China Rural ICT Demand Survey Workshop, 12 December 2012

A commitment to rural areas continues with China’s 12th Five-Year plan (2011-2015)that calls for accelerating the “Development of the Socialist New Countryside.”Rural informatization is considered a key component of this strategy. The World Bank is assisting the Chinese government to assess rural ICT interventions including evaluating socio-economic impacts and possibilities for scaling up innovative pilots.

One of the key activities—funded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—was a survey carried out in villages of three provinces: Guizhou, Jilin and Shandong. Covering over 3,000 households, the survey gathered information on attitudes, awareness and access of ICTs in rural areas.

The State Information Center (SIC) one of the Chinese government partners in the project organized a workshop on 12 December 2012 in Beijing’s Guohong Hotel to present the results of the survey. There were over fifty participants from various government ministries and the provinces. Conclusions that emerged from the discussions included stimulating usage of the widespread infrastructure that has been deployed to rural areas; greater use of toolssuch as surveys and impact assessments to evaluate policies; and the need to increase digital literacy in villages.

A related side-event was a half day workshop held on December 13 on the state of public libraries in China. Libraries can be an important public access venue for providing ICT access in rural areas and teaching digital skills to villagers. While there has been significant capital expenditure on deploying reading rooms into rural areas, budget for meeting ongoing operating costs is limited. Another challenge is the administrative structure of the public library system that inhibitsnetworking between large libraries in urban areas and smaller rural ones. One possible model is in the prefecture of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province where the city library has established its own 45 branches. Suzhou City Library has found that this system results in a better allocation of resources and improved capacityin smaller branches.

Workshop of China Rural ICT Program

(December, Guohong Hotel, Beijing)

Agenda

Time / Contents
Day 1
8:30-9:00 / Registration
9:00-9:10 / Speech of officers from NDRC of China
9:10-9:20 / Speech of officers from the WB
9:20-9:30 / Speech of representative from Gates Foundation (TBC)
9:30-9:40 / Speech of Executive Deputy Director of SIC
9:40-10:00 / Coffee Break
10:00-10:20 / Lecture on rural ICT by experts of the WB
10:20-10:40 / Lecture on Method of Rural ICT Demand Survey by experts of the CMMR
10:40-11:40 / Publication of Demand Survey Report of China Rural ICT by experts of SIC
11:40-12:00 / Discussion on the Demand Survey Report
12:00-14:00 / Lunch
14:00-14:25 / Lecture on regional rural ICT development by delegates of local departments (Shandong province)
14:25-14:50 / Lecture on regional rural ICT development by delegates of local departments (Guizhou province)
14:50-15:15 / Lecture on regional rural ICT development by delegates of local departments (Jilin province)
15:15-15:45 / Lecture on rural ICT by experts from China (Ms. Xiuyuan Wu, Deputy Director of Information Center of the MOA)
15:45-16:00 / Coffee Break
16:00-16:10 / Lecture on rural/urban digital divide (representative of CNNIC)
16:10-16:20 / Lecture on informatization in rural libraries (Prof. Zhang Guangqin, Peking University)
16:20-17:00 / Free exchange including suggestions for next steps
(participants who don’t make a formal speech in the meeting could present their opinions
17:00-17:10 / Conclusion
Day 2
8:30-8:55 / Registration
9:00-9:15 / World Bank: Welcome & introduction to the studies
Library Landscape Study
9:15-9:30 / Gates Foundation: Foundation’s work with libraries
9.30-9.45 / World Bank: Presentation of Demand Survey results related to libraries
9.45-10:00 / Local consultant (Prof. Zhang Guangqin, Peking University) presentation – the context for library development in China