Technology + Citizen Participation = Active Democracy
Democracy is meant to be a form of government by the people, for the people and of the people. However, in reality there are several layers of challenges that stand in the way of attaining what we aspire to achieve.
At a quick glance, this might seem to be an issue of power and hierarchy. But, there is much more to it than that. In a democracy like India, many people do not get the opportunity to express and experience their rights. There are many factors contributing to this, while a lack of access, knowledge and guidance play an important role. It is important that we acknowledge the various ways in which the government is taking efforts in several forms to bridge this gap.
There is a famous saying from the Father of our nation: ‘The soul of India lives in its villages.’ It is important that we empower more citizens from the soul of India who can in turn enable the growth of the nation as a whole on the positive track.
When technology advancements and organisations working tirelessly to enable empowerment of citizens from rural India come together there is a chance for collective change. I’d like to illustrate this with a recent example.
Saranalayam Educational Trust, us working in the district of Cuddalore,Tamil Nadu to ensure each citizen exercises their fundamental responsibilities to see a change in the local community. Through their Village Knowledge Volunteers initiative the Trust aims to build hyperlocal and resilient communities which are capable of sustaining themselves and working towards collective impact with local government bodies.
Reap Benefit,a not-for-profit organisation based out of Bangalore. It is a citizen civic engagement organisation with the goal of helping every young person become a local problem solver. Through technology interventions Reap Benefit enables citizens to exercise their civic muscle by reporting, campaigning and building solutions to problems that are identified by the local community.
Last month, Saranalayam Educational Trust and Reap Benefit collaborated in a pilot project which aimed at enabling citizens of Amman Kuppam a village in the district of Cuddalore to provide their inputs to the village development plan. Inputs from citizens can vary from problems being faced in their locality and/or the needs of the village, if any.
Reap Benefit provided one of their technology interventions — a WhatsApp powered Solve Ninja chatbot. Through the chatbot, citizens of the village gave their inputs and expressed their needs for the village development plan. In the span of two days, we received over 10 responses.
The WhatsApp chatbot made it easy for anyone from the village to share their response in any form desired leading to inclusion and diversity.
All the responses were shared to ensure there is transparency.
With the support of local volunteers from the same village, the responses were them mapped on Solve Ninja Webapp — an online web application that enables citizens to take problem solving actions.
You can see the responses added on the application here in this link — https://app.solveninja.org/app/cuddalore
This made the needs and issues of the village available on a public and easily accessible platform. The Saranalayam team took the effort to bring these issues to the notice of local authorities and leaders of the village. On seeing the people’s needs, the panchayat leader immediately acted upon one of the requests which was to bring the newly constructed public toilet to immediate use, ensuring a reduction in or zero open defecation in the village.
Here are the details about the issue: https://app.solveninja.org/locationcardDetail/49/f5dae191-06c2-4b6e-8929-69d0b1dd9645
Post this, the panchayat leader has also been acting on the other requests that have been registered by people, including efforts to provide patta to people living in government land for more than 70 years. Here are the details: https://app.solveninja.org/locationcardDetail/49/ed3178d6-ca82-47cd-b0b3-fffb5637547e
This pilot project has clearly shown that technology with ground mobilization of citizens can connect the needs of the people to the authorities and leaders who have the power and intent to solve citizen problems and who need to held accountable. At both ends, this is something that couldn’t have been done alone without support from the local community — that’s where organisations like Saranalayam and Reap Benefit can add value.
Post this successful pilot, both the organisations are in discussion to scale this effort across multiple villages in the district with a focus of enabling citizen driven problem solving in collaboration with local governance.
If you were wondering how I am related in this effort. I work with Reap Benefit and collaborate with Saranalayam trust along with my team in this effort of empowering souls of India — villages.
If you want to contribute as a volunteer in enabling this type of work in your region please reachout Our every day wins shall strengthen the democracy and help the nation move towards citizen driven democracy.
