ICT for NGOs

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly playing an important role in the social sector, especially in education. This piece covers the endeavors of three very different types of organizations working in education— Season Watch, ASTHA and Vikramshila— in their utilization of ICT. SeasonWatch, established in 2010, is a pioneering citizen science initiative. It engages students and enthusiasts in observing life patterns of plants and trees across India. Leveraging ICT, Season Watch has evolved from manual data recording to a comprehensive online platform and mobile application. This has facilitated widespread participation and enables a deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change on plants’ lifecycles.

ASTHA, an organization dedicated to empowering persons with disabilities (PwD) in Delhi’s urban areas, has embraced ICT solutions to improve data management, provide digital infrastructure, and offer accessible learning tools like audio players and TalkBack software. Vikramshila, based in Kolkata, has integrated the Geneo digital learning application into their Nabadisha program, catering to children from marginalized communities. Each organization’s unique approach demonstrates the transformative power of ICT in optimizing their operations and community interventions.

SeasonWatch

Initiated in 2010, Season Watch is a citizen science project spanning across India. Students and interested individuals observe the patterns of emergence and maturation of leaves, flowers and fruits of common tree species in India. Season Watch aims to bridge the gap in our knowledge by systematically. recording the changing patterns of trees. This helps understand how climate impacts their lifecycle. The Season Watch team believes that by working in harmony with nature, they can contribute to the conservation of its bounties.

ICT has empowered Season Watch by making data collection more efficient, data management more effective, and information dissemination more widespread. It fosters collaboration, education and engagement. In the initial years, volunteers relied on pen and paper to record their observations. Gradually, they transitioned to uploading observations on the project’s website. This made these patterns available to a broader audience. As more people gained access to the internet via their mobile phones, Season Watch launched a mobile application in 2016.

Geetha Ramaswami, Program Manager of Season Watch, states, “I believe the technological solutions in the project have evolved alongside global technological progress. When the project began, a major mode of communication was through a website. Over time, data digitization allowed for storing and curating information in a database. The website, initially designed as an information resource, evolved to facilitate user data contributions. With the advancement of smartphone technology, the option to upload data from mobile phones became feasible.”

Information about tree seasonality is compiled and presented in the Explore section of the Season Watch website. It provides details on over 170 tree species currently under observation. Many of these species exhibit distinct seasonal features, including flowering, fruiting, and leaf fall during specific times of the year. This tab also offers information on data patterns, including the number of observations, the most active volunteers, the species observed, etc. In the patterns section, visualizations of tree seasonality patterns across India are available.

The SeasonWatch team is supported by two members – Veena H T and Farheen Anjum – who are responsible for developing and maintaining the technology. They have observed a growing number of volunteers using the mobile application, in comparison to the website. The team maintains a strong connection with its extensive network of volunteers through WhatsApp groups. These volunteers include nature enthusiasts, schoolteachers, college students, and others. The SeasonWatch team encourages direct reporting of any issues via text and email.

Geetha notes a few challenges, such as the mobile application being available only for Android users. It is also exclusively available in English only. There is a desire to expand to multiple languages. Additionally, the team aims to introduce features to enhance data quality. Adding a photo upload feature would enable volunteers to provide verifiable and accurate data, making the process more user-friendly. Currently, data quality is also assured via an automated data verification process. Here all contributed information is matched against a reference database. And potentially erroneous observations are flagged for review.

The SeasonWatch platform targets two primary groups – school students and adults with an interest in botany, natural history, and tree studies. Teachers assign trees to their students, who then collect data. These are either entered in notebooks, or teachers upload it to the platform. Students’ observations are added to the mobile application by their teachers, who are associated with the school for a long duration.

Mathrubhumi SEED (Student Empowerment for Environmental Development) is Season Watch’s partner in Kerala. It is dedicated to raising awareness for environmental protection among the student community. SEED, with its extensive network of coordinators, reaches out to hundreds of schools each academic year, introducing environmental projects and activities, including Season Watch.

Geetha explains, “During district-level workshops for teachers, our team member – Muhammad Nizar – provides an overview of Season Watch and how people can contribute data to the project. Following this, we conduct school visits, where we identify interested teachers and motivate them to contribute to the project. We help teachers understand how to use the app and stay in touch with us via WhatsApp for any support they may need. Additionally, Nizar has created a video resource with screen recordings on how to use the app. This is available in Malayalam. It is easily shareable as a small WhatsApp file and is viewable on mobile devices.”

SeasonWatch acknowledges the need for further improvements. These include the expansion of the mobile application to iOS users, multilingual support, and features to enhance data quality. These endeavors will help empower even more people to contribute valuable data and insights for the project.

ASTHA

ASTHA was established three decades ago as a cross-disability organization working directly with children and persons with disabilities (PwDs) in urban slums and resettlement colonies of Delhi. It conducts training for other organizations and institutions seeking to integrate disability into their work. The organization also raises concerns and issues related to disability in large forums and alliances operating in various thematic areas.

ASTHA works to generate context-driven information for dissemination. Since its inception, the organization has been constantly engaging with persons with disabilities (PwDs) and their families, especially those on the lower socio-economic strata, to disseminate information on habilitation, rehabilitation, legal rights, and government schemes in easy-to-comprehend media.

ASTHA pioneered the first helpline of this kind in Delhi in the disability area in 2000. The National Disability Helpline is an important component of the Resource Center at ASTHA. People across India inquire about various schemes, policies, and rights of persons with disabilities. The helpline is part of helpline networks at the state and national levels.

A decade ago, the team adopted an interactive voice response system (IVRS) for the helpline. IVRS technology greets and acts on information it collects from callers. There are two team members in ASTHA who are working on the helpline. One is visually impaired, and the other has a mobility impairment. Both approach calls with great sensitivity. ASTHA also has a WhatsApp number to make it accessible for people with speech restrictions, as it allows them to type in their queries.

ASTHA envisions equipping its team and communities with ICT solutions. At all the seven community centers that the organization runs, they have added basic digital infrastructure such as internet connections, computers, laptops, tablets, etc. At three community centers they work with CwDs aged between 0 to 8 years, focusing on early intervention. Three other centers work with CwDs between 6 to 18 years of age on inclusive education. The seventh center works with children aged 16 and above on a life skills program.

Pratik Aggarwal from ASTHA shares, “We work in slums in Delhi. It may come as a surprise to a few people that there are no optical fiber cables. We work with communities engaged in blue-collar jobs. They do not have the resources to purchase computers and laptops.”

The team reevaluated its data management system during the COVID-19 pandemic. They started using Excel spreadsheets to keep track of the households they supported with rations. Pratik added that the scale of information pouring in was so significant that they had to start managing their data and migrate from using pen and paper. ASTHA plans to adopt Goonjan, which is a software for NGOs. It is designed to help them with their donor management system, track data on beneficiaries, budget management, etc.

At the community centers, ASTHA has introduced devices and software such as audio players, TalkBack (the Google screen reader), etc., to children with disabilities. The children have been given MP3 players, which cost one-fifth of a smartphone. The teams upload audio files of NCERT curriculum books, which can be accessed by the children. These devices are offered for six months. The families are poor, and they do not have the necessary resources. ASTHA wants to give children devices without putting any restrictions on their usage. They also provide these audio devices to their community centers and parents.

They focus on encouraging children with disabilities to demand access to computer classes in schools. Pratik adds, “We run an intensive life skills program. We want people with disabilities to be vocal about their rights. A typical child will be able to access devices such as laptops, smartphones, etc. However, for a disabled child, no one thinks about offering them access to these things.”

The life skills program ensures that young PwDs learn about, and start using, assistive technology such as braille displays, screen readers, learnings apps, etc. for their independent living. Another aspect of the program is to encourage PwDs to use technology for improving social interactions and communications for which computer training, exposure to video conferencing tools, ensuring access to low-cost devices, etc. is undertaken.

The limited accessibility of technology for people with disabilities continues to remain a challenge. The process of getting a disability certificate is completely online. Pratik shared that for a blind person, filling out the form may not be a big challenge. However, they fall short when there are restrictions on the size of the files they need to upload. They need to take the help of a tool to decrease the file size. He adds, “The processes set up for people with disabilities must benefit them.”

For ASTHA, the process of adopting technology solutions has been challenging. Pratik recounts, “One of our community workers shared that adding descriptions for children in our diaries is very different from adding information on computers. They feel that their sense of expression has been snatched away. ASTHA is a thirty-year old organization, and we plan to embrace technology gradually.”

ASTHA’s commitment to enhancing the lives of PwDs is evident in its multifaceted approach to ICT, from providing basic digital infrastructure to communities to adopting solutions for its operations.

Vikramshila Education Resource Society

Vikramshila is an NGO based in Kolkata, which tries to ensure quality education for children from marginalized communities. It undertakes action research initiatives in pedagogy, curriculum development, teacher development programs, supplementary learning centers for children, and child protection. Initiated in 1999, its Nabadisha program is run in collaboration with the Community Police Wing of Kolkata Police. It provides learning support to children aged 3-16 years from marginalized communities living in crime-prone areas of Kolkata. Presently, there are 10 Nabadisha centers in Kolkata.

Vikramshila, in its Nabadisha centers, uses Geneo, a digital learning platform. Geneo uses an app-cloud model that provides students with curated digital content from multiple sources. It also offers remote mentor support. It is accessible across multiple platforms. These include mobile phones, laptops, PCs, tablets, and Chromebooks. The content is mapped chapter-wise to NCERT and CBSE textbooks.

The website curates digital content provided by organizations, including English Helper, Avanti, and Khan Academy. It aims to complement the primary and secondary syllabi of schools to provide quality learning, while augmenting the delivery capabilities of educators. The app was initially available in two languages Hindi and English. A Bengali version of the application was launched in 2018 The app provides content on science, math, English, social science, geography, history, and political science, among other subject .

The Geneo learning app offers both free and paid content options. At each Nabadisha center, two teachers use two smartphones to create respective accounts in the app, enabling students to access the content. Students from each class form groups and take turns in using the app. For instance, grade 9 students would use the app for 30 minutes, which would include watching videos, taking down notes and questions they can practice later, followed by grade 10 students using the phones. Given the limited resources, students have learned to share smartphones amicably amongst themselves.

Teachers from Vikramshila’s centers have pointed out how the app’s audio-video feature helped students better understand their lessons. Students read aloud, watch accompanying videos, and then take mock tests. For example, when studying the chapter on the concept of force, understanding concepts like velocity and motion can be challenging. On the app, they watched an animated video demonstrating how these concepts interrelate. This leads to a better grasp of the topic. Improved comprehension translates into better insights into the concepts and lesson retention, consequently aiding students in their exams.

Mustafij from the Vikramshila team shares that when they start their interventions in a particular learning center, they begin with Vikramshila focus group discussions. The responses are descriptive and objective. They use Google Forms, which allows them to take down data from separate groups (formed according to learning levels) and analyze the findings later.

Namrata from the Vikramshila team adds, “Vikramshila’s teachers initially recorded the baseline, midline, and endline grade level assessments on paper. It was during the pandemic that the team decided to adopt digital tools for recording responses of children by teachers. Digitization allowed them to draw conclusions from recorded data on learning levels. For instance, they would share the analyzed data with teachers on the status of children’s grade-appropriate learning levels.”

Captured data helps the team identify patterns to share with donors, government officials, and parents. The team believes that sharing their children’s learning progress data is encouraging for parents, showcasing how learning centers facilitate their growth. Diagnostic tests assess each child’s learning levels to guide teachers’ pedagogy and optimize student grouping. This approach ensures that students with varying competencies support each other, promoting peer learning.

Vikramshila is also contributing to the Uttar Pradesh Pankh portal, an online platform providing career guidance interventions. The portal has assisted over six (6) lakh students in choosing their career paths. It caters to students in classes 9 to 12 in government and aided schools, including Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.

Vikramshila’s innovative use of the Geneo digital learning platform has ensured a comprehensive learning environment. Their meticulous approach to data collection and analysis, especially in a digitized format, provides insights for educators. This process also allows for transparent communication with stakeholders, be it donors, government bodies, or parents.

In conclusion

Collectively, these endeavors underscore the transformative potential of ICT in driving positive change, fostering inclusivity, and amplifying the impact of education initiatives. Tailored to an organization’s needs and context, ICT could optimize their operations and community interventions. The ICT journeys of each non-profit may vary, but it is a journey worth undertaking.