Harnessing renewable energy technologies for ICT and e-governance services in un-electrified communities in rural Nepal

Abstract

The Government of Nepal's electronic-governance initiatives remain beyond the access of the majority of Nepal's population. Many are not even aware that such services exist. This is because due to Nepal's difficult terrain, two vital vehicles for e-governance services -access to energy/the national electricity grid and internet penetration - are both negligible. Rural populations stand to benefit the most from e-governance services, yet they continue to be overlooked by government and non-government information and communications (ICT)-based development activities largely on grounds of lack of access to energy sources.A recently completed ICT project funded by Intel Corporation and implemented by Winrock International challenged this bottleneck to efficient rollout of e-governance services, and has demonstrated a successful shift in the national rural ICT paradigm. This paper communicates the experience of a pioneering community-based activity to extend electronic services, including e-governance, in remote un-electrified communities in Nepal. This public-private partnership between rural communities, local and national governments, and a non-government organization harnessed energy generated from small solar photovoltaic and micro-hydro systems to operate power-efficient ICT and e-services. The ICT infrastructure is housed in local government schools, and has enabled rural communities to access multifaceted e-services beyond the electricity grid network.