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Idea Action Programmes
Pilot
Project on Youth Development Resource Centre
Our project has mainly focused on facilitating the use of
Information Communication Technologies (ICT) from the group-up to
further strengthen and promote the growth and maturity of civil
society participation in the information society. The project aims
to enhance participation in ICT for young people who do not have
access to timely and appropriate information and are often
unfamiliar with modern technologies especially the computer and its
uses for improving knowledge and enhancing day to day life.
In Nepal it is
estimated that only one percent of the total 23.3 million
populations have access to the internet and it is mostly based in
urban areas of the country especially in Kathmandu. This partly
due to a lack of awareness among the general population regarding
the advantages of using internet to get information and to be a
part of the global community. At the same time there is also a
lack of accessibility to learn about computers and use them as
alternative sources of information. In this regard, “Idea Action”
has designed this pilot project to set up ICT training and a youth
information centre in order to enhance the participation of rural
youth in information communication technologies and to evaluate
the use and effectiveness of alternative sources of information
such as computers for personal skill development and community
building processes.
“Idea Action” (Idea)
was recently established as a youth led ICT organisation through
the initiation of youth from various professional backgrounds. The
leadership also has experience in different youth activities
including community organising, conflict resolution training and
human rights education. The organization is also a reflection of
our previous work experiences associated with other
non-governmental organizations in Nepal. ‘Idea Action’ was
established specifically to enhance youth involvement in the equal
access to the power of knowledge for all building process and to
establish them as community leaders for the future. We have
focused our primary work on the use of ICT as an effective tool to
launch lobbying, advocacy and education activities and to assist
the government authorities to built effective national policies
and we work in collaboration with them. We are also developing
strong grassroots, national and international networks to research
major youth issues, youth empowerment to lead community
development initiatives and other relevant issues.
This project focuses
on ICT training and information centre outside of the capital city
in a small town which is surrounded by the local villages. The
youth centre will be a public space that is open to all young
people in the local community. It will provide three main
facilities to all young people who wish to benefit from the
resources. These facilities will include ICT training, youth
development information and advice services and a low-cost
internet café. These are the initial goals for the youth centre
but can be broadened later to encompass further training and
services as the NGO expands and learn.
ICT is a relatively
new tool that can be used in almost every aspect of life and can
provide a window of opportunity to the world. It is important that
NGO’s strive to close the digital divide amongst populations that
they service, particularly in the developing world. ICT could be a
resource to reduce poverty and raise community awareness. ICT
training is a valuable tool that ‘Idea’ hopes to provide for youth
in poor communities to help them achieve specific goals in life.
For this purpose, ICT volunteers will work as trainers for youth
and also design training manual and purchase materials relevant to
the training.
A Youth Development
Resource Centre (YDRC) will also be set up in Kathmandu focused on
the production and dissemination of high quality information on
youth and community building issues. ICT will be the major tool to
collect and disseminate information. The YDRC will work to provide
information on youth statistics of Nepal and its segregation by
region, caste and ethnicity, rural urban residence and others. The
Centre will also collect information about international migrant
workers, youth in armed conflict, juvenile justice, success
stories of youth-led projects, national youth development policies
and related topics. This information will be very useful for
researchers, students, social scientists and other national and
international organisations who are interested in investing more
on youth related issues. Youth related information is severely
lacking in Nepal and even the state has not compiled accurate
information on youth. The YDRC will also assist ‘Idea’ to design
further projects and programmes in the future. For this Idea
Action’s website and monthly e-newsletter and other means of
communication will be applied for disseminating information from
grassroots, national and international level. This initiative will
be the new approach to provide a base for all stakeholder groups
to obtain information about Nepalese youth.
The internet café
would act as both the training area and youth involved with the
ICT training project and would also generate a small scale income
for the project at other times whilst the training is not in
session. This would be a not for profit internet service to all in
the community and all profits would be taken by ‘Idea Action’.
This project could
also act as a way of monitoring the concerns of youth and provide
Idea Action with up to date information regarding the situation
for youth in Nepal. This information could then be used either for
research or as the basis for which to develop further projects.
The indicative budget for this project is 15,000
USD for one year period. The fund will be expended as follows -
3,000 USD for salary and remuneration of project staffs; 2,000 USD
for ICT training and manual development; 5,500 USD the
establishment of the provincial Youth Information Centre, Internet
café and ICT training centre; 4,000 USD for the Youth Development
Resource Centre; and 500 USD for general administrative
expenditure
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