Practicability Assessment of Smart Village Project: A Case of Sandakpur Rural Municipality, Ilam Nepal

Abstract

Purpose: Villages are the backbone of the nation and a smart village means such a village that can provide various services needed in day-to-day life to the villagers effectively and efficiently. The overall objective of this research is to assess the practicability of the smart village in the hilly region of Nepal with the case of a Sandakpur Rural Municipality (SRM).

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study covered the area within Maipokhari and Sulubung village of Sandakpur Rural Municipality. Ontology and Epistemology philosophy of research was used as positivism. This research was intended to propose the model of smart village examined through a scheduled questionnaire in village sample of SRM, literature reviews related to smart village, and smart rural. This research proposed the smart village with the characteristics as Smart Utilization of Resources, Smart Living, Smart Governance, Smart Village Services, Smart Technology, Smart Tourism, and Gender Equity and Women Equity which can comply with some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Five points Likert scale was used on ranking smart village feature and Chi-Square test is done to determine the significance of respondent’s opinions for the variables from the collected data. After the analysis of data with the Five-Point Likert Scale, ratings on smart features were given as Fair (2.82), Fair (3.02), Fair (2.93), Fair (3.17), Fair (3.2), Good (2.42), and Poor (3.46) respectively.

Findings/Result: The chi-square test showed that the majority of respondents supported the perspective toward Smart Village features as fair. Smart villages can only be possible with long-term planning, strategy and investment. With the adoption of features of the smart village, the study area can be converted into a smart village but it may take time to incorporate these features completely The Smart village model is expected to be applied to villages in other regions by adjusting the characteristics of each region as every village has their own characteristics.

Originality/Value: It is action research to analyze the practicability of smart village development. It will be a method universal acceptable for assessing the feasibility of smart cities. The new concept will be fruitful for policymakers, Professionals, and nations for systematic development. 

Paper Type: Ex-Post Facto Research.