As part of the RVEP project work, we propose to develop this project to
1. help in the implementation of the MNES led RVEP project by developing capabilities on data capture (information available from Census and from the surveys planned by AEDA to map the natural resources of the villages, identification of suitable RETs in consultation with the local community, feasibility of the technology, DPR, village GPS coordinates and route map etc). The data would be available through a common database with secured web enable access to various stakeholders and government agencies. Such a common database will help in coordinating the provision of energy services to rural communities with the activities planned by other agencies working in the areas of poverty reduction, education and health. Energy as a fulcrum / hub for various socio-economic development programs is illustrated in the figure below.
2. enable a sustained mapping tool for knowledge management, program monitoring & evaluation, documentation of best practices and experience sharing. The tools and software will also be available to all the local stakeholders, governmental agencies and GVEP partners for wider replication across the country.
Cover Page 3. support efforts, on one hand, to decentralize the planning and decision making in remote village electrification to provide local communities and stakeholders better say in how their energy needs are met and make the development more people centric. On the other hand, availability of local village level resource data through a common database would give the proper feedback to policy makers and planners to help make their policies and programs more in tune with requirement of local communities and ground realities.
Cover Page Spatial bookmarking provides a simple way of organizing information in online spaces, in much the same way that regular bookmarking of text. By navigating (zooming and panning) a map space, it is possible to mark individual locations against which records can be created, shared and maintained.
Cover Page For policy planners and implementation agencies these marked maps can become a simple basis for organizing information in the records. The map space as well as the records themselves could additionally be made open to all stakeholders and community members - through login-protected access - so that the maps and records can be continually updated to be current. Such a Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) in the context of RVEP provides two key advantages - the visualization of information, as well as the ability to share records - vital to creating robust information-driven program implementation that is people centric and ensures that local communities have a voice in how their energy needs are met.
The necessary tools required for such an effort are:
A spatial bookmarking tool and
Information management system to which marked spaces are linked.
Space-marking tools are beginning to be available widely, and have received a tremendous boost from the efforts of major software companies to release them into the public domain free. However, their use so far has been largely tailored for interest groups and intranets, and not nearly as much for community programs such as remote village electrification. We propose to bridge this gap, and the necessary software systems can be customized for this purpose. By deploying these tools for the proposal outlined here, we will showcase the potential of such tools to many more implementation agencies and stakeholders engaged in grassroots work to achieve the MDGs
