Improving Livelihoods of Rural Farmers through ICT Enabled and eServices Integrated MFIs
Description
Magnus Consulting Group Pvt. Ltd. is Nepal’s first social enterprise. The company partners with rural agriculture Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) with its own innovative partnership model: Private Community Partnership (PCP). In this partnership, Magnus provides different types of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based services (eServices)and exercises strategic behavior change (SBC) strategies to help rural farmers adopt use of ICT including by developing eContent. With Private Public Partnership (PPP) Magnus has built a long term relationship with Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC) in which the ministry officially make requests of the relevant eContent to provide to Magnus. Magnus then, signs Letter of Intent (LoI) with the selected content provider (eContent Partner) and on a monthly basis, Magnus collects, preferably in electronic format, the content; otherwise whatever format is available. After the collection, Company contextualizes/localizes it as necessary so that the rural users can understand the content.
What we deliver
Relevant electronic content on Agriculture, Women empowerment, Employment, education, health and ICT.
Why is the project unique?
First of its kind in Nepal. A social enterprise being sustained while providing such services that was unthinkable through such initiative. In PCP model, the rural communities have direct and indirect ownership to the project as eServices are integrated in Magnus’ strategies in which rural MFIs, representing rural communities, invest and have stake.
Roadmap
As an engineer, social entrepreneur, business developer and reader, my fingertips are very close to my laptop/phone key boards. If it was not for content, I would be attempting to acquire information/knowledge in some bookstores. This access, only separated by degree of desire to whether or not access it, is root to empowerment: especially as this is globalized knowledge economy. It is possible because there are seas of information in the internet and now with smart search engine to find needle in the hay stack. In Nepal, value of both information and knowledge is highly undermined and ignorance is often empathized. On the other hand integrity of available information and knowledge is never questioned. In this mix, urban and rural users are not yet so used to with using ICT. But when it happens, content needs to be there to complement the momentum. An example: A Government JTA advised coffee grower to boil the beans before pulping. As only source of information farmer followed the instruction. In frustration after now getting right information for processing and also market, he cut down 99 coffee plants. To dig irrigation, should he now trust the government employee now?
Contact
Tikajit Rai
Magnus Consulting Group Pvt. Ltd.
GPO BOX 19446, Kathmandu
Bagmati, Nepal
URL/Website – www.telecenters.org.np
