Let’s help bring indigenous people to the digital roundtable
IN today’s more enlightened times, national development plans and the resulting host of programs and projects often refer to inclusive growth among its arsenal of basic principles and soft targets. Digital inclusion is usually spoken too by the same mindset that encourages inclusion in all its stripes and variants.
In the digital sphere, the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) has partnership programs for inclusiveness of the poor, differently abled persons, women and children. However, DICT hardly has anything for the ultimate poorest of the poor, the indigenous peoples who live in remote, far-off areas.
On one hand, the present general framework to attain inclusive growth and digital inclusion leans towards such
- cial services, job opportunities, livelihood resources, and just about every aspect of improving modern lives. There goes a sense of empathy for the IPs
- selves in. Sadly, information today is best delivered through digital platforms powered by electricity. This presents an added challenge for IPs who live in communities that are not served by institutional power providers, The costs are too much to build the necessary infrastructure and the possibility of losing the investments in power distribution are even too great for private companies to even consider taking on the risks involved.
In the Philippines, there are about 20 million IPs belonging to 110 ethno- linguistic groups The Constitution recognizes this diversity of the Filipino nation and Republic Act 8371 also known as the “Indigenous Peoples Rights Act” is the legal as well as political foundation of the national policy founded on peace and prosperity for IPs.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, an attached
- dent, provides frontline services for IPs. The Philippine Association for Intercultural Development, Inc. (PAFID), a social development organization, assists indigenous communities secure or recover traditional lands and waters and contributes in shaping government policy affecting IPs. Among its technology-based services are participatory Geographic Information System and GPS-assisted survey and mapping of ancestral domains.
There is however little indication that NCIP and PAFID are tapping into digital platforms to minimize the gap between the information-rich mainstream society and the increasingly excluded IPs. In fact, an inquiry at NCIP drew an informal response that
the gains in the digital era.
In the context of the digital revolution, the United Nations Edu-
Organization (UNESCO) is aware that a broad range of innovative software, hardware and existing technologies is available to bridge this unconscionable digital divide. The UN body recognizes that ICT can be a powerful tool to connect IP communities, especially those in the most remote localities, with each other and the rest of the world.
UNESCO also realizes that the cost of connectivity can be very high for many developing economies. It further expressed concern that the introduction of ICT could lead to the intrusion of Western thoughts on susceptible native mindset and erode centuries-old approaches in cultural propagation and survival.
Australia, the Philippines’ nearest neighbor that is determined to bring their aborigines to the modern- day era, can provide a few lessons in tackling the tricky question of guiding our IPs to the digital regime. One recommended
mobile technology to the ‘scaleddown’ needs and capacity of remotely located IPs.
With the ubiquity of mobile phones especially in the Philippines, mobile technology is one of the quickest way for IPs to go digital and reach out across the digital divide. Of course, that is easier said than done, given the current absence of attendant infrastructure that supports mobile technology for IP communities in remote locations.
To illustrate the value of mobile connectivity to people in outlying areas, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) disseminates a case of good practice impacting the livestock and meat value chain. Since 2007, Kenya’s Safaricom of the Vodafone Group has supported an electronic money transfer system based on SMS messaging for native livestock pastoralists and traders in faroff grazing areas and trekking routes. Even though miles away from home, the distant cattle raisers are still able to send money to their family, connect easily to their relatives, friends and business associates, and save time which they then allocate to other income-earning activities.
It’s a wonderful scenario that IPs and other digitally excluded sectors should be enjoying in a country that bills itself to be a digitally enabled nation.