The Stockholm challenge finalists have been announced. We here at MobileActive are content partners of the Stockholm Challenge, and are thus pleased to see that two of the nine finalist projects use mobile phones. The projects, selected from 119 entries, were "chosen by the jury as the best examples of in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development."
The eTUKTUK project, which was chosen as a finalist in the public administration project, is a mobile radio station and telecenter in Sri Lanka that aims to give rural and marginalized communities increased access to media and information. According to the website,
The eTUKTUK is a self-contained mobile telecentre and radio broadcasting unit housed within a three wheeled motorcycle. By taking access directly to the villages and presenting it to users in a familiar environment, trained intermediaries can help overcome the barriers of language and illiteracy and the benefits can be focused on the most disadvantaged in the community.
The project is reliant on Internet connectivity via a 14 kbps mobile phone connection.
The second project, Ekgaon ("one village" in Hindi), is a platform for providing remote rural information services for microfinance groups. CAM aims to connect small microloan self help groups, prevalent in India, with up-to-date information on microfinance transactions transmitted via mobile phones to empower rural women entrepreneurs.
The winners of the challenge will be announced during the Global Knowledge III conference held from December 10-13 in Kuala Lumpur. More about the award is available here.
Photo credit to etuktuk.
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