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Information System and Communication ActivitiesHuman efforts in technological revolution has invented ICTs (Information & Communication Technology), which has shown new dimensions to the development works, knowledge and information exchange and many other networking facilities even in "modern" and "post - colonial" era. Today, ICTs are no longer considered as merely a "technical appendix" for internal computational needs of the organizations. Being intrinsically divorced from the geographical constraints, today, the power of ICTs is being used from e-Commerce and assistance to small and medium sized entrepreneurs to the empowerment of communities, women and disadvantaged group; from the promotion of good governance and decentralization to awareness campaigns for human rights and democracy; from long distance education to telemedicine and to foster and facilitate sustainable human development; to assist in the fight against poverty and strengthen informed and participatory decision-making at the policy & planning levels to give voice to the people marginalized in the process of development .
Realizing the power of ICTs in development works, RUPP has considered ICTs as one of the major components in strengthening good urban governance, support poverty reduction and empowerment of the communities. In the process of initiating ICT activities, the Programme has supported partner and replicating municipalities in establishing Urban Information Center (UIC) providing easy information access to all the community members and other stakeholders. Partner municipalities are using UIC for the planning, opportunity analysis, situation analysis and decision-making. Likewise, RUPP has introduced e-Governance using ICTs as a tool for strengthening good urban governance. Similarly, ICTs has also been used for supporting poverty reduction by dissemination of daily agricultural market price information and initiation of B2B e-Commerce in the country. These activities have been carried out with the objective of supporting small and medium sized farmers and entrepreneurs to provide easy access to the price information and the markets. This has also helped them to establish market linkages and help them to diversify their business. These are the joint initiation of partner municipalities, local Chamber of Commerce & Industries (CCI), AEC/FNCCI and the Programme. While strengthening these activities, demand of Tele Centers have been felt and the Programme has supported to establish Tele Centers in the municipalities and Rural Market Centers (RMC). The Programme had an opportunity to establish first Tele Center in the country that paved the way for several Tele Centers to date. Apart from these supports, RUPP has been continuously supporting partner municipalities in preparation of socio-economic database of municipalities and RMCs, GIS based resource/poverty maps and various other database software. Preparation of Municipal/Ward/TLO Profiles, HIV/AIDS Profile, situation analysis of Internally Displaced People, etc. of partner municipalities are some of the other supports provided under ICTs by RUPP. Several activities supporting good governance and poverty reduction have been initiated but some of the major activities are briefly described below:Municipal Database
Study on Regional Market Linkage completed Study entitled “Regional Market Linkage Study in Far Western Development Region of Nepal” primarily based on the field survey is accomplished to delineate the market regions of Dhangadi, Mahendranagar, Tikapur, Dipayal-Silgadhi, Amargadhi and the market zones of the municipal towns of the far western region for the execution of the Programme activities. The reports were distributed to the respective municipalities as a reference for implementing Programme activities. The study was conducted by Innovative Research Consultancy for RUPP. Tele Centers / e-Community Centers for strengthening market linkages and bridging digital divide In what can be seen as a landmark event, Nepal's first Rural Tele Centre was officially inaugurated on August 29, 2003 at Bhimphedi Rural Market Centre (RMC). The launching of the Tele Centre at Bhimphedi VDC marked the beginning of Tele Centres establishment in Nepal. The Tele Centers supported by the Programme are used in awareness & training, establishing market linkages through Nepali e-Haat Bazaar (B2B e-Commerce), Internet surfing for searching jobs, text materials, etc., email communication, accessing online newspapers, short & long distance calls, accessing the online services of municipalities, providing desktop services to the schools, colleges, government/non government organizations & people living in the respective area, etc. The activity has resulted in bridging the digital divide between rich and poor. It has provided easy information access to all without any discrimination and successful in bringing the communities closer and united. This activity has extended the services of ICTs without discrimination even to the poor, disadvantaged, women and vulnerable groups. The TLO members are aware and using email and internet services, farmers and SMEs are benefiting from Agricultural Price Information and National B2B e-Commerce Services "Nepali e-Haat Bazaar", students are getting friendlier with the computers and its applications taking benefits from the power of Internet, communities are connected, communication are faster and easier, different organizations are benefiting from its desktop services, etc. Awareness & Training of ICT uses Establishing Trade Linkages Tele Centers are providing online services to the farmers and business community in trading their products. They provide a business platform for entrepreneurs to find their buyers and sellers at the Nepali e-Haat Bazaar - www.b2b.com.np. Tele Centers also provide daily agricultural market price information of more than 150 agricultural commodities to the farmers and business people - www.agripricenepal.com . Internet surfing, email communication & Tele Communication Online services of municipalities and other Government organizations Some of the municipalities have initiated e-Governance in the country and have provided some online municipal services like birth, marriage, death registration (also the facility to download forms), participate in the online polls and discussion forums for the participatory planning. Such types of online services to the community are also provided by the Tele Centers. In addition to this, Tele Centers are also providing the facility of downloading forms of passport as well as the citizenship certificates. Desktop services Apart from the above-mentioned activities, the Tele Center is also providing desktop services to the schools, colleges and other govt. / non govt organizations & people living in the respective areas. This includes typing and printing of letters, exam papers, proposals, etc. They also help in establishing communication linkages to these organizations and communities.
Coordination with other agencies MoU Signed with HLCIT and AEC/FNCCI
Similarly, the MoU for the extension of disseminating Agri Price information in Phase III municipalities also signed with Agro AEC/FNCCI. Mr. Ramesh Adhikari, NPM of RUPP and Dr. Dev Bhakta Shakya, Executive Director of AEC/FNCCI signed MoU to make the process of price dissemination formal and more effective. RUPP is continuously disseminating Daily Agri Price information of different types of vegetable and fruits in joint coordination with AEC/FNCCI. The daily market price is also disseminated through the web site http://www.agripricenepal.com/ and through the Community Radios. Partnership with the Nepal Telecom Authority Partnership with the Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) is carried out with the common objective of implementing Rural Tele Centres and Cyber Cafes as part of Pilot Project designed under a Study on Increasing ICT Access in Rural and Peri-urban Areas of Nepal (PS-4) commissioned by the Ministry of Information and Communication under Telecommunications Sector Reform Project (TSRP). The joint Pilot Project is contributing to the implementation of Tele Centres implementation planned for 10th Five Year Plan of the Government of Nepal. The main objective of the joint partnership is to establish Cyber Cafes (Public Internet Access Points) in District Head Quarters (DHQs) - private sector owned, and Rural Tele Centers (Public Internet Access Points - Rural Tele Centers) in Rural Market Centres (RMCs) - community owned for the promotion of good governance, poverty reduction, provide easy access to the information and the empowerment of the community in the country. NTA provided all the logistics support to all eight Tele Centers where as RUPP played a key role in mobilizing community, different local stakeholders, municipalities, VDCs and linked with the MPDF for the establishment of Tele Centers and Cyber Cafes. RUPP in joint partnership with the NTA also organized a month long Tele Center Operational and Management Training to all the Tele Center Managers and Cyber Café Operators. The training was mainly focused on ICT knowledge, hardware maintenance, info mobilization, tele center operation and management, operation and services of B2B e-Commere and market information system. For organizing the training, a logistic support was again provided by the NTA where as resource person for facilitating the training was provided by the Programme. To date, Tele Centers are effectively providing awareness, training and ICT services to the communities of respective municipalities and rural market centers. Partnership with One World South Asia Realizing RUPP's experience in the ICT4D activities, One World South Asia situated in India extended its partnership to implement Lifeline Services to the farmers of Nepal. On March 1, 2007, a "Consultative Discussion on the extension of Lifeline Services: Interactive Voice Response System based Information Services Delivery to Farmers in Nepal" was organized. (Minutes of Meeting) |
RUPP jointly with partner municipalities with the consultation with the Ministry of Local Development designed and developed Municipal Socio-economic Database to cater the demand of information required for planning and decision-making. Municipal level database with different domains established in Urban Information Centre (UIC) of partnering municipalities. The database is computerized to manage data more effectively. 
Mr. Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, National Programme Director of RUPP/Under Secretary of MLD, Mr. Mahesh Karki, Under Secretary of Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Mr. Ramesh Adhikari, National Programme Manager of RUPP participated in the "Regional Workshop on Building e-Community Centers for Rural Development" in Bali, Indonesia from December 8-14, 2004. The Regional Workshop was organized by the ADB Institute, and the Workshop was participated by the representatives of different countries from the Asia and Pacific, the national officials of cities and the regions in charge of ICTs, the project managers, the private businesses, the representatives from civil society and NGOs, and international partners for development. 
The Programme signed MoU with HLCIT and AEC/FNCCI for establishing B2B e-Commerce web site as a national electronic gateway for market linkages. It was formally launched as a National B2B e-Commerce Services named "Nepali e-Haat Bazaar". The Central Administration established in the premises of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce & Industries (FNCCI) operated by the Agro Enterprise Center (AEC).