Cross Sector Partnering between PANDA SOFTWARE International (Spain) and Goodwill

Social work Centre (India) in Community Technology Services Project in

Madurai, India

Presenter: Prof.Dr.J.Christopher Daniel,M.A.,Ph.DExecutive Director

GOODWILL SOCIAL WORK CENTRE,MADURAI,INDIA

FOUR PANDA IT AID WINNING PROJECTS

I. Save the Children (with a pan-European project) II. Goodwill Social Work Centre (India)III.Fundación Braille (Uruguay) and IV.Paideia (Paraguay)

The winning finalists were chosen by a jury of seven and with votes from the 1,500 employees of the Panda Group across 56 countries

Family support services-A Major programme component

Organising ‘Intensive family support services for the dysfunctional families, which include child centered and family focused programmes.

Undertaking ‘Non-formal employment training programmes for female and male youth in dysfunctional families, which include tailoring and dress making for girls and young women, two wheeler mechanism for male youth, computer literacy training for both male and female youth.

The project is a major programme component which will benefit many a child and young woman in disadvantaged and dysfunctional families in our project areas.

Location of the CTC project

Rationale of the project

Not everyone in our project area has adequate opportunities to learn about and use computer and information technologies

Differences in access to computer and communications technology exist by household income, educational attainment, castes,social groups, age, and gender, with the greatest inequities occurring for those with the lowest income and the fewest educational opportunities

These inequalities result in greater implications for individuals' access to employment, knowledge, learning, and participation in our society.

In particular, children and young women in low and moderate-income communities in Madurai, India are virtually shut out from accessing computers

Community Technology centres empower poor rural girls and young women in Indian villages

C T Centres are in response to concern about the growing gap between children and young women of high socioeconomic status families and those who do not have due to low socioeconomic backgrounds

Highlights of the CTC project

The project is first of its kind to be implemented by an Indian NGO in our areas of operation

It is being implanted in semi-urban and villages in Madurai East and West panchayat villages,Madurai,State of Tamilnadu,South India

It empowers children and young women of low and moderate socioeconomic status families with technology skills and usage in a community based setting for gainful employment

The project will benefit 900 children and young women in low and moderate income communites within a span of 36 months

The project will provide opportunities for them to learn computer skills and contract job work in local organisations and start their own job houses to take up word processing and DTP,data entry work,office management, online data entry and formatting work and database preparation etc

A unique feature is the project collaboration offered by Jai Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)-Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India (Madurai office) New Delhi, India

Project objectives

To empower children and young women in low and moderate-income communities in villages with technology skills and usage in a community based setting .

2. To provide them with intensive hands-on computer literacy training based on real life exercises using MS Office 2000 and help them with computer skills to advance economically and compete professionally in today’s digital economy

3. To offer them career guidance and information and to assist them for gainful employment in ICT related fields.

METHODLOGY

The Community Technology centres will adopt an open learning methodologies in the computer learning literacy training for the target groups.

The participants will use information technology in the following areas namely:Data entry work,Word processing and DTP Desiging cards,brochures and booklets,Data base preparation,office management,online data entry and formattig work,use of Internet etc.

The centre will identify girls and young women adults in the age group of 15-30 and collect baseline information about the target population in the project areas.

The Centre will design courses and learing objectives in the following areas: 1.Introduction to computers,2.Word Processing(level 1 and II),

3.Spreadsheets(level I and II) and The Internet(level I and II).

The strategies will include I.Classroom teaching and learning exercises II. Assignments III.Class tests IV.Hands-on-training V.Field placement training etc.

Project implementation

The project has been implemented in the following phases:a.Community mapping to identify interests and needs

of prospective participantsb. Establishing a Community Technology Centres for

girls and young adult women coming from villages and backward areas in the peri-urban region.

c. Plan for operational needs-space, hardware, software, furniture, and furnishings, Personnel for the CTC etc.

d. Designing curricula for various ICT courses and programs

e. Enrolment of girls and young womenf. Conducting a demographic survey g. Pre

assessment of Technology use and skills of girls and young women

h. Initiating ICT programs for girls and young womeni. Post assessment survey of the sampled population

attending Community Technology Centre j. Documentation and Research reporting

ACTORS IN MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PROJECT PARTNERSHIP

THE BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP - Panda Software International,Spain through the award of grants, monitoring and evaluation of the project

THE GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP - Jan Shikshan Sansthan, Ministry of Human resources development through accreditation and certification of the digital learning courses, performance management and award of certificates to successful candidates

GOODWILL PARTNERSHIP- involves project implementation, performance management, reporting and documentation.

Characteristics and Selection criteria

The total number of beneficiaries will be 900 girls and young women who are in the age group of 15-30.The selection of participants are done considering the following criteria:1. Girls and young women who belong to low socioeconomic

status families2. Girls and young women who belong to Dalit communities

(socially oppressed classes in India)3. Girls and young women whose parents work in unorganised

sectors, including agriculture on a daily wage basis4. Young people in dysfunctional families (female headed families,

single parent families etc.5. Girls and young women who are physical disabilities will be

given preference6. School and college going youth7. Working youth in organised, semi-organised and unorganised

sectors

Project monitoring and evaluation

The assessment methods are ‘project based’ that is say each participant will print out a copy of a document she has worked on as an evidence that she has met the learning objectivs forthe computer literacy training courses and programs.

The evaluation methodologies include 1.Checklist of tasks that participant print out using the note pad or Word pad 2.In-class exercises 3.Production of a document showing the different skills learned during the training.

Various research instruments namely 1.Demographic survey 2.Pre and Post assessment survey 3.Generic member survey and 4.Technology user satisfaction quesionnaire to elicit information from the target groups are used.

The centre uses evaluation instruments to measure the impact of computer literacy training on the participants.

Following evaluation, the project will be replicated in more villages to cater for the demands of many rural girls and young women who belong to low and moderate income status families

Expected results

The participants have acquired different digital skills namely data entry work,Word processing and DTP, visiting/greeting/invitation cards, database preparation,office management,online data entry and formatting work and the use of intenet.

Further,the community Technology Centres have been working in collaboration with local governmental organisations and non-governmental organisations in contracting job work for them and also finding jobs for them in local organisations.

The trainees have developed knowledge competencies and applicable skills in information and communication technology and were quipped with different skills which would provide them with employment opportunities and advance economically in today’s digital economy.

The Goodwill social work centre has been gratned accreditation for the computer training courses and programs from a Governmental organisation- Jai Shikshan Sansthan(JSS)-Ministry of Human Resources Development,Government of India,New Delhi,India.

The certificates are very valuable to the participants not only for securing personal loan from banks for self employment but also for gettiing jobs in ICT related workplaces in India.

These centres will make use of appropriate information and communication technology to address the problem of unemployment and help the traget groups economically through job placement and also creating income genetation opportunities for the poor girls and young women

Though there are numerous Web browsing Centres and Internet Cafes in Madurai City, which are run on a commercial basis, a Community Technology Centre that could cater to the needs of young women in villages and backward areas especially those from low and moderate income families has not yet been established

Methodology of the study

Designing and developing a personal profile questionnaire .Administration of the instrument to all the participants. Interview method was used Total Sample frame was 300- Sample size for the study:252 An interview/focus group protocol was used for gathering a wide range of opinions and views from a study population of 60 children and young women. The protocol contained a series of broad, open ended questions This is a case study based on quantitative and qualitative interviews The focus groups took place in GOODWILL’s office and were moderated by the Project officer as the Executive Director and Project holder of the CTC project observed and took notes The focus interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed. Text sections of the transcripts were coded, using thematic codes consistent with the project goals and aims Key contextual questions were asked to elicit information from the trainees. Every one was given a chance to speak and provide their response The information so collected were collated and presented in the study

ResultsOverall, a sizeable majority (69 percent) of the trainees (N=252) in both

unit I and II were children under 18 years and young women.Overall, a high proportion (60 percent) of them were in the 10th grade in

schooling, 34.9 percent were in the 12th grade in schooling The project has benefitted trainees (30 percent) who were socially

included into this programme and digital opportunities were provided to them who are otherwise called as ‘socially excluded community (Schedule caste/Scheduled Tribe).

The dominant religion among the survey respondents {N=252) was Hinduism (91 percent)

A high proportion of the trainees’ family income (69.84 percent; 176) was between Rs.1001-2000.

A high proportion of the families of the trainees in unit I(55 percent) and unit II(62 percent) fall under the ‘low income-normal family’

A sizeable proportions of ‘low income-dysfunctional family’ were enrolled in unit I (29 percent) and unit II (32percent).

Only 19.84 percent (N=252) were married, 30.15 percent were unmarried and the rest (50 percent) were children under 18 years of age. The extent of participation and the level of attendance in the digital learning programmes was high in both units {98 percent in unit I and 94 percent in unit II} The overall rate of success in both centres in terms of attendance, participation and performance was 89 percent which is phenomenal and highly significant all The study respondents were of the view that the course design, teaching methodology and the knowledge input and skills gained were ‘excellent’. 70 percent of them viewed that their attendance in the digital learning programme changed their life to get empowered with computer skills whereas the rest (30 percent) felt that they became aware of the digital knowledge 50 percent of young women have been able to secure a computing job to work as clerks, data entry operators, office accountants etc in local work places and private institutions{N=60}

Fig 19:Overall success rate of the training program in both centre

89%

5% 6%Overall Success Rate inBoth Centre

Higher studies

Others

Fig 1:Distribution of trainees by age - CTC Unit I

44%

20%

11%16%

4% 4%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Trainees

Trainees

14 – 19 Years

20 – 24 Years

25 – 29 Years

30 – 34 Years

35 – 39 Years

40 and above Years

Fig 2:Distribution of trainees by age - CTC Unit II

81%

11%

5%2% 1% 0%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Trainees

Trainees

14 – 19 Years

20 – 24 Years

25 – 29 Years

30 – 34 Years

35 – 39 Years

40 and above Years

69%

31%

0% 0%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Total Trainees

Outstanding First Class Second Class Third Class

Fig17:Overall grades obtained by the trainees - CTC Unit I

66%

32%

2%0%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Total Trainees

Outstanding First Class Second Class Third Class

Fig18:Overall grades obtained by the trainees - CTC Unit II

Acknowledgements

With grateful hearts we place on record our deep sense of gratitude to

PANDA SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL,S.L,Spain for

adjudging Goodwill Social Work Centre, India as a finalist and winner of the most prestigious award,2006

A VERY BIG ‘THANK YOU’ PANDA FOR

YOUR GIVING,HELPING AND CARING HANDS

Contact address

Prof.Dr.J.Christopher Daniel,M.A.,Ph.DExecutive DirectorGoodwill Social Work CentreNo:5,South Street ExtensionSingarayar colonyMadurai-625002Tamilnadu,INDIAEmail:chriskan@sify.com

Website:http://www.goodwillsocialworkcentre.org