IT for Change, in collaboration with the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, and the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) of the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, organised a two-day national workshop on 'Community Information and Service Centres: A New Village Institution for Governance and Democracy'. The workshop was held on 30-31 May, 2011 in Bengaluru and brought together interested actors from the government and civil society organisations. The aim was to examine the experiences of various initiatives that have worked towards setting up village level information and service centres using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The workshop also explored possible models that could be adopted by various agencies, including governments, to maximise the potential of such centres in becoming loci for new community-based empowering processes aimed at improving governance and deepening democracy.
Aparna Kalley, Project Coordinator of Prakriye, ITfC's field project, presented the experiences and lessons learnt from helping setup the Namma Mahiti Kendras (Our Information Centres) in collaboration with the Mahila Samakhya Karnataka.