Dear colleague,

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-dev\
elopment/
* 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

WHAT I WANT FROM YOU

* 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-InformationPortalForTheDevelopmentSecto\
r
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.
BACKGROUND

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 cooperation in furthering the cause of ICTs for
development.

Sincerely,


Nomita Das


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