[WSIS CS-Plenary] Finalists Named in Global Competition for Achievement In Using Information Technology for Development

[Nadia Afrin]

Finalists Named in Global Competition for Achievement
In Using Information Technology for Development

Nominees Support Tsunami Recovery, Improve Farmers' Livelihoods, and
More

Washington DC, June 20, 2005 - Six finalists have been chosen from a
field of 135 nominations for the Development Gateway Award 2005. The
$100,000 award, to be announced in September, will recognize one of the
finalists for outstanding achievement in using information technology to
improve people's lives in developing countries.

Working in all world regions, the nominees demonstrate the impact that
technologies such as the Internet, satellite communications, smart
cards, and others can have on development in various fields. For
instance, Radio News Agency 68H, of Indonesia, and the Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation have been active in relief and recovery after the
Asian tsunami. ITC e-Choupal and MAP_IT are helping India's farmers
improve their livelihoods. Other finalists include Modemmujer, of
Mexico, for advancing women's rights in Latin America; and Prodem, for
bringing banking to Bolivian villages. The finalists' stories (see
attached) will be shared on the Development Gateway Foundation's global
portal of development knowledge, to advance the understanding of their
work and of these new technologies' catalytic role. (See
www.developmentgateway.org/award.).

The Award, with major sponsorship from Deutsche Telekom, will be
presented at the Development Gateway Forum 2005 on September 16-17 in
Beijing. The Forum, co-hosted with the Government of China and the World
Bank, will bring together leaders of China's information technology and
development sectors with their peers from around the world to address
the theme of "Information Technology and Collaborative Development."

Last year, Grameen Bank-Village Phone won the Award (then known as the
Petersberg Prize). Grameen Village Phone helps women entrepreneurs start
small businesses providing wireless phone service in rural areas of
Bangladesh. Since winning the award, the number of these entrepreneurs
has doubled, to 100,000, and Grameen is targeting 200,000 this year. 

"Not only has the Development Gateway Award inspired Grameen's staff to
do more, it has inspired technology people around the world to design
similar or more innovative ideas to make a change in the lives of the
poor, women, and excluded people," said Grameen Bank founder Muhammad
Yunus.
       
About the Development Gateway Foundation

The Development Gateway Foundation is an enabler of development. We help
improve people's lives in developing countries by building partnerships
and information systems that provide access to knowledge for
development. The Development Gateway is an independent, not-for-profit
organization based in Washington, DC. For more information or to join
our global online community, please visit www.developmentgateway.org.


Nadia Afrin
Content Coordinator
Development Gateway
Phone: 202 572 9258
 
ICT for Development http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict
E-government http://topics.developmentgateway.org/e-government
Afghanistan Reconstruction
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/afghanistan