One World website taps grass roots

Here is exactly how one can benefit from this system. Randomly choose any region in India you would like some information about. Now try getting it from the existing agencies and infrastructure. Despite the fact that there are a growing number of organisations working inevery region, getting information is difficult.

What One World Online does is to give all these organisations a chance to put out the work they are doing and the statistics they have worked out on the net. For NGOs, it is a cheaper publishing and broadcasting option with a worldwide reach. Access to this site will be available at the British Council libraries in the different cities.

quot;When Anuradha got in touch with us, our initial reaction was we are a grass roots organisation. But, she said that it was this link they were looking for. Not only did they design our site for us, but also did it for free. It has been very fruitful being their partner. Now, we have people from Netherlands and other universities working with us or exchanging their views on the kind of work we do,quot; says Geeta Dharmarajan, executive director of Katha.

After having established a network in Britain and initiated the process in Europe, One World Online is in India to look for more partners who are willing to share their work inthe field with the world. quot;A few groups like Katha and Development Alternatives are already our members, but we are looking to expand,quot; Vittachi adds. Some of the other international organisations that are partners in this include Unicef, Amnesty, Action Aid and Oxfam.

While the British Council prepares a working paper on the subject, they are hopeful of launching the facility in India by March 1999. quot;We are going to use the already available infrastructure of One World for the launch of its Indian chapter. The information will be segmented and project reports, documents and statistics will all be available in a comprehensive manner,quot; says B Shadrach, one of the British Council representatives in-charge of the project. Systematic information is the biggest plus point of this site. A user does not have to browse through a heap of data to find what he or she wants. quot;Our editorial function is unique. While each NGO has editorial autonomy to select and put out the information they want, the core group at Oxfordalso puts the news together. We call our site a supersite that facilitates news pools which are attractive to read and thematic,quot; Vittachi says.

The Action section tells readers how they can get involved in a partner8217;s work, Blast is the magazine, Think Tank and Guides offer professional debates and thematic channels for different viewpoints.

A leading website on global issues, One World Online started in a small garage in Oxford. Peter Armstrong and Anuradha Vittachi were made directors of the One World Broadcasting Trust in Britain, at a time when the net had just made an appearance. quot;Peter saw the potential of the medium, while I was very interested in the concept of layering information. As a development writer I was aware of the difficulty in getting any kind of information. So, when we got a little grant, we relentlessly started putting development information into it, free of cost for the first six months,quot; Vittachi recalls. The core group of five people today monitor what is being put out bycompanies and look after particular areas of interest. One World did not stop at getting a group of NGOs together, it went on to experiment with community radio and started a daily news service from 125 countries.