Community Learning and Information Centres as a Tool for Sustainable Development

This working paper is part of a series documenting communication, learning and information exchange between poor communities, municipal and state governments, and non governmental organisations in India. The series itself is one of the outputs of a two-year action research project funded by the British Government Department for International Development (DFID), Infrastructure and Urban Development Department under its Knowledge and Research (KAR) programme. The central focus of the research is the community learning, information and communication (CLIC) processes that surround access to, and the delivery of, urban infrastructure and services by low-income communities and public sector bodies in India. Information, communication and learning are the basis upon which change takes place in people's attitudes and actions. Understanding how this process works, examining the types of information to which different stakeholders in the urban environment have access, how they use information to influence others, and how they learn and acquire new knowledge and skills, is thus central to understanding how change can occur for the benefit of the urban poor. This is the objective of the CLIC project, aiming to identify and analyse the problems and successes in communicating and learning during projects and initiatives for urban service provision, drawing out lessons, and proposing and testing ways of strengthening communication and learning. Environ and a number of independent consultants from India. The CLIC Joint Working Paper series documents conceptual context of the study as a whole and individual case studies that constituted its first phase. These fall into two broad categories: those initiated by communities and those initiated by government programmes. Copies of the Working Papers are available on request from the DPU and further information about the CLIC project can be obtained from the CLIC website: www.clicc.com This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the DFID.