University of Texas at AustinUniversidad Veracruzana Strengthening ICT in Higher Education for Rural

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University of Texas at Austin-Universidad
VeracruzanaStrengthening ICT in Higher Education
for Rural Developmentfunded byUSAID Higher
Education for Development U.S.-Mexico TIES
Initiative (Training, Internships, Exchanges and
Scholarships) and

• With the participation of Frontera Produce

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What is the U.S.-Mexico TIES initiative?

• Fosters collaboration between U.S. and Mexican
  universities on projects that develop human
  capital for a global economy.
• Provides scholarships for Mexican students to
  study in the U.S. and build capacity to respond
  to development challenges at home.
• ICT (information and communication technology)
  program facilitates solutions for linking the
  rural poor into the world market and
  strengthening ICT programs in Mexican
  universities.

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Project Partners

• Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
  (LLILAS) at the University of Texas at Austin
  http//www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/llilas/
• Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural
  http//www.uv.mx/uvi/index.html
• ICT for Development Research Group, University of
  California, Berkeley School of Information
  http//people.ischool.berkeley.edu/parikh/
• Frontera Produce http//www.fronteraproduce.com
• Center for Sustainable Development and
  Productivity (CFSDP) http//www.cfsdp.org/

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Project Objective

• To establish a partnership that will educate and
  train undergraduate and graduate students with
  skill sets to help poor communities in rural
  areas in the State of Veracruz to organize for
  economies of scale to learn how to reduce the
  role of intermediaries in getting their products
  to market to add value to their crop production
  to successfully market their goods to consumers
  within Mexico and in the United States, Europe
  and Asia and to adopt appropriate level
  information and communication technologies to
  support these outcomes.

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How Project Works

• Center for Sustainable Development and
  Productivity (CFSDP) identifies farmers who want
  to form cooperatives.
• Farmers are from communities near 4 main UVI
  campuses.
• Students from UT and UVI work in the field to
  train farmers to
• Organize for economies of scale
• Encourage value-added production
• Meet market requirements compliance
• Adopt appropriate ICT solutions to support these
  outcomes
• Frontera Produce will assist with the
  distribution of produce according to Fronteras
  own criteria.

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The Role of ICT

• Conditions to consider
• Low literacy levels in many rural communities
• Lack of familiarity with ICT
• Potential solutions should have low training and
  maintenance requirements
• Portability
• Mobile phone application
• Low battery consumption
• Mobility
• Low literacy requirements
• No service or signal requirement

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Berkeley ICTD Group Applications Using Mobile
Phones

• Digital ICS (digital internal control system)
  Farmers use mobile phones to capture surveys,
  audio, video in the field. Information uploaded
  to central cooperative office for analysis and
  feedback to farmers.
• DPS (delivery processing system) Stored data
  used to track deliveries, monitor remote
  inventories, respond to customer requests.
• ICTD Group will design an ICT Development course
  for IT students at UVI.

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Scholarships and Exchanges

• Mexico to US
• Eight UVI students come to UT to study
  2009-2011.
• Students take courses that support the rural
  development ICT project back home.
• Students participate in 3-week Web technologies
  training at UT.
• UVI students take ICT for Development course
  designed by Berkeley ICTD Group at UVI.

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Scholarships and Exchanges

• U.S. to Mexico
• UT students work with UVI students and faculty
  on research projects tied to rural development
  project.
• Receive hands-on experience working with rural
  indigenous populations.
• Gain valuable training in alternative business
  models and acquire deeper knowledge of Mexicos
  economic system.

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Faculty Exchange

• Faculty from UVI and UT receive seed money to
  conduct research relevant to the project with
  counterparts in U.S. or Mexico.
• Faculty participate in rural economic
  development workshops at UT and UVI during course
  of project to exchange and integrate research.

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Outcomes for Students and Faculty

• UVI students receive degrees and/or gain
  academic experience at UT.
• UVI and UT students and faculty learn and
  develop innovative ICT.
• UVI students return to home communities with
  community development skills.
• UVI and UT students and faculty establish
  valuable relationships for further collaboration.

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Outcomes for Farmers

• Increase income
• Use ICT to grow and sell products
• Add value to their products
• Access larger markets
• Access financial markets for loans
• Develop tax and legal infrastructure

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Building the Project

• Expand number of farmer cooperatives
• Provide continued training and scholarships to
  UVI students beyond 2011
• Provide more grants for U.S. students to work in
  the field with farmer cooperatives
• Continue to develop innovative ICT to meet the
  needs of rural communities
• Bring on board additional partners from public
  and private sectors in U.S. and Mexico

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• For more information
• Marco Muñoz
• mmmunoz_at_mail.utexas.edu
• 512.232.2424