Remote IT Village Project - Laos

The Jhai Foundation built a wireless wide-area network computer network to link the 5 villages with each other and the internet, providing email, voice-over-IP telephony, and telephone access. The network links computers and printers whose power requirements measure less 20 watts, which allows the systems to be powered by a battery charged by stationary bicycle. The bike-pedaled generator will power a battery that in turn runs the computer, which sits in an 8-by-10-inch box. Instead of a hard disk, the Jhai personal computer (PC) relies on flash-memory chips to store its data. Its screen is a liquid-crystal display. If produced in quantity, each Jhai PC would cost around US$400. Wireless Internet cards connect each Jhai PC to a solar-powered hilltop relay station, which then passes the signals on to a computer in town that is connected to both the Lao phone system (for local calls) and to the Internet. The programme is also localising the Linux-based KDE Graphical Desktop and productivity resources, enabling communications, word processing, and simple spreadsheets in the Lao language.

Community participation is central to making these innovations sustainable. A hardware developer and networking specialist worked with a 25-person international team, all of whom donated their time. One of Laos' leading IT experts coordinates project implementation, ensuring that the design meets the specific needs as expressed by the villagers in Phon Kham and associated villages. The Jhai Communications Centers and wireless network will eventually be owned by the villages. Small fees will be charged users to support costs for personnel, paper, and other consumables, and telephone charges, making the project fully sustainable immediately upon completion of the training period. Village youth and children will receive technology training and microenterprise training, with some young people joining the project as Youth IT Entrepreneurs who support their elders in the use of the technology and in business operations.

Organisers hope that villagers will use Voice-over-I.P. telephony and Lao-language business tools to improve their standard of living while preserving traditions. The network is designed to enhance business and trade opportunities for organic rice and produce in market towns and the capital, Vientiane. For example, villagers may now decide whether the price of rice justifies the 30 km. trip to Phon Hong, the local market town. Also, links farther afield may enable more informed decisions about growing crops for foreign markets - and may help with bargaining. Expert women weavers in the villages are now using natural dyes and would like to weave textiles for export. They hope to find partners among expatriate Lao who will help them market their weavings and receive reasonable returns. These connections may allow for the establishment of a local market for sales of a variety of products among villagers.

Rural Connectivity, Technology, Economic Development, Children, Youth.

In the remote areas of rural Laos, villagers lack connectivity. For example, all 200 residents of Phon Kham live in bamboo houses with thatch roofs, and have no electricity, telephones, or computer access. Organisers claim that, as a result of the programme, farmers in Ban Phon Kam and nearby villages are now able to grow surpluses of rice and other crops - and to profit from them - thanks to accurate and timely information about pricing in Phon Hong and Vientiane.