*An invasion of Martian tripods would probably be less transformative.
*Wish I could say I got this from an actual Bangladeshi InfoLady, but no,
it showed up on Twitter. Can't remember who. Way WAY too much going on today.
http://southasia.oneworld.net/fromthegrassroots/info-ladies-make-life-easier-in-bangladesh/
(...)
In the sweltering post-monsoon heat that transforms the flooded nation into an open-air sauna, the 24-year-old looks immaculate as she negotiates her way through paddy fields, cows and mosquito-breeding ponds on a weekly visit into Panchpeer village.
In a place where women dutifully give birth in dingy huts, the men know of little outside their fields, and the world revolves around the local mosque; the sight of a "modern" woman visitor astride her bike is a spectacle.
The more so as Akhter zaps around with gadgets like a netbook, GSM mobile, blood pressure monitor and pregnancy kit, all deftly packed in her shoulder bag.
"It was a scandal when I started my rounds two years ago with just a mobile phone", says Akhter. Now it is more of a phenomenon. She is treated like a champion by people whose lives she's shaping with once "scary machines".
Akhter belongs to a motley band of "InfoLadies," who are piloting a revolutionary idea - giving millions of Bangladeshis, trapped in a cycle of poverty and natural disaster, access to information on their doorstep to improve their chances in life.
"Ask me about the pest that's infecting your crop, common skin diseases, how to seek help if your husband beats you or even how to stop having children, and I may have a solution," says a confident Akhter.
"An InfoLady's netbook is loaded with content especially compiled and translated in local Bangla language," says Mohammed Forhad Uddin of D.Net, a not-for-profit research organisation that is pioneering access to livelihood information.
"It provides answers and solutions to some of the most common problems faced by people in villages."
In Bangladesh this means nearly three-quarters of the nearly 160 million that live in rural areas. From agriculture to health, sanitation and disaster management, the content follows simple text, pictures and engaging multimedia animations to include all users, many of whom are illiterate.
"I love the cartoon that tells about brushing teeth and hygiene," says 10-year-old Shamshul.
It took a just a brief meeting with an InfoLady for 60-year-old Nahar Hossain to finally identify the pest that destroyed his rice fields year after year. "She matched the picture of my crop with the one on her TV [netbook] and recommended a certain pesticide. I haven't had problems since," says Hossain, who had spent a lot of time and money seeking government help to no avail.
Corruption and prejudice
The success of the InfoLadies is making the failure of the state more noticeable. "We have corruption and political interference in every sector," says Gullal Singha, a state executive officer of Sagatha sub-district. Sagatha is severely affected by soil erosion and is home to the poorest of the poor.
"Even the ultra-poor entitled for food relief are segregated as Bangladesh Nationalist Party poor or Awami League poor," says Aziz Mostafa, an elected representative of a local civic body.
This explains why thousands of Bangladeshis have embraced InfoLadies and their laptops, which are making lives easier and arguably better. ...
