Role of Open Universities for Community-Based Developmental Interventions: Experiences and Road Ahead

Abstract

The mindboggling growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has opened up exciting new possibilities to enhance the reach of developmental interventions in resource starved regions. Indian conditions are most challenging primarily due to diverse socioeconomic and cultural variations which present a major developmental challenge. Of late there has been widespread sensitization in policy making level for use of technological interventions to mitigate the developmental challenges. However the receptivity of such technological interventions depends on the peculiar characteristics of such disadvantaged communities. This chapter describes an important developmental intervention named as Community Information Centers carried out by an open university in India where author has been working at the helm of affairs. The chapter described the overall rationale for involving community, narrates the learning experiences and proposes a model for future such interventions. The experiences can be useful for replication of similar initiatives in other parts of the developing world. It can also evolve a new perspective for implementing India's ambitious University Outreach Programme called “Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan.”