Infolady Social Entrepreneurship Programme (ISEP)

The Infolady Social Entrepreneurship Programme (ISEP) is a concept developed by Dnet (A Social Enterprise), Bangladesh. The Infolady (তথ্যকল্যানী, Tathyakallani, in Bengali) receives specialized training and necessary equipment, and then travels to remote areas by bicycle to personally connect villagers to information and resources the underprivileged need. Help line service, commercial phone service, photography service, livelihood information and knowledge service, international and local voice call service, video and animation service, and internet-based information service are among the services provided by an Infolady. They also provide essential information and services related to agriculture, adolescent and maternal health, education and other livelihood issues to rural disadvantaged people. The door-step service increases choice of rural community and helps changing behavior as the Infolady visits them regularly and reminds them of regular health check-up, contraceptive use and [...] health, and maintenance of hygiene. Infolady uses small portable laptops or netbook to store and deliver her key information services to the rural people. It is portable and easy to carry and ensures women and disabled people's access to information. A typical Infolady is a trained rural young woman, who cycles about five to ten kilometers a day and offers variety of ICT-based and other services at the door-step of rural community she lives in. There are 53 Infoladies in the country who earn on an average BDT 14,000 (180 USD) a month. Some of them even earn more than BDT 50,000 per month (644 USD). The scaling up of Infolady model is taking place through engagement with private sectors and at present, the model is being replicated countrywide.

Awards and Recognition

The Mobile lady project, the predecessor or stage one of ‘infolady program’, won first Innovative Seed Grant Award launched by the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) in 2004 and Global Gender and ICT Award in 2005 at the World Summit on the information Society (WSIS) for its innovative approach of using ICT for rural women. This award was hosted by the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) in association with Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Microsoft Corporation and the Department for International Development (DFID). The model has won The Bobs: Global Media Award (Jury) in 2013, The Manthan South Asian Award in 2011 and in 2010 it was the finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award. It also won the National Digital Innovation Award 2011, and Global Media Forum Award 2013, Bangladesh.

Right to Information Act 2009

Right to Information Act, 2009 is an act to make provisions for ensuring free flow of information and people’s right to information. The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2009 is reaching the rural areas too. After the enactment of the RTI Act, people are being provided with necessary information on rural development programs, agricultural extension and utilities as well as information on social development, such as health, education, finance, legal etc. The introduction of the Right to Information Act 2009 accelerated the free flow of information in Bangladesh. The Act smoothed the way for information to reach easily to the end beneficiaries. Nevertheless, people still need an effective interface to get access to such information. The Infolady has proved to be an effective tool to provide life supporting information. There have been many instances where a person came to know about his or her right to services through an Infolady. There have been successful cases where corrupt local representatives were caught depriving citizens of their entitlement. The infolady has made the government and stakeholders more responsive by ensuring delivery of such services to citizens. The introduction of Right to Information Act 2009 in Bangladesh helped the Infoladies to play a more pivotal role in ensuring access to information and such information empowerment is very important in holding local authorities to account and demand transparency level that was previously unavailable.

Services and Benefits to the Community People

• Improved existing income opportunities: e.g., a woman gets better price for her dress sale as she can get new design from Infoladies.
• Farmer uses better quality seed and gets better yield and hence more income.
• New income opportunities: many women now sell puffed rice and earn money as the center linked with an Infolady buys it and sells it to urban buyers. Some women cultivate mushroom at home and earn money for the family.
• Health check-up services for all rural people
• Communication services: Infoladies provide communication services like cell call, email, Skype, Messenger, etc.
• Saving cost of livelihood: Pregnant women can assess risk during pregnancy and visit a doctor; or take photograph of her child for school at home and at a cheaper price than in township.
• Livelihood information for farmers and professionals
• Homestead gardening for housewives: Infoladies provide information about homestead gardening to the rural women. They supply improved seeds and regular follow-up.
• Infoladies provide vaccination services for the poultry and they charge a small service cost. This is another useful income generating service.
• Eye, Cleft and burnt care for disadvantaged: Cleft lip and cleft palate is the second most common congenital anomaly in Bangladesh. Infoladies play an important role to make them aware of that. There are some organizations who provide free treatment for these anomalies and work with Infoladies who identify the sufferers, make them aware and refer them to the concerned institutions.
• Saving from damage or loss: Community people could save their lives during Cyclone Sidr in Mongla, Khulna as the Infoladies motivated people to leave their homes and take Khulna shelter in cyclone shelter with their property and livestock.

Infolady conducted Sessions

Infoladies form groups comprising 10-20 girls. Each girl pays BDT 50 to 100 per month. Through video and animation, Infoladies offer the members of these groups ICT skills, [...] education, computer training and education on personal hygiene. Members of these groups also familiarize with non-farm related livelihood opportunities such as soap and candle making, sewing, boutique design, food processing etc. Infoladies offer these services at their door steps which are personally reassuring and less intimidating.

Benefits on Investment (BOI)

During the initial phase, 160,196 beneficiaries received livelihood information and ancillary services from 25 centers and 23 Infoladies. Among the total beneficiaries, the benefit statistics were as follows:

• Increased family income for 23% of beneficiaries (13,631)
• Saved cost of livelihood for 72% of beneficiaries (43,726)
• Prevented loss or damage of property, life and rights for 5% of beneficiaries (2832)

Benefit on Investment (BOI) analysis was conducted in the program area. BOI analysis showed that the total estimated benefit from 25 centers and 23 Infoladies was BDT 759.70 million. Total investment (including project operation, center establishment and operation cost) was BDT 47.6 million (approximately US $10.7 million). The estimated BOI was 15.97, which means for each BDT investment for 36 months of operation period of the system the community benefit was BDT 15.97. The BOI was 44.55 considering only local unit cost (center establishment and operation cost), i.e. community received benefit of BDT 44.55 for each Taka investment in the system of center and Infolady.

Funding

After successful implementation of the pilot phase, this program received financial support from Manusher Jonno Foundation, where the ‘Mobile Lady’ matured into ‘Infolady’. The focus shifted to where potential Infolady invests to become an entrepreneur. Bangladesh Bank Governor made an allocation of BDT 100,000,000 (1,287,333 USD) to be disbursed through commercial banks for the Infoladies. National Bank Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start an exclusive loan scheme for Infolady program with Dnet and Fair Price International (FPI) Pvt. Ltd., which was the franchising partner of the model until 2013.