Digital Swaraj Fellowship: Revisiting the Journey of DEF’s Flagship Programme
Nani Monya is DEF’s centre coordinator for the Ziro Valley CIRC. She has been working towards digitally empowering her community.
This piece narrates my journey from being a resident of the Ziro Valley to a source of information and knowledge for my people. The opportunity given to me by Digital Empowerment Foundation, was a game changer for my professional life. I am Nani Monya, working in a community network initiative in Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh. I belong to the Apatani tribe which is an Indigenous community. We are an ethnic tribe and we are also known and called as Tanw or Tanii or Apa Tani. We are famous for the wet rice cultivation system that has extremely high productivity, without the use of farm animals and machines.
In April 2022, we started the baseline survey in the Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh. The survey investigated the needs and expectations of the local community regarding Internet, digital literacy, digital education, access to governance schemes and entitlements, tele-health, access to financial services, exploration of jobs, etc. During the survey, while I interacted with my community members, I got a better understanding of the needs of the people and how unconnected we were from the digital world.
After analyzing the survey, I along with my colleagues at DEF developed the strategy on how to set up a digital resource center, with an integral access to the internet to act as an information hub to the community members in the valley. As a center coordinator, I got a platform to share my views and ideas and also how to reach out to the unspoken, under-privileged people around these villages in Ziro valley.
We started the project, Community Network- Connecting the Indigenous Communities of Ziro Valley, the CIRC (Community Information Resource Centre) was set up in Myodi Yasi building at Rake Lembo, Ziro, which is centrally located and easily approachable for all. The location was selected as it has easy connectivity and was a center point in the valley. A lot of effort was put up in setting up a center, from assets to the furniture. My team gave our best for the people of the valley. Our center has internet connectivity and other assets which make our work easier.
The Ziro Valley Community Network is providing WiFi to four schools and one community health center, in the valley. School staff and students are now connected with the internet, they access it for informational videos, experimental science videos etc. At the same time, doctors and staff in the community health center are using it to promote tele-medicine in the valley.
Our center has garnered a lot of traction in the valley considering it has various services to offer and there is something for everyone. We run digital literacy classes for the students and everyone else among the community members, we provide governance facility and easy access to entitlements, including financial services and banking transaction services. It is heartening to see groups of children from local schools and adolescents come to the center for long workshops and use the space as an innovation center, expressing their creativity. It is a long journey to connect all the unconnected in the valley and I am grateful to be a part of this journey.
Rosmi Basumatary is a student of the Ziro Valley CIRC, who has never been to school and never got the opportunity to learn new things and explore future opportunities. In her words, “I never got the opportunity to learn and grow, the center in our valley is one such place where I love to come, learn and experiment. I have been able to learn basic alphabets and numerals and after that I got the opportunity to learn computers and explore the internet. What I love the most is that I feel free here, and confident to explore anything I want.”
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