GRAMSAT ' Development Communication Project

Agency : DECU-Indian Space Research Organisation, MPLAD-DRDA

It was a pilot intervention project to test the development communication model developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-DECU known as GRAMSAT in collaboration with the Institute. UNICEF Rajasthan was also a partner in the project. The pilot project was implemented in Jhalawar and Baran districts, and subsequently extended to Dholpur district. The project provided a platform to all user departments to communicate with their development functionaries and people more effectively and uniformly. The project could be used as a good opportunity for conducting training in a cost-effective manner with high quality. The departments involved in conducting the training activities were: Medical and Health, Women and Child Development, Elementary Education, Technical Education, Agriculture, Panchayati Raj, Watershed Development and Soil Conservation.

The satellite-based interactive communication system (one-way video and two-way audio) had three major elements, i.e. the teaching end (classroom), the satellite transponder and the receiving end. The teaching end of the classroom required an advanced studio. DECU, ISRO had a teaching end at Ahmedabad. The trainees in the classroom had 'talk back' capacity using STD telephone. They could ask questions to the resource persons' receiving ends (classrooms) in all the blocks of Jhalawar, Baran and the district headquarters of both the districts. In the last year, over 20,000 beneficiaries were reached under the project.

Subsequently, the project would be scaled up for the whole state depending on the response of the Government of Rajasthan and the success of the pilot initiative. The pilot study was successfully completed in March this year. The project was successful in initiating e-learning in the State Government. It also provided an excellent platform for interaction between the state and the functionaries at the village level. Moreover, it helped immensely to improve the skills of the functionaries in a very short period of time.


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