Bhutan goverment has implementing a ‘112’ emergency health call center. It is their first eHealth solution and people can request for an ambulance or ask for medical assistance through the service. With the help of the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health had contracted an Indian software company to pilot the Hospital Information Management System (HMIS). The operating procedures are similar to common practices in developing countries; where the health indicators are hand calculated, then those aggregates are entered in to a computer at the hospital. The monthly aggregates are burned on to a CD and sent via post or emailed to the Ministry of Health for analysis.
Some of the actionable research done by LIRNEasia, were highlighted at an event organized by the Bhutan Infocomm and Media Authority (BICMA), in Thimphu on 9 May 2011. One of the areas of research presented was Agriculture. According to the World Bank, nearly half the labour force in Bhutan is engaged in Agriculture, however as in most South Asia countries, the sector’s contribution to GDP is less than proportional. LIRNEasia’s research on agriculture has highlighted the importance of access to accurate, timely and actionable information improved the efficiency of the agriculture value chains. The presentation looked at the services available for delivering information to farmers in South Asia.
The colloquium was conducted by Dr. Sujata Gamage. She began by giving an overview of the project, Knowledge to innovation in solid waste services through Linkages. Now, focus on peer2peer linkages and public-private partnerships. The research looks at linkages that work.
Thirteen young scholars were selected to attend a tutorial and workshop on mobile 2.0 on 21 and 22 June 2010 in Singapore. The event was co-organised by LIRNEasia and the Department of Communication and New Media (CNM) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The tutorials included topics such as “Communicating for policy influence” and “supply and demand side research”. The workshop included presentations of LIRNEasia’s mobile 2.
Colloquium was conducted by Sriganesh Lokanathan. Data was collected from Jan – Apr 2009. Profile of Afghanistan. 25 Mn Population. Land locked country.
The colloquium was conducted by Harsha de Silva, PhD. Harsha began by explaining that the paper focus both on trains and buses, but in this colloquium will focus on the Bus transport. 75% of passenger transport is via public transport and of that 93% by bus and 7% by train. Roughly 5500 SLCTB and 18000 private buses. The fare is regulated by National Transport Commission (NTC).
The colloquium was conducted by Nirmali Sivapragasam. The colloquium began by that the paper is based on the T@BOP data set. The Research questions are: How aware are low-income Asian migrant workers of m-remittance services ? What socio-economic characteristics determine a migrant worker’s level of awareness? What are possible demand-side and supply-side barriers to greater awareness and use?
The colloquium was conducted by Nalaka Gunawardena. The colloquium began by Nalaka explaining the big picture; Climate change and energy use. Global warming is not new but the rate of global warming is. There is a multiplicity of gases causing global warming and their sources. Looking at the Green House Gas (GHG) mix, Carbon Dioxide is dominant.
Broadband Quality of Service Experience (QoSE) has been an area of research interest to LIRNEasia since December 2007. In the process of our research, the software application, AT-Tester was developed as a testing tool in order to monitor broadband QoSE. It is available for free downloading. Users can test the quality of their connectivity and upload the results to server for viewing by others. The results or data uploaded are available in the public domain.
The presentation was made by Prof. Subhash Bhatnagar. The presentation began by Prof. Bhatnagar explaining the research objectives; extention of e-governmaent to mobile platforms as well as the strategic use of government services and applications which are only possible using cellular/mobile telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless internet infrastructure. Why are we thinking about m-government for BOP?
The presentation was made Hina Sarfaraz. The colloquium started with the looking at Governance of ICT with the definitions: Defined as Freedom of Expression(FoE): information which might annoy, disturb, terrorise or disgust, or, would engage, educate, inform and uplift. Role of Government in ensuring FoE and basic right to know is taken as a role of democracies. According to the Voice and Accountability Index Pakistan stands at 0.33 on an index of 1 Mobile 2.
The presentation was done by Payal Malik. The presentation began by Payal explaining that there is a certain level of abstraction in the topic. It is excepted by most that deleivering telecom connectivity and services helps development. The challenge now lies in go beyond voice and to see how the BOP can benefit from connectivity. Insufficient attention to licencing can mean that radio frequencies are unaffordable and unattenable.
Colloquium conducted by Dr. Erwin Alampay of NCPAG, Philippines. Presentation began by looking at the potential for M-money. Why should we use m-money? Improving efficiency: Improve services, financial services.
A clinic on Communication for Policy Impact was conducted by Dr. Rohan Samarajiva, Helani Galpaya and Nilusha Kapugama of LIRNEasia at the recently concluded IDRC PAN-All conference in Penang, Malaysia. The necessity of communicating or disseminating good research results to stakeholders such as the policymakers, private sector and media was one of the underlying themes of the conference. The clinic focused on giving participants the necessary tools to formulate a communications strategy for a given project. Some of the key aspects identified were: identification of relevant audience/s and appropriate method/s of communication, importance of story telling timing of the release of results recognition of policy windows The importance of developing a communications strategy at the proposal stage of the project was highlighted.
Dr. Gordon Gow presented the working paper titled; The future of community-based hazard information systems: Insights from the Internet sharing economy. Dr. Gow who was previously at the LSE is now an Associate Professor at University of Alberta. The presentation began by looking at situations where systems/programmes are developed but only to fall to disuse.
Joseph Wilson, PhD presented the findings of the TRE study in Pakistan Started with the industry outlook. The mobile sector, Mobilink licence was renewed last year from providing the service. The licence cost UDS 291 mn. The cost is the same for everyone. Paktel purchased by China mobile for USD 400 mn.