, July, 2005 (Photo by GRU/NPIX) 


In Nepal, Internet services started in 

1994. At present, there are more than 

15 companies providing commercial 

Internet services in Kathmandu alone. 

Of these, more than half have their 

own international gateways. Some of 

these service providers also have 

presence outside Kathmandu Valley. 

Moreover, there are organizations like 

the Institute of Engineering, UN 

House, Kathmandu University, and 

RONAST that have their own international 

connections through satellite 

links. Each service provider set up its 

own independent satellite connection 

to the Global Network. This large 

number of independent connections 

creates extra expenditure and slower 

Internet access. 

Almost all Internet Service Providers 

(ISPs) in Nepal were using static 

routing in their respective IP networks. 

This created serious constraints in 

network management as route additions 

and modifications had to be 

entered manually on all routers 

starting from the gateway router to the 

destination router. This was a time 

consuming task and not practical on 

large IP networks. Also, static routing 

does not provide automatic switchover 

if the network link goes down. 

The unavailability of local Internet 

traffic routing facilities in Nepal has 

hindered broadband deployment and 

that in turn slows down development. 

To enable the exchange of local 

traffic locally between the ISPs, content 

providers and network operators in 

Nepal, the Nepal Internet Exchange 

(NPIX) was founded in August 2002. 

Since then, NPIX has operated successfully 

with two switch locations and 

recently aggregate traffic levels have 

hit 10 Mbps. 


The projectstarted when Gaurab Raj 

Upadhaya requested information 

about the IP addresses of the ISPs in 

Nepal. His request was sent to a group 

of people and it was followed by 

informal talks with ISPs to get acceptance 

for collaboration in principle, 

and a presentation on the Internet 

Exchange at Infocom. By 22 August 

2002, the ISP Association of Nepal 

approved the NPIX recommendations. 

Effective July 2003, NPIX was fully 

functional. The project followed the 

London Internet Exchange standards. 

The project team established a Layer 2 

switching exchange in Ekantakuna, 

Kathmandu Valley. And the team 

trained local ISPs in routing technologies 

and also supported the operations 

of the Internet Exchange for the initial 

year. 

Using questionnaires, statistical 

analysis and interviews the project 

team collected data from the ISPs and 

peering partners and evaluated the 

significance of the IX. This data was 

collected every three months. Research 

using this data were documented 

enabling data exchange facility and 

growth in data traffic. The project team 

also researched Internet usage patterns 

and data flow directions through data 

collected at the IX and in co-operation 

with the ISPs. Questionnaires, statistical 

analysis as well as interviews were 

used to reach results. 

The ISPs had to complete a simple 

form before joining the Internet 

Exchange facility. Later, they also 

completed the form again once every 

three months. The project team also 

collected data from the Internet 

Exchange using the SNMP (Simple 

Network Management Protocol) and 

tools like a Multi Router Traffic 

Grapher (MRTG). The aggregated data 

on the total traffic flowing through the 

IXP is always available online. 

MRTG data shows the increase or 

decrease in local Internet traffic. This 

data, combined with the information 

provided by ISPs, explains the fluctuations 

in total traffic on the IXP. This 

SNMP collects this data, and publishes 

25 Internet Exchange

ISP Engineers learn how to set up 

Peering, August 2002 (Photo by WEW/ 

NPIX) 

it on the Internet. At the same time, a 

detailed analysis based on information 

provided by the ISPs is published on 

the Internet every three months. 

The team held training workshops 

once every three months and provided 

ISPs with the necessary skills to use the 

IX. Trainings were focused on BGP 

peering technology. The project team 

provided two levels of training for 

local ISPs and other partners - one at 

the basic level and one at the advanced 

level. 

External help came from Dr. Philip 

Smith of Cisco Systems. Dr. Smith used 

his expertise to help the migration of 

the ISPs critical networks, and he 

conducted a workshop for the ISP 

network engineers. During his visit, 

all the ISPs were successfully upgraded 

to dynamic routing with OSPF and 

BGP. The IP networks are now in ideal 

condition. The Internet Exchange is 

stable, and if one of the peers or the IX 

fails, all the peer traffic is now automatically 

routed via the Internet 

gateway of the respective ISPs. 


With the introduction of the NPIX 

project, ISPs are now able to separate 

international traffic and local traffic, 

and the the local Internet Exchange (IX) 

facilitates the exchange of local traffic. 


This has benefited the ISPs directly 

through preservation of bandwidth and 

a ten percent increase in cost effectiveness. 

The NPIX project also provides a 

“looking glass” facility for researchers 

to ascertain the size of Internet infrastructure 

in Nepal. Users also get to 

enjoy faster and free downloads for 

local content. 

The project team achieved their 

objectives and is already actively 

working for more improvements and 

expansion of this network by enrolling 

more ISPs, Universities, educational 

institutes and corporate networks. The 

research importance of NPIX will 

continue to increase as the size of the 

Internet in Nepal continues to grow. 

NPIX is doing continuous research, as 

the Internet infrastructure grows, such 

research will help solve IP issues, 

routing and other problems. 

The project has benefited: the local 

Internet Industry by fostering a close 

knit technology group who exchange 

information and know how on a 

regular basis; users, because now 

connections are faster and much more 

reliable; and the government, because 

the Internet Exchange is a platform 

which can hosts ta e-governance and 

government portal. The results from 

The NPIX is being setup, August 2002 (Photo by WEW/NPIX) 

NPIX provide a convincing set of 

reasons for policy makers in developing 

countries relating to the economical 

reasons for the formation of an 

Internet Exchange. 

NPIX is a model for Internet 

Exchange establishment in the region. 

Yet, if we were to do it again, we 

would look more seriously at circuit 

availability. In the next stage, the 

project team plans to host an anycasted 

version of the i.root-servers.net at the 

NPIX. The TU Foundation from 

Sweden approved a grant to install the 

root server by Autonomica that is the 

operator of i.root-servers.net. This new 

server will provide IP addresses. The 

project team also plans to do netflow 

analysis of the traffic at NPIX. 

From the results of the project, the 

team recommends giving the participants 

in the Internet Exchange full 

control over their network routing 

infrastructure. The establishment of an 

Internet Exchange in any region helps 

foster the growth of the local IT and 

Internet Industry. The Exchange is a 

place where different networks connect 

to each other, so the best possible way 

to establish an Internet Exchange is to 

give the participants full control over 

their network’s routing infrastructure. 

26

Thus the Exchange, which only 

provides a Layer 2 (L2) switching 

facility, is more likely to succeed. 

However, It is best not to rush 

through the process. Ultimately, the IX 

can only be successful with the full cooperation 

of the ISPs. If the ISPs do not 

understand the benefits and operations 

of the IX, they are less likely to join or 

contribute to the IX. Educating the ISPs 

about how to setup the networks is 

more important than having experts do 

it for them. Also, the core team must 

consists of people with a good understanding 

of the Internet Routing 

system. These people should have the 

trust of all the local participants. Last, 

the location of the IX is very important 

for long-term needs. 

27 Internet Exchange

6. 6. Character-Based Character-Based Nastalique 

Nastalique 

Font ont f ffor 

f or Ur Urdu Ur du (P (Pakistan) 

(P akistan) 




Implementing organization contributed 

US$ 22,833. 


Create a character-based Nastalique 

font for Urdu so that Urdu web and 

other publishing more effective and 

efficient. 


Enable the realization of contextsensitive 

writing systems like Urdu 

Nastalique through extending the 

existing Open-Type Font formalism. 

Develop a Nastalique font for Urdu, 

which requires a scientific study of 

Nastalique orthography, and then its 

modeling using OTF specification. 


Definition and free disbursement of the 

Nastalique font for Urdu will accelerate 

Urdu publishing through electronic 

media and will benefit the 60 million 

readers of Urdu across the world. 

People who do not understand a second 

language (e.g. English, which is the 

lingua franca of computers and 

internet) will also be able to publish 

and access web pages, email, chat, etc., 

and a host of other computer applications. 

Nafees Nastalique 


Self-extracting installation program 

that installs Nafees Nastalique 


Two workstations 

High resolution scanner 

Laser printer 

Adobe Photoshop 6.0 

ScanFont 

FontLab. 

Jamil-ur-Rehman in deep thinking during a calligraphy session 

Publications on the lexicon and rule 

base developed for Nastalique and 

modeling techniques employed for the 

realization of Nafees Nastalique. 

Sample web-site creation and publication 

using the Nafees Nastalique. 


The team from CRULP includes Dr. 

Sarmad Hussain as Senior Research 

Fellow, Mr. Shafiq-ur Rahman, Mr. 

Belal Muhammad Hashmi, seven 

funded students, and calligraphers. 


Center for Research in Urdu Language 

Processing, 

National University of Computer and 

Emerging Sciences, 

852 B Block, Faisal Town, 

Lahore, Pakistan. 

E-Mail: sarmad.hussain@nu.edu.pk 

Websites: http://www.crulp.org/ 

http://www.calligraphyislamic.com/ 

profiles/nafees.html 

www.crulp.org/ 

28

Open-T Open-Type Open-T ype F FFont 

F ont Specif Specifica 

Specif ica ications ica tions f ffor 

f or 

Ur Urdu Ur du Langua Language 

Langua 

The team, left to right: Mr. Jamil, Mr. Atif and the team lead Mr. Aamir (missing: 

Sara Hussain, Noman Nazar, and two undergraduate internees) 

Urdu is the national language of 

Pakistan, and more than 60 million 

people in more than 20 countries speak 

the language. Even with such extensive 

readership, very limited information 

is published on the Internet in 

Urdu. The absence of a character-based 

font for Urdu significantly limits the 

use of Urdu. . Urdu is written in 

Nasta’leeq script. This script is contextsensitive 

and cannot be constructed 

using earlier font specifications. 

Therefore, Urdu websites are made 

using Naskh font, which is normally 

used for Arabic and unnatural for Urdu 

readership, or alternatively the 

websites contain scanned images of 

text written in Nasta’leeq, which takes 

a large amount of memory and makes 

the websites very slow to access. 

Therefore, to make Urdu web and 

other publishing more efficient, a 

character-based Nasta’leeq font for 

Urdu needed to be developed. 

29 


The Nasta’leeq script Urdu is 

written in, is complex and has very 

context-sensitive structure. The project 

team addressed the major problem of 

modeling the character based 

Nasta’leeq font for Urdu. To solve this 

problem, the team needed to quantitatively 

analysis Nasta’leeq rules, 

including proper contextual substitution 

of shapes, cursive positioning and 

correct Nuqta placement. 

This project presents a scientific 

study of Nasta’leeq orthography and 

models the script using Open Type 

Font (OTF) specifications. This project 

produced the model of these rules in 

the form of character based Nasta’leeq 

font for Urdu. The major research 

findings include: capturing the context 

sensitive substitution grammar of 

Nasta’leeq; formulating the cursive 

positioning rules of the font; deriving 

optimized Nuqtaplacement rules; and 

implementing kerning rules where 

necessary. These findings have also 

been documented in a logical and 

physical model of Nafees Nasta’leeq. 

With the completion of this project, 

the dissemination of information in the 

Urdu language through electronic 

media is now easy.. Users can now 

publish electronically in Urdu and thus 

reach out to the extensive readership 

around the world. Furthermore, 

through various documents as specified 

above, this project has quantified 

Nasta’leeq rulesin significant detail 

and analyzed methods for modeling 

and rendering complex fonts. 


The project used domain understanding 

and literature review to understand 

previous work in this field. First, the 

project team studied technologies and 

standards defined for font develop- 

Urdu letters in Nastaliq Script2 

ment. Then, the team gathered and 

tested previously available Urdu fonts 

and applications supporting Urdu. 

After the team collected information 

and requirements from the calligraphers, 

the team developed a prototype. 

An OpenType font for Naskh was 

developed as a prototype. Naskh is a 

particular writing style of Urdu with 

simpler substitution and positioning 

rules than the Nasta’leeq writing style. 

The development life cycle of the 

Naskh prototype was shorter though 

similar to that of Nasta’leeq. 

Nafees Nastalique

In the next phase, the project team 

developed a physical model for Nafees 

Nasta’leeq. The model covered the 

work done at the True Type Font (TTF) 

level and the efforts at the OTF level. 

During this phase, the team listed and 

finalized the individual glyphs, which 

form building blocks of the font. The 

team then defined procedures needed 

to convert these glyphs from images to 

splines (standard mathematical form 

for glyph outline). Similarly the team 

also decided what work needed to be 

Vectorization of the letters 

done at the True Type (which is the 

earlier font specifications) level. 

Finally, the team indicated the contextual 

rules for substitution and positioning. 

The implementation phase can be 

broadly divided into three sub phases: 

1) image processing: acquisition of 

Nasta’leeq glyphs and ligatures, 

scanning of Nasta’leeq glyphs, segment 

joint verification and ligature shape 

refinement, thresholding of Nasta’leeq 

glyphs (monochrome), and 

vectorization of Nasta’leeq glyph 

outlines; 2) TrueType Level Work: 

glyph size for Nasta’leeq font, positioning 

of glyphs at the TTF level, 

joining of glyphs at the TTF level, 

including missed shapes, glyph 

ordering, and TTF file organization; 

and 3) OpenType Level Work: Unicode 

assignment, glyph grouping, implementing 

substitution, positioning, 

cursive positioning, mark positioning, 

and kerning rules. 

The project team tested the font at 

three levels before releasing it. Firstly, 

Nafees Nastalique 

all valid ligatures of Urdu were tested. 

Secondly, written texts of Urdu from 

various fields were tested. Thirdly, 1.7 

M words were taken from frequency 

analysis of Urdu done by the Center 

for Research in Urdu Language 

Processing (CRULP) and tested. The 

font is now freely available at 

www.crulp.org. 

The researchers contributed by 

organizing free font training sessions 

at font seminars to provide an insight 

into font making. In addition, the 

grant has helped in acquiring 

new equipment such as a 

printer, personal computers 

and a scanner. The team was 

also able to purchase specialized 

software required for 

font development. Thus, the 

research team can utilize the 

software obtained and the 

experience gained through 

this project to work more on 

other computationally 

unexplored scripts. Also this 

grant strengthened CRULP 

capacity for analysis and 

research. Through this grant, 

CRULPmatured into a growing center 

of excellence in the computation of 

Urdu and other regional languages. 

The experience that the research 

team has made it easier to anticipate 

and identify problems in the analysis 

A calligraphy session 

phase and to take remedial measures 

before prospective problems occurred. 

As an example, OTF technology was 

thoroughly tested through prototyping 

the Nafees Naskh font. This exercise 

also served the dual purpose of training 

the student team in the technical details 

of the new font formalism. This proved 

to be a useful exercise for the actual 

design and development of the Nafees 

Nasta’leeq font and saved a lot of time. 

The project was managed in 

separate planning, analysis, design, 

implementation and testing cycles, 

following conventional software 

engineering practices. Extensive testing 

was done to identify three levels of 

bugs. All level-one bugs were removed. 

Though other level bugs were 

also removed, some level-two and 

some level-three bugs were left open 

because the team ran out of space 

within the OTF formalism to write any 

further rules. The Beta version of font 

was released on the 14th of August 2003 

and is currently being maintained to 

remove any additional bugs reported 

by end users. 


Nafees Nasta’leeq is a successful 

project. The results can be attributed to 

the hard work of the core team (the 

funded students at CRULP) who spent 

30

long hours and many days working on 

the project. The success of the project is 

also due to the calligraphers who 

worked with a great deal of understanding 

and patience with the team of 

computer scientists. This project has 

also been successful in documenting a 

logical and physical model for the 

Nasta’leeq script. The font development 

work has also tested the limits of 

OTF formalism, which is currently 

being extended to give space for more 

rules to realize complex fonts like 

Nasta’leeq. This project has also 

enabled 60 million Urdu users to 

develop web pages, publish and easily 

access content using the Internet. Thus, 

the work of the project team has 

greatly reduced the foreign language 

barrier for formal correspondence in 

countries like Pakistan. 

This project has acted as a catalyst 

to further analyze and develop fonts in 

regional languages other than Urdu. It 

can also provide an opening for other 

donors to consider their own role in 

the promotion of Urdu computation. In 

this regard, CRULP has already won a 

grant from the Government of Pakistan 

to develop a software system for 

machine translation. 

Font making is an arduous and 

tiring process that requires hours of 

development and testing “to make it 

look just right”. Unprofessional 

development can result in very 

unaesthetic fonts, which make them 

useless. As people are very familiar 

with their writing systems, they can 

easily tell the good from the bad. 

Initially, we wanted to make the font 

totally open source. However, though 

Setting up the blackboard before calligraphy class starts 

the project team is distributing the font 

free even now - as had been initially 

committed - hard work has developed 

a realization that free distribution may 

not be in the best interest of the work. 

If any user can start experimenting 

with the font and start developing new 

versions, the availability of multiple 

versions that are not aesthetically 

pleasing will likely confuse the end 

users. . Thus, the team feels that 

professional fonts should not be open 

source. 

Also, related to this matter are the 

commercialization opportunities of 

such products. The team was contacted 

by BBC, UK at the release of the font. 

They are interested in using the font 

for the BBC Urdu website and wanted 

to purchase rights to the font so that 

they can modify and further improve 

upon the work. However, as the IPR 

issues are detailed in the grants, it is 

difficult to assess how such matters 

may be handled. Administering 

agencies (AMIC, IDRC, APDIP UNDP, 

APNIC) should also look into advising 

and guiding their partners in relevant 

situations. 

31 Nafees Nastalique

7. 7. Comm Community-Based Comm unity-Based Injur Injury Injur 

Sur Surveillance 

Sur eillance Trac ac acking ac king System 

System 

(Philippines) 

(Philippines) 




The implementing organization 


The Pasay City Health Office contributed 

US$ 2,095, and Smart Communications 

contributed US$ 130. 


Improve health care delivery in the 

public health sector in the Philippines 

through the development of a computer-based 

information system for 

public health centers. 


The general objective of a low cost 

electronic information system is 

achieved through the following steps: 

1) Design and develop an extensible 

and customizable computer-based 

information system for the local health 

unit level using open source tools; 

2) Design and develop professional 

training program for community 

health workers; and 

3) Engage community in child injury 

prevention activities 


The prospective users are community 

health workers in Pasay City, and the 

local government officials who will be 

receiving the health reports generated 

by the system. These reports will be 

useful for decision-making at the local 

level. 

Community Health Information and Tracking System 


Software for the Computer-based 

Information System for Health 

Centers, 

Curriculum for introducing the concept 

of health information systems, 

Administrator’s manual and various 

training programs for health workers. 


The open source software used were: 

Linux operating system, 

PHP Hypertext Pre-processor, 

Apache webserver, 

MySQL database management system. 

A generic architecture for modular 

enterprises (GAME) was also developed 

to make further expansion of the 

CHITS easy for any developer with a 

modicum of training in scripting 

languages. 

Impact 

The overall impact is positive because it 

has made data collection, consolidation 

and presentation easier for the local 

health centers. They are now more 

amenable to looking at their data and 

interpreting their outputs and reports. 


The CHITS team from Medical 

Informatics Unite of University of the 

Philippines was led by Associate Prof. 

Herman D. Tolentino, MD, with team 

members: Alvin B. Marcelo, MD, 

Inocencio D.C. Maramba, MD, MSc, 

Portia F. Marcelo, MD, MPH, Malou San 

Juan, MD, Ma. Irene Sy, MD, MPHC, 

Armand Lee, MD, Marvin Yoingco, MS 

(cand.), Ariel Betan, MA, MS (cand.). 

The partner organizations are Pasay 

City Health Office under Dr. Pilar Perez, 

and Infocom under Ferry Tolentino. 


Medical Informatics Unit, College of 

Medicine, University of the Philippines 

Manila, 547 Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, 

Manila 1000, Philippines. 

E-mail: hermant@l-manila.com.ph 

Website: http://www.chits.info 

CHITS project team. Left to right: Ariel Betan, Marvin Yoingco, 

Alison Perez, HermanTolentino, and Cito Maramba (Alvin 

Marcelo not shown) 

www.chits.info 

32

Lo Low-cost Lo w-cost Inf Infor Inf or orma or ma mation ma tion System System f ffor 

f or 

Healthcar 

Healthcare Healthcar e Deli Deliver Deli er ery er 

A busy day at the health center 


Setting up responsive communitybased 

health information systems is a 

challenge for any national system 

integrating information technology in 

healthcare. The Community Based 

Child Injury Surveillance System 

project aim was initially to create a 

data collection system using short 

messaging service with mobile phones. 

The project started 1997 when the 

Medical Informatics Unit (MIU) of the 

University of the Philippines Manila 

was created to monitor the implementation 

of a local area network of the UP 

College of Medicine. Since its inception, 

the MIU has developed several 

information system projects in support 

of efficient and effective health care 

information systems. 

In 2002, the MIU developed 

software to integrate the disease 

surveillance systems of six countries in 

the Mekong Basin. The members 

thought doing the same with the public 

health information systems in the 

Philippines would be a good idea. So 

the following year MIU developed a 

proposal for an SMS-based child injury 

surveillance system to integrate the 

community health workers into the 

community. MIU called the project the 

Child Injury Telephony-based Surveillance 

System (CHITS) and submitted 

the proposal to PANASIA for funding. 

The original project started with a 

technology-driven agenda, but the 

problems in the community needed a 

much broader approach with wider 

community support. The project team 

changed the specifications to address 

those requirements and designed a 

extensive system architecture to bridge 

the public healthcare and primary care 

information systems. Instead of a 

mobile phone based system, the project 

team created a computer-based 

information system that primarily 

serves the needs of the health center 

facility and secondarily that of the 

national public health system. 

The project was renamed CHITS 

(Community Health Information and 

Tracking System) and was redesigned 

to circumvent issues associated with 

the original strategy such as constraints 

in economics (cost of sending messages) 

and existing national and local 

health policies (only government 

health centers can submit official 

health data). 

Using community immersion, 

systems analysis, joint rapid application 

development, onsite technical 

assistance and grassroots-oriented 

training,CHITS was piloted in two of 

the thirteen health centers in Pasay 

City. CHITS had two major components: 

1) an extensive and customizable 

software engine for health facilities, 

and 2) a training program for health 

center staff and community health 

workers. 

The project team selected one poor 

urban community from Pasay City, 

Metro Manila, Philippines for this 

project. Community health workers in 

CHITS team at work 

Pasay City, are among the beneficiaries 

of this project. . Local government 

officials who receive the health reports 

generated by the system also benefit 

from the CHITS program. The officials 

can use the reports for governmental 

and local community level decisions. 

33 Community Health Information and Tracking System


The Community Health Information 

Tracking System (CHITS – formerly 

Child Health Surveillance Information 

System) project was funded by 

PANASIA in January 2004 and lasted 

twelve months. The CHITS program 

received no supplementary grants. 

Since the health centres adopted the 

CHITS system, the project continues to 

today. Herman Tolentino will read a 

paper about the CHITS project at the 

American Medical Informatics Association 

Annual Conference in Washington, 

DC, in late 2005. 

The CHITS team paid special 

attention to health center cultural 

factors and workflow when designing 

the information system. The team used 

an incremental approach to module 

development and tested the interface 

with end users while the module was 

being used. Each part of the CHITS 

system represented a different model. 

The project team came from a 

health informatics background and had 

easy access to free open source software 

and documentation. The team used this 

documentation extensively in learning 

the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, 

PHP) system. The team then used this 

knowledge to train the health centre 

staffs. 

Community data manager training 

During the training of the staffs, the 

team found that it was important to 

make the hardware available and let 

the users immediately apply what they 

have learned in the actual use of the 

system. Many of the users had not 

touched computers before and were 

initially apprehensive. To help famil- 

Community Health Information and Tracking System 

iarize the staffs with the 

components of the computers 

any allay their fears of 

technology, the staffs were 

asked to play games on the 

computer. 

The project team soon 

discovered that the end 

users could become effective 

trainers themselves and 

potentially offer an empowering 

solution to training 

staff from other health 

centers. For the trained end 

CHITS Project team in the Philippines showing 

newly purchased equipment 

users training new users, 

monetary remuneration can be 

provided and the managers of the software. This opened the source code 

system are provided with a sustainable to and invite interested developers 

way of propagating the necessary worldwide to participate in the 

skills to create a knowledgeable software development project. In 

community who can manage the anticipation of multilingual (global) 

system. This development 

could relieve the Medical 

Informatics Unit of the burden 

of technical support by empowering 

a user community to help 

one another in an open source 

fashion. 

The system implementation 

in Pasay City was happened in 

a phased manner before 

deployment in the other highvolume 

health center 

(Malibay). This method ensured 

Pasay City Health worker being trained 

that most of the physical 

network and hardware issues were and multi-dialect (local) use, the 

identified, most bugs were unearthed authors incorporated a multi-lingual 

and most system functionality was engine used in a previous open source 

already available. 

disease surveillance system project, 

The CHITS project made use of the which was developed for the Mekong 

following open source software: a Basin Disease Surveillance Project 

Linux operating system, a PHP 

(MBDS). 

Hypertext Pre-processor, an Apache 

web server and a MySQL database Lasting Impacts 

management system. In addition, a 

generic architecture for modular The users immediately saw the 

enterprises (GAME) was developed to benefits of the new system: the speed 

make further expansion of the CHITS of accessing previous entries in- 

easy for any developer with training in creased; generating reports became 

scripting languages. 

easier; and the program eliminates 

To put the software in the public redundant data entry if patients fit 

domain, particularly the GAME 

into several vertical programs 

Engine, the Medical Informatics Unit categories (eg, a pregnant patient with 

set up a Sourceforge web site, a 

Tuberculosis). They were also able to 

popular repository of open source integrate data from two or more 

34

vertical programs and see correlations 

(eg, maternal tetanus, toxoid coverage 

and child protection at birth). Centre 

staffs are now more amenable to 

looking at their data and interpreting 

their outputs and reports. 

In the previous manual paper-based 

system, gender specific data was only 

available for notifiable diseases but not 

for services (e.g., Expanded Program 

on Immunization, National Tuberculosis 

Program, Malaria, Leprosy, etc). 

With the computerized system, gender 

and age-specific data are now available 

for epidemiological analysis. 

The overall impact of the project 

attracted the attention of the Department 

of Healthtuberculosis module has 

been presented to TB control program 

managers in the private health sector 

and is being considered for adoption. 

In the near future, there are plans to 

implement CHITS in Pasay and 

Marikina, two of the most progressive 

cities in the country. The project team 

System demonstration to partners 

has also received inquiries from three 

other municipalities. A blood bank 

information system and a national 

surgical registry are now using the 

CHITS generic software engine. CHITS 

offers lessons in systems development 

that addresses end-user and organizational 

requirements.. This project is 

proof that open source software is a 

viable alternative to software development 

in health. 

This project shows that people with 

no experience can learn to use computers 

if they are provided access to the 

hardware right after training. The team 

also learned that policy, collaboration 

Health worker training workshop 

and partnership play very important 

roles in the expansion and 

sustainability of any information 

system. Upon reflection, the project 

team would have developed a better 

software architecture that separated 

presentation from software code and 

made CHITS “skinnable”. The CHITS 

system would be more refined if the 

project team had not linked the 

program architecture to GUI. Since the 

two are linked, the system architecture 

is difficult to modify . The project team 

would have also involved a lot more 

developers and stakeholders from the 

IT sector. 

The project team is currently 

looking for standards-based formats 

with which to develop these future 

improved modules for CHITS. The 

team is also looking for opportunities 

to test the multi-lingualization features 

of CHITS by deploying it in a locale 

using one of the native dialects. 

The team would like to convey 

several recommendations: 1) for 

entrepreneurs, advocacy for efficient 

and effective information management 

must be given to key leaders in the 

organization so that they will understand 

that the cost of the IS will be 

offset by the resource optimization; 2) 

for policy makers, fragmentation of 

health information can be avoided if 

policy making is carried out from a 

public health informatics-enabled 

perspective; 3) for donors, it is also 

very easy to be instrumental in 

creating fragmented information 

systems when one does not look at the 

big picture in a national context. 

Looking at the big funding picture is 

always difficult because of the opposing 

and divergent forces involved, 

technological, political, cultural, social, 

organizational, but in the long run, a 

holistic view becomes a cohesive force 

to deliver IT products that efficiently 

address a countrywide vision for 

interoperable information systems in 

healthcare. 

35 Community Health Information and Tracking System

8. 8. Life Life Skills Skills Education Education for 

for 

Youths ouths (Philippines) 

(Philippines) 




The implementing organization 


The in-kind contributions were received 

from implemention organization at 

CA$ 87,000, TESDA Centre Lingayen 

US$ 2,000, and Province of Sarangani 

US$ 16,000. 


Improve the employement opportunities 

of underpriviledged Filipino youth 

through establishing Computer 

Livelihood Training Centers. 

One of the youth training centers 


Expand the project to new communities 

within the Philippines while continuing 

to build the capacity to our local 

partner, the DSWD, so they can sustain 

the program and continue to implement 

new Computer Livelihood 

Training Centers with minimal foreign 

assistance. 


Under privileged youths in rural and 

peri-urban areas in the Philippines. 

Low Cost IT Centres 


Fifteen Computer Livelihood Training 

Centers offering holistic curriculum 

including computer literacy, life skills 

education, resource linkages and 

employment support, training 1,500 

underprivileged youths every year. 


The SCALA Project was conceptualized 

by Engineers Without Borders - 

Canada, whose project team comprises 

of George Roter, Parker Mitchell and 

Sarah Grant. 

The local implementation partners is 

the Philippines Department of Social 

Welfare and Development (DSWD). 

Impact 

From the assessment through stakeholder 

questionnaires, quarterly centre 

visits, and yearly evaluations, we found 

out that the training program completion 

rate is at 97.5 percent high, with 24 

percent finding employment within six 

month after completion and five 

percent returning to formal education. 

60.8 percent of the participants are 

female. 

Training the trainers (1) 

A computer training center 


250 Pentium II PCs 

Microsoft Windows 2000 


Scala Program, Engineers Without 

Borders (Canada), 188 Davenport Rd., 

201, Toronto, ON, M5R 1J2. 

E-mail: scala@ewb.ca. 

Website: http://www.scala.ewb.ca 

www.ewb.ca/scala 

36

Computer Computer Li Livelihood 

Li elihood Training aining Centr Centres Centr es 

Training the trainer (2) 

In the Philippines, Information and 

Communication Technology (ICT) has 

been identified as a source of competitive 

advantage for the country and the 

government has been strongly promoting 

its development. However, the 

country faces an alarming youth issue: 

during the 1990s the out-of-school 

youth population tripled. The number 

of underprivileged youth aged 15 to 24 

who are not employed nor in school is 

estimated at a startling 12 million 

(source: World Bank). 

In 2002, the National Youth 

Commission stated it is urgent for 

these youth to have access to basic 

services, specifically programs to help 

the out-of-school youth return to 

formal education or be engaged in 

non-formal vocational and livelihoodearning 

activities. The organisation on 

the frontline of delivering these 

programs is the Department of Social 

Welfare and Development (DSWD) of 

the Philippines Government. The 

37 


setting up a low-cost ICT centre that 

would offer affordable ICT training to 

local residents. 

The Department of Social Welfare 

and Development (DSWD) together 

with EWB seek to bridge the divide by 

setting up Computer Livelihood 

Training centres that offer affordable 

ICT training to local residents. 

This innovative and high quality 

work has been recognized at the 

highest international level with the 

Scala Project being named a winner of 

the Global Knowledge Partnership 

Youth ICT4D Award for Education, 

presented at the UN organized World 

Summit on the Information Society 

(WSIS) held in Geneva in December 

2003. 

The Philippines is an appropriate 

country for creating a program 

DSWD has a mandate to protect and involving modern communication 

promote the social rights and welfare technologies because of its location, 

of the poor. Engineers Without Borders language (English), high literacy rate 

(EWB) is working with the DSWD to and emerging IT sector. As such, 

help them modernize their youth computer literate graduates are 

social programs, in particular adding expected to have marketable skills and 

computer centres and integrated be employable within their commu- 

livelihood training areas to their nity. 

municipal offices. This program has A computer livelihood training 

been named SCALA (Sharing Com- program is an effective means to 

puter Access Locally and Abroad). address the root causes of the out-of- 

Before the program started, the school youth problems in the Philip- 

country saw ICT centres offering pines by providing new and higher 

computer literacy 

courses and Internet Discovering the computer 

access springing up in 

urban areas. This 

increase in training 

centres risked exacerbating 

the divide 

between the better-off 

and worse-off Filipino 

communities. The 

Technical Education 

and Skills Development 

Authority (TESDA) 

together with EWB seek 

to bridge the divide by 

Low Cost IT Centres

Training session in Ifugao 

income generation possibilities, 

namely through employment and 

return to formal education. 

The program established low-cost 

Computer Livelihood Training Centres 

that are sustained by local partners and 

offer affordable computer literacy 

training for underprivileged Filipino 

youth. The training program includes 

computer literacy training, life skills 

education, entrepreneurship skills 

training and employment support. 

Of the social workers with whom 

the project team work, more than 90 

percent were women. In addition, the 

gender distribution of the trainees to 

date has been very close to 50 percent 

male and female. This means both 

genders are getting the benefits of 

training. 


The project team established 15 centres 

using 250 computers and training 1,500 

underprivileged youth every year. The 

average implementation cost of a 15computer 

centre is kept to roughly 

Low Cost IT Centres 

$10,000 CAD by leveraging 

Canadian equipment donations 

(more than 250 computers 

donated so far)and the 

work of more than 100 

volunteers in Canada and 

abroad. With monthly 

maintenance and operational 

cost of $250 CAD, the program 

is considered very affordable 

for our local partners. 

Between 2001 and 2002, 

EWB conceptualized and built 

the pioneer computer livelihood-training 

centre in 

Lingayen, Philippines 

together with the Technical 

Education Skills Development 

Agency (TESDA) as the local 

partner. The following year 

the pilot project was studied 

and together with DSWD as 

local partner, EWB established 

three Centres in the central 

Philippines. The PAN Asia ICT Grant 

partly funded this expansion. From 

the pilot phase of the project, the team 

learned lessons that would ensure 

improvement of progressive projects. 

First, the team found that there is a 

continued need for close monitoring to 

ensure long-term sustainability. In 

addition, the team found that the 

approach to measure impact has to be 

robust to allow for objective results. 

The team also found it important to 

appreciate that computer training 

alone is not enough and that the 

training must include other soft-skills 

in order to be beneficial for the youth 

taking part in the project. Implementing 

the lessons learned from the pilot 

phase, in 2004, EWB and the DSWD 

launched an integrated training 

program for out-of-school youth. The 

project was scaled up and an additional 

12 Computer Literacy Training 

Centres were established across the 

Philippines. 

This process of capacity transfer is 

on going and the DSWD, assisted by 

EWB, continues to expand the project 

to new communities across the 

Philippines. Through close collaboration 

between the EWB volunteers and 

the DSWD social workers, both parties 

benefit from shared expertise. The 

DSWD is able to clearly define the 

situation of the Filipino youth in their 

communities as well as play a key role 

in customizing the project model for 

their respective communities, while 

EWB trains the center staff in the use 

of the computers and orients them 

Out of school youth from San Jose del Monte 

38

with the customized SCALA computer 

curriculum. As an important part of 

the program, each center is customized 

to the local realities of the youth and 

the job markets to provide a relevant 

training program. EWB volunteers use 

a participatory approach with the 

DSWD staff to help them become 

competent managers, trainers and 

technicians; therefore, ensuring that 

the centres create a long-lasting and 

sustainable impact. Moreover, to 

supplement the DSWD budget and to 

ensure equipment upkeep, alternative 

sources of funding within each 

community are identified, including 

local charities and private donors. 


The centers provide a low cost service 

catered to the needs of the youth 

needs. The centres target the most 

underprivileged in society. The 

computer literacy training is based on 

a curriculum customized to the 

learning styles of the youth and 

includes: basic computer operations, 

computer troubleshooting, Internet 

browsing, web page design and 

database management. The computer 

curriculum is available online and is 

free for all to use. 

Because most of the project beneficiaries 

have little schooling, life skills 

education is integrated into the 

training. The life skills education 

offered to ease the youth into formal 

education and employment includes 

information on: personal rights, values 

formation, nutrition and health, 

leadership skills and 

financial management. 

Through the 

partnership with the 

Department of Social 

Welfare and Development, 

the youth 

also have access to 

special services such 

as counseling, 

mentoring and 

tutoring. 

Results collected 

from the first 465 graduates show that, 

within six months of completion of 

their training, 112 (24%) found employment 

and 24 (5%) returned to formal 

education. According to these figures 

and with our current output capacity, 

500 (30% of enrollees) youth will have 

significantly improved their lives in 

the next 12 months. Those who do not 

immediately find employment or 

return to school still benefit greatly 

from the life skills education, increased 

morale and confidence, and by discovering 

new social networks. 

With a great deal of experience and 

a successful model in place, the next 

phase of the program promises to reach 

even more communities. EWB plans to 

achieve effective capacity building 

within our partnerto provide long-term 

impact to more beneficiaries who will 

be able to use the skills they acquire to 

increase their economic and social 

freedoms. In the next phase of this 

project, EWB plans to send more than 

150 computers and 10 volunteers to 

assist in the development of centres 

throughout the Philippines. These 

centres will double the number of 

underprivileged youth in the Philippines 

who benefit from a sustainable 

low-cost program and holistic computer 

literacy training. 

Youth in Tacloban City on their job placements 

39 Low Cost IT Centres

9. 9. Distance Distance Lear Learning Lear ning Pr Programme 

Pr amme 

(Solomon (Solomon Islands) 

Islands) 




Provide improved educational opportunities 

for rural people by exploiting new 

possibilities arising from ICTs, in 

particular the People First Network. 


As a model for the national expansion 

of the PFnet rural e-mail network, the 

project aims to: 

1) Exploit the existing community email 

facility to pilot a distance learning 

computer centre in a rural village 

school. 

2) Provide baseline research data on 

the impacts of the distance learning 

centre and the general impacts of the email 

facility, to be used in the future 

expansion of PFnet. 

3) Build rural and national capacity in 

the use of ICTs especially in the 

education sector. 


Beneficiaries of this process are 

primarily the remote rural communities 

that currently suffer from highly 

deficient transportation and communication 

networks; students and particularly 

young people in the rural areas 

who wish to study in their villages. 

The Solomon Islands Education System 

benefits from the study and pilot 

application. 

Organizations working in rural development 

and servicealso benefits, 

because PFnet allows them to improve 

their operations through better logistics 

and information exchange, while 

improving the living conditions of their 

staff in remote locations, presumably 

helping to retain them in their functions. 


Villagers in Buala 


Two Toshiba 440 laptop computers 

Two external keyboards and mice, 

Canon BJ1000 Printer with 4 BC03 

cartridges. 


1) The Distance Learning ICT Centre 

established in a rural area which could 

be a model application for the national 

PFnet programme 

2) USP Distance Learning Programme 

3) Baseline data provided for expansion 

of network 

4) Rural local capacity built 

Patson Taniveke demonstrating the computer 

Teachers of Sasamungga Community 

School now have basic office computing 

skills, and students of the school 

are exposed to computing as an 

educational aid, e-mail and the Internet. 

Some of the students at the workshop 

opening briefing 


The team includes PFnet Manager 

Randall Biliki, with Project Coordinator 

Alan Agassi, Research Coordinator 

Glynn Galo, PFnet Coordinator David 

Leeming. Supporting the research 

activity and evaluation is Prof. Tracy 

Berno, Associate Professor, Coordinator 

Tourism Studies, School of Social 

and Economic Development, University 

of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Islands. 


Ministry of Provincial Government and 

Rural Development 

Anthony Saru Building, 5 th Floor 

PO Box G35 

Solomon Islands 

E-Mail: rdva@pipolfastaem.gov.sb 

Websites: 

http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/ 

www.peoplefirst.net.sb/ 

40

Educa Education Educa tion thr through thr ough Remote emote Netw Networ Netw or orks or ks 

Peter Rita giving one on one basic computer training 


In the Solomon Islands, communication 

difficulties are an obstacle to 

development. Social unrest in 1998 

raised tension between Guadalcanal 

and Malaita and badly eroded national 

solidarity. Lack of trusted information, 

misinformation and the absence 

of reliable communication links have 

only served to heighten the misunderstanding 

and tension between communities. 

The People First Network, or 

PFnet, is a rural connectivity project, 

which aims to promote and facilitate 

Trainees trying out their new skill 

equitable and sustainable rural 

development and peace building by 

enabling better information sharing 

and knowledge building among and 

across communities in the Solomon 

Islands. The project was conceived and 

initiated by the UNDP and UNOPS 

project named the Solomon Islands 

Development Administration and 

Participatory Planning Programme 

(SIDAPP) under the Ministry of 

Provincial Government and Rural 

Development. SIDAPP was a UNDP 

and UNOPS project which closed in 

December 2001. From January 2001, 

SIDAPP initiated PFnet, which is now 

organised as a project of the Rural 

Development Volunteers Association 

(RDVA), which is affiliated to the Rural 

Development Division (RDD) of the 

Ministry of Provincial Government 

and Rural Development. All SIDAPP 

activities are now absorbed within the 

RDD. PFnet is now working with 

partners to develop further applications 

of the network in many other 

sectors. 

The objectives of the project are to: 

1) facilitate point-to-point communications 

to and from the remote provinces 

of the Solomon Islands; 2) facilitate 

rural development and peace-related 

information flows among all social 

groups; as well as 3) facilitate the 

exchange of information between 

communities and development 

partners, NGOs, government offices, 

the media, businesses and other 

stakeholders. 

This project aims to utilize an 

existing rural Internet connection 

through the rural-development and 

peace Information Communications 

Technology (ICT) initiative PFnet, to 

pilot a distance learning facility in one 

of the rural Community High Schools 

in the Solomon Islands in partnership 

with the University of South Pacific 

(USP) Centre of Honiara. The project 

team successfully created a Solomon 

Islands SchoolNet as the resources and 

the learning system for the project. 

These resources are available to other 

schools. 

The project team created a strategy 

and policy for distance education. That 

strategy encompassed the Solomon 

Islands School of Higher Education, 

USP Honiara Extension Centre and all 

formal and informal learning networks 

using appropriate and cost effective 

technology. Under this strategy, the 

formal and informal education sectors 

built capacity for the delivery and 

utilization of distance learning 

resources and the development of local 

content. The project also aims to open 

centres for general community 

networking purposes by developing 

links with rural health service delivery 

and support, commerce, finance, legal 

services, gender development, reduction 

of vulnerability to natural 

disasters and other improvements in 

rural access, many of which have 

already been pioneered by PFnet. 

Some level of “virtual classroom” 

41 Distance Learning Programme

The computer training workshop 

activity is possible, initially through 

audio webcasting with responses via 

messenger or “chat” systems by using 

the PFnet networks. The project team is 

also evaluating Learning Management 

Systems (LMS), which would allow 

many formal and vocational education 

providers to deliver and administer 

courses at the centres. 


PFnet has two key components. One is 

an Internet Café in Honiara, which 

allows residents of the capital city to 

access the Internet and write e-mails to 

anywhere in the Solomon Islands or 

the wider Internet. They can also 

browse the World Wide Web in search 

of information, or post their own 

information to share with others. The 

Café opened in February 2001 with 25 

workstations and is very useful to the 

community. The Café is already 

The participants enjoying a feast 


financially self-sufficient. 

The Café also serves as a 

training facility for a 

number of rural development 

stakeholders and 

the broader public. 

The second and most 

important component of 

PFnet is the network of email 

stations located in 

remote islands across the 

country. The stations are 

usually hosted in 

provincial clinics, 

community schools, or other accessible 

and secure public facilities. E-mail 

operators assist customers to send and 

receive e-mails. The stations use 

simple, robust and well-proven 

technology, consisting of a short-wave 

radio (already ubiquitous and wellknown 

in the South Pacific), a low-end 

computer and solar energy. On 

schedule, several times a day, each 

remote e-mail station connects to the 

hub station in Honiara automatically. 

Once connected, incoming or outgoing 

e-mails are transferred between the 

remote station and the hub, and 

between the hub and the wider 

Internet. Now that the network is 

established, it is being used to facilitate 

the rural networking needs of education, 

health, women, sustainable 

livelihood programs, finance and 

agriculture sectors. The operatorassisted 

facilities are able to access web 

sites using the TEK (Time Equal 

Knowledge) search engine 

(tek.sourceforge.net). 

The stations 

operate 

sustainably by 

charging small 

affordable fees 

for services. 

During, the 

first three 

months the 

implementation 

activities include 

the appointment 

of two distancelearningresearchers 

stationed at Sasamunga for three 

months. The two researchers are: Mr. 

Peter Pitia, a Bachelor of Science 

Degree Graduate from the University 

of Waikato, New Zealand and Mr. 

Patson Taniveke, a Bachelor of Science 

Degree Graduate from Papua New 

Guinea, University of Technology 

(UNITECH). Then, the project team 

found a room for the computer 

training, identified extension students 

in Sasamunga, designed a research 

instrument to measure the impact of email, 

and finally designed the work 

plan for the researchers. 

The project capital equipment 

Richard Dalgarno, EU consultant, 

organizing the workshop 

includes: two Toshiba 440 Ex-lease 

Laptop computers, two external 

keyboards and mice, and a Canon 

BJ1000 Printer with four BC03 cartridges. 

During the project implementation, 

the project supervisors provided 

computer and e-mail training for all 

the students. This enabled them to use 

the technology for the distance 

learning trials. Assignments were sent 

electronically through the course 

Facilitator. Marked assignments are 

returned in hard copy by mail. Students 

contact the tutor weekly by email 

to ensure continuity of the 

student-tutor relationship. The supervisors 

record the turn around time and 

all interactions. This data is used to 

find out how effective this modular is 

42

in the delivery of distance education. Solomon Telekom to develop a 

Honiara based tutors prepare weekly complementary rural communications 

tutorial guidelines and e-mail them to strategy. Through this partnership, 

students as a way of keeping the PFnet receives sponsorship from both 

students on track with the time 

schedule for Assignments, tests and 

exams. Supervisors provide assistance 

Telekom and Cable and Wireless. 

for student queries and or doubts 

concerning usage of computers, course 


materials and assignments. Honiara There is a high degree of interaction 

based students can access reference between rural based students and their 

materials and other information in the tutors. This communication facilitates 

library or search the Internet them- improved communication that was not 

selves. Distance-learning students in possible prior to the project. Students 

Sasamunga refer their research 

are now able to contact their tutors and 

requests to a USP (Universal Service get responses just like students at the 

Processor) server. Those requests are centre. This would greatly encourage 

then passed on to PFnet for searching. and motivate interested and existing 

The rural stations are community students to pursue distance learning in 

managed and the expansion of the the future. 

network is driven by the needs of the Sixty-eight percent of respondents 

community. In order to better under- to the centre surveys want to study 

stand these needs and be more effec- further. This indicates that people want 

tive, PFnet has conducted a research to take up distance learning courses 

program into the social impacts and through the PFnet distance-learning 

factors affecting the appropriation of mode. The inclusion of computer and 

rural ICT by the communities, in e-mail training in this mode of distance 

partnership with University of the learning is a catalyst for students 

South Pacific and UNDP, which is showing interest in taking up further 

funded by JICA. PFnet also provides studies. Village leaders have come to 

realize the importance of 

good leadership in their 

communities and education 

is seen as the vehicle for 

attaining such qualities. 

Staff and Administrators 

of Sasamunga Community 

High and Primary 

School now have access to 

computers, which help 

them learn basic computing 

skills and prepare 

USP tutor May Kenilorea and course facilitator 

Ellice Dai 

lessons, assignments and 

tests. The project has paved 

the way for education 

substantial information resources and providers to reach out in the rural and 

news on its web site and is active in remote areas through this mode and 

facilitating the flow of trusted news make distance education more readily 

between communities. 

accessible to eighty-five percent of 

This project is an important part of Solomon Islanders living in rural 

peace building in a nation torn by areas. This project also provided an 

ethnic conflict. PFnet is also working example of an application serving the 

with stakeholders to help the govern- needs of education users and providers. 

ment develop a national ICT strategy Additional benefits include medical 

and has formed a partnership with services (the e-mail station help the 

people of Sasamunga and nearby 

communities have access to better 

medical services from the hospital as a 

result of better communication linkage 

and coordination by the local hospital 

with other health providers) and a 

wider community network. 

If the project were repeated, the 

project team would have trained an 

Information Referral and Retrieval 

Assistant specifically for the Distance- 

Learning programme.. This would 

avoid any delay in retrieving information 

requested by students for their 

assignments. The team also would like 

to see a resource center like a small 

library created to increase student 

access to additional information. 

The project team submitted several 

recommendations to encourage the 

Solomon Islands Government to 

consider the integration of ICTs into all 

areas of policy and strategy in the 

education sector a priority. The project 

team specifically recommends that the 

Ministry of Education consider the 

PFnet proposals for funding under the 

Stabex 99 Fund to further develop 

infrastructure, capabilities and capacity; 

the stakeholders coordinate 

through a National Coordinating 

Committee; the Pan Asia ICT R&D 

Grants Programme increase the 

amount of funds released on each 

installment to ensure smooth implementation 

of project activities and 

provide further assistance for possible 

expansion. 

43 Distance Learning Programme

About About the the ICT ICT Grants Grants Programme 


The projects featured in this publication were supported 

with grants from Pan Asia Networking (PAN), a programme 

initiative of the International Development Research Centre 

(IDRC) of Canada which helps researchers and communities 

in the developing world find solutions to their social, 

economic, and environmental problems. 

PAN’s ICT R&D Grants Programme has the objective of 

building institutional research capacity in the developing 

countries of the Asia Pacific region, in the area of Internet 

netwroking. It is directed at encouraging original and 

innovative networking solutions to specific development 

problems. The programme was initiated by PAN with funds 

contributed by IDRC. 

Funds for the current phase of the programme are 

provided by: the Pan Asia Networking Programme of the 

International Development Research Centre (IDRC), http:// 

www.idrc.ca/, of Canada, and the Asia-Pacific Development 

Information Programme (APDIP), http://www.apdip.net/, 

of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It 

is administered by Asian Media Information and Communication 

Centre (AMIC), http://www.amic.org.sg/. The 

programme is overseen by a Committee established by Pan 

Asia Networking, APDIP, and AMIC. 

Small grands of up to US$9,000 and project grants of up 

to US$30,000 each will be awarded on a competitive basis 

tosuccessful institutions from the Asia Pacific region. 

Preference is given to projects that focus on practival 

solutions to real problems in Internet policy and technology 

applications. 

Scope 

� Research and development into innovative ICT 

applications, with a clear focus on practical and 

replicable approaches and techniques 

� Research on Internet infrastructure design, 

performance, a management policy, and related 

topics 

� Research with clear learning outcomes and social 

impacts of specific ICT policies and interventions and 

application of Internet technologies 

� Development of practical solutions based on the 

application of proven and readily available Internet 

technologies 

ICT Grants Programme 

� Research on policy matters affecting Internet 

networking in the Asia Pacific region, especially 

where linked to areas such as health, environment, 

culture, policy impacts, gender equity, social equity, 

sustainable communities, and technology diffusion/ 

transfer, and benefits to rural areas 

� Technology related issues such as broadband 

connectivity, last mile innovation, mobile and 

wireless technologies for the developing world, and 

increasing the capacity/efficiency of existing network 

infrastructures. 

Eligibility 

� Applications to ICT R&D Grants Programme are 

encouraged from developing country organizations 

in the Asia-Pacific region. Applications from a 

consortium of developed and developing country 

organizations are also encouraged as the programme 

promotes cross-country research partnership, 

teamwork, transfer and sharing of research 

experiences and know-how’s. Project proposals that 

reflect co-funding by other agencies are favourably 

considered. 

� Applicants must be a government body or a legally 

incorporated entity. 

� Applicants from private organizations have to be in 

partnership with civil services/NGOs/Not-for-profit 

organizations. 

� Applications from unaffiliated individuals, or from 

teams of such individuals, will not be accepted. 

� Applications that have been rejected by the 

Programme may not be re-submitted for 

consideration again. 

Funding & Duration 

The Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme is for project 

funding only, and may not be accessed to cover core or 

recurrent funding needs. Two types of grants can be applied 

for, as follows: 

� Grants, up to a maximum budget of US$9,000 will be 

available over a term not exceeding 12 months. 

� Grants, up to a maximum budget of US$30,000 will be 

available over a term not exceeding 24 months. 

44

How to apply for grants 

Information on deadlines for project submission and 

proposal review dates is made available on the Pan Asia 

Networking website, the APDIP website and the AMIC 

website. 

All grant applications must include: 

� A completed Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme 

application form. Application forms and budget 

guidelines can be downloaded from http:// 

web.idrc.ca/en/ev-11768-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. 

� A full project proposal and budget breakdown 

(appendix B). The applicatio form, proposal and 

budget must be submitted in Mircosoft Words 

format. 

� A document or certificate of incorporation of the 

organisation, if the applicant is not a government 

body. 

� Annexes (If Any). 

Applicant is required to send the information above in ONE 

email attachment to ApplyRnD@idrc.org.sg If you do not 

receive an acknowledgement of your electronic application 

within three days of submission, you should immediately email 

to the above email address and attention it to Ms 

Nanditha Raman to enquire. Questions should be addressed 

directly to the administering office at the following address: 

45 

Asian Media Information & Communication 

Centre (AMIC) 

Attention: Ms Nanditha Raman, 

Research Associate 

Mailing Address: 


Singapore 916412 

Street Address: 

CS-02-28, SCI Building 

Nanyang Technological University 


Tel: (65) 6792-7570 

Fax: (65) 6792-7129 

E-mail: nanditha@amic.org.sg 

Writing the Project Proposals 

A proposal to the Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme 

should provide full details of the proposed project so that it 

can be properly assessed by the Committee. Normally, 

proposals should be between 8 and 15 pages in length, 

excluding annexes. Annexures should be of reasonable 

length or they will not be examined. All important information 

should be provided in the proposal text and not in the 

annexes. 

Essential Information Required in Proposal 

� Project background and justification: state concisely, 

what development networking problem will be 

addressed by the project. 

� Project objectives: state precisely, what the project 

will aim to achieve and what specific outcomes will 

be reached. 

� Project beneficiaries: state clearly which segments of 

the population will benefit from the research. 

� Project sustainability: state how continuity is to be 

sustained if your proposal is for developing a system 

that will exist after the project funding. 

� Project methodology: state clearly, in the methodology 

how the general and specific project objectives 

will be achieved. 

� Project time-line: include a time-table/schedule of 

key activities. 

� Project outputs: state what the project will produce 

and in what form it will be delivered and disseminated. 

� Project monitoring: state what monitoring and/or 

evaluation processes are being proposed. 

� Project budget: draw up a detailed budget for the 

project, including other funding sources, if any. DO 

NOT submit a budget of more than US$30,000 for a 

Large Grant project and more than US$9,000 for a 

Small Grant project. Please use template provided in 

appendix B to fill up this section of the project 

proposal. 

� Project applicant: provide full details of the applicant, 

including organisational contact details, a document 

or certificate of incorporation of the organisation, if 

the applicant is not a government body, and background 

information (as an annex). 

� Project staff : provide full contact details of the 

organisation applying for the grant, including project 

leader(s) and staff critical to the project’s success. Give 

their names, qualifications, and relevant experience 

(as an annex). 

ICT Grants Programme

Additional Information 

� Provide details of existing research results, technologies 

or techniques on which this project will build or 

depend. 

� Provide details of previous projects undertaken, 

where relevant. 

� Provde details of project publicity, if any. 

Criteria for Assessment 

There are a number of mandatory criteria that all project 

proposals must meet and which are used in the assessment 

process. Additionally, other relevant criteria that will be 

used when considering a proposal, are listed below. 

Mandatory criteria 

� Clear objectives, oriented towards specific issues or 

problems within the scope of the Pan Asia ICT R&D 

Grants Programme. The starting point of any proposal 

will be the definition of the problem that is to 

be resolved through Internet policy and/or technology 

applications. 

� Demonstrated need for R&D results of the type 

proposed, and in the form proposed. Relevance to 

regional development priorities, such as economic 

policy, health, gender equity, environment, education, 

social development and capacity building 

concerns will be considered. The targeted beneficiary 

groups should be clearly identified. 

� Demonstrated capacity by the applying organization 

to conduct and document the project effectively 

within the specified budget and time limits. 

� Solid participation by organizations from the 

developing Asia-Pacific region. 

Other criteria 

� Originality of the proposed R&D project, and assurance 

that it is not already being undertaken elsewhere 

� Applicability of the R&D results to developing 

countries in the Asia-Pacific region 

� Leverage of existing techniques and technologies to 

produce innovative practical solutions rather than 

original “ground-up” development or basic research 

work 

� Replicability of the application of R&D results, 

showing potential for use in other countries 

ICT Grants Programme 

� Demonstrated opportunity to build R&D capacities 

within other organizations in developing Asia-Pacific 

countries 

� Availability of co-funding by other agencies or 

organizations. 

What will not be funded 

� Proposals that do not address ICT related problems 

and solutions 

� Projects that are exclusively comprised of: 

a. Non-research activities such as conferences, 

seminars, workshops and educational and 

training 

b. Technical assistance-type projects that do not 

contain strong research elements 

c. Electronic or print publishing e.g. newsletters, 

magazines, journals, reports, books 

d. Development of web sites/web pages 

e. Supplemental grant and/or time extension 

requests 

� Project proposals from organizations that are not 

government bodies or legally registered entities 

Copyright & Dissemination 

The results of the ICT R&D Grants Programme projects will 

be transparent and made available publicly via the Internet 

and other means, as appropriate. Project results including 

papers, research data and findings, resources, techniques, 

and tools will be openly available and distributed in the 

interests of sharing research results and research experiences 

widely. Recipients under the ICT R&D Grants Programme 

agree the condition of free dissemination of their project 

research results. 

The Programme will not seek their permission in 

disseminating and publishing research results in any form, 

and will duly acknowledge the authors of the work. Permission 

is not required for reproduction by users, the only 

conditions being that the project researchers should be 

appropriately acknowledged, and that copies of such 

reproductions should be provided to the Programme and the 

project researchers. 

Copyright for project results will reside with the 

research team and the Programme (and additionally with 

other funding agencies in the case of co-funded projects). 

46

Published for the 

PanAsia ICT R&D Grant Programme on 

behalf of 

Published by 

Asian Media Information and Communication 

Centre 



Edited by 

Indrajit Banerjee and Nanditha Raman 

Publication design and Layout 

George Tan 

Photos are attributed to the respective grant 

proponents featured in this magazine 

© Asian Media Information and 

Communication Centre, 2005 

All rights reserved. No part of this 

publicaiton may be reproduced, stored in a 

retreival system, or transmitted, in any form 

or by any means, electronic, mechanical, 

photocopying, recording or otherwise, 

without the prior permission of the 

publisher.

PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme - UTM

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?