Wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

http://i-quench.org/edevelopment/  a very recent personal weblog, is a growing participatory, collaborative and informational initiative dedicated to  furthering the cause of ICTs for development in India in the areas of health, education, poverty alleviation, agriculture, micro-finance, e-governance , trade of goods and services, market-based information dissemination- all leading to ICTs-supported holistic community development.

The weblog endeavours to showcase the latest news, events, best practice cases, concepts, products, services and initiatives in ICTs for development in India thereby striving toward knowledge transfer, access to information needs, knowledge management, networking and promotion, and a systematic management of information from each stakeholder's perspective.

Although the content in the weblog is India-centric, it showcases the contributions and participation of governments, MNCs, other private organizations and funding bodies from across the globe. This weblog is therefore extremely keen to showcase products, ideas, articles, services and opinions from a global audience, especially where there exists potential elements of being implemented or replicated in the Indian context.

The motivation behind i-quench.org/edevelopment:

• Lack of a common meeting point for ICT personnel in community development in India
• Lack of exposure to new and promising innovations
• Lack of exposure to grass-root level initiatives
• To keep abreast of both traditional and modern technological usage and advancements in ICTs
• To provide a common platform for networking and promotional opportunities
• To debate, opine and introduce expert views and suggestions
• To address issues of affordability, localization, sustainability and scalability of ICT products and services
• To drive debate and action towards public-private partnerships in ICT initiatives
• To drive debate and action towards the formulation of needs relevant policies to support ICT initiatives

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU

One of the chief objectives of this endeavour is to provide maximum exposure and showcase organizations, products and services in ICTs-supported development activities in India. i-Quench.org/edevelopment is donating promotional space towards the following publicity options:

• To feature official company logos with website linking. See http://i-quench.org/edevelopment/index.php/organisations-supporting-icts-for-development/
• To feature specific product/service logos of companies with website linking
• To advertise events, conferences, seminars and jobs
• To profile exemplary individuals, projects and organizations  

• BECOME A MEMBER- Enroll yourself in this forum. Simply send me an email expressing your interest with details of your most frequently used email address. Once I receive this information and have added you to the database, you will be designated an Author position in the forum to begin contributing to postings on the weblog straight from your inbox.

NOTE: Your email address will be used for the above mentioned purpose only. i-Quench.org/edevelopment takes issues of confidentiality very seriously and will never solicit requests of personal information to third parties without prior permission.

• HAVE YOUR SAY- Contribute articles, views, opinions

• OPINE FOR CHANGE-  Suggest and vote in the polls hosted on http://i-quench.org/edevelopment/

• SPREAD THE WORD- If you are aware of deserving organizations or individuals who may be interested in the above promotional opportunities, kindly have them contact me at nomitad@...

• SUBMIT YOUR COMPANY/PRODUCT/SERVICE LOGO- Join the group of organizations who have solicited support to ICT initiatives.

• GET THE RECOGNITION- If you are an individual or organization wanting to make known your contributions, send in a brief  write-up or bio for the 'Profiling' section

•  EXCHANGE LINKS- Share reciprocal weblinks

• SUBSCRIBE TO RSS FEEDS- Want to keep abreast on the latest developments? Click on http://feeds.feedburner.com/Edevelopment-InformationPortalForTheDevelopmentSector  or on the XML RSS feeds link on the home page http://i-quench.org/edevelopment/ to have all the news and content updates delivered to you.

 IF YOU ARE AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

 A large number of MNCs and foreign organizations with the knowledge, skills, products and services in ICTs towards community development are undertaking investment and promotional drives in India in light of the enormous potential the country offers.  i-Quench.edevelopment will be delighted to assist these companies in reaching the right audience and gaining exposure through promotional activities.      

Organizations in developing countries and consultants who have implemented ICTs for development projects may be especially interested.

India, over the past decade or so, has seen both sporadic and systematic implementation of ICTs-supported initiatives for community and rural development with little or no help from the government. These initiatives have been started by visionaries belonging to diverse professions, often working with missionary zeal to bring about changes in their communities. The efforts of such organizations and individuals have resulted in India becoming the world's largest testing-ground for ICT-supported community initiatives. The lack of knowledge transfer from past and ongoing projects, cross-comparison, common strategy and planning, access to monetary, physical and domain expertise have resulted in huge problems in sustaining ICT models.

The potential for ICTs-supported developmental activities in India is enormous and badly untapped. 70% of the population is rural. This statistic alone can be turned around on its head to represent a huge, untapped emerging market driven by volume. It is not surprising that MNCs and private organizations are slowly waking up to this fact and driving investments in the areas of health, education, agriculture, egovernance, micro-finance, information and knowledge management. This is all about empowering 70% of a nation of a billion people to become educated, healthy and skilled individuals contributing to economic growth. The theme of a recent Confederation of Indian Industries(CII) and World Bank conference in Hyderabad, India,  on December 21 and 22 2005, 'Emerging Opportunities at the Bottom of the Pyramid - Transforming the Indian Rural Economy through Profitability,'  sums up the importance of shifting focus toward more traditional markets. At this conference the World Bank reiterated its commitment to allocate US $1 billion towards rural empowerment in India and was looking forward to entering  into partnerships with corporates in such initiatives. 

In light of the potential of ICTs to bring about change in the communities we live in it will be of enormous interest to organizations and individuals the world over to become a part of this gradual revolution.

I look forward to your corporation in furthering the cause of ICTs for development.

Sincerely,

Nomita Das


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Nomita Das
Email- nomitad@...
Weblog- http://i-quench.org/edevelopment/