Warana: The case of an Indian rural community adopting ICT
April 2002, Simone Cecchini and Monica Raina, Information Technology in Developing Countries
This paper provides an example of the adoption of ICT by a rural community by detailing the Warana "Wired Village" project, in the state of Maharashtra, India. There, a local cooperative is using ICT to streamline the operations connected with sugar cane growing and harvesting. This is benefiting small farmers, both in terms of transparency and time saved on administrative transactions, as well as the cooperative, in terms of monetary gains. The Warana example also allows to draw four key lessons on the use of ICT for development in rural areas: first, before launching any ICT initiative, the information needs of a community should be thoroughly assessed; second, content and software applications should be developed with continuous involvement and feedback from the community; third, special emphasis should be placed on women and poor people's access; and fourth, operators from the grassroots are probably the best agents to bring ICT to rural communities (Authors).