About Infolady Model
Info-lady has won “The BOBS: Social Media Forum Award 2013”
Info-lady social initiative has won “The Bobs: Social Media Forum Award 2013”. Deutsche Welle has been arranging this competition since 2004 and this year 90 different initiatives in six different categories were selected for the final round.
Deutsche Welle launched The Bobs – Best of Online Activism with the goal of promoting the open exchange of ideas and freedom of expression online in digital media. More than 4,200 websites and online projects from around the world were submitted to this year's contest. The competition was conducted in 14 languages, which included Hindi, Turkish and Ukrainian for the first time. The Bobs also honored micro-blogs in each of the languages for the first time in the ‘Best Person to Follow’ category. Submissions to The Bobs reflected the wide spectrum of ways blogs and social media can be used to promote freedom of expression and push for transparency and accountability.
The 15-member jury of bloggers and online activists engaged in two days of passionate discussions to name the winners of The Bobs’ six Jury Awards in the multilingual categories. The challenges of the global economy were the focus of this year’s Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum from June 17-19 in Bonn. This year The Bobs’ special category for the conference looked at the ways bloggers address the economy and the Infolady project received overwhelming majority of vote. “It is a revolutionary project that helps get life-saving information to the poorest population in Bangladesh,” Bengali jury member Shahidul Alam said. The award giving ceremony is going to be arranged by Global Media Forum on June 17, 2013 in Bonn, Germany.
It is to be noted that in 2011, the Infolady model received Manthan South Asia Award and in 2010 it was the finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award. In 2005, the Mobile Lady model which is the predecessor of Infolady model received Gender and ICT Award.
To know more about Bob’s award please click here.
Advertisement for Pallitathya Kendra HUB selection
Introduction of INFOLADY
A typical INFOLADY is a trained young woman, who uses a bicycle to travel about five to ten kilometers a day and offers variety of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-based services and other services at the door-steps of the community she lives in. The INFOLADY carries a range of ICTs with her. She acts as a human interface to the community with the World Wide Web and other information portals. She carries a netbook computer with webcam, digital camera, and mobile phone with internet connectivity and a headphone whereby she can record problems, download information, connect to experts and find solutions to agricultural, health and development questions that community members might have.
She carries health related equipment like a scale, blood pressure machine, blood group testing kit, pregnancy test kit, blood sugar testing kit etc. The INFOLADY serves as the credible trust agent to thousands of women. She visits them regularly as and when required. She is supported with a range of offline and online knowledge and useful information for families. INFOLADEIS offer services to various target groups; pregnant women, farmers, children, adolescent girls. Through various ICTs and offline formats, INFOLADIES offer specific information and communication services, which provide crucial actionable information related to farming, specific agricultural inputs, health, education, legal aid, job search and more. The INFOLADY also supplies contraceptives, hygiene napkins and consumer products to women, who never visit shops (for social and cultural reasons). Infolady is assigned for each former ward of Union Parisad or each ward of Municipality/City Corporation.
Introduction of Pallitathya Kendra HUB
Pallitathya Kendra HUB means ICT based ‘ information Center’ (widely known as Telecentre), Pallitathya Kendra HUB is well equipped with skilled operators to disseminate information that people need for improving their livelihood as well as the information that people have to create sharing and learning information and knowledge platform. The potential learning impact of Pallitathya Kendra HUB relates to providing information in domains related to the daily life of citizens, such as agriculture, health, e-governance, employment, etc., and furthermore to the role of access to both information and ICT as a means of empowerment. Among other things, ICT offers an opportunity to promote the informal and non-formal learning processes which are connected to empowerment and development, and to build social networks among people. Pallitathya Kendra HUBs which are setup at Upazila (Sub-district) level where INFOLADIES receive support and, who are coordinating the local INFOLADIES.
