Youth are creators and consumers of technologies ranging from mobile telephones to e-Mail, to instant messaging, radio and television. As both business and social entrepreneurs, youth are creatively using technology to address community needs. ICT could help lay the foundation for future universal participation and help by doing so to eradicate existing disparities particularly those between youth of developed countries and youth of developing countries.

The Youth and ICT Awards recognised eight young social entrepreneurs from different regions of the world who have transformed social development opportunities into a sustainable social enterprise through innovative use of ICTs. The awards highlight successful young social entrepreneurs who can envision social enterprise through innovative use of ICTs.

Social entrepreneurs are individuals who identify a social problem and apply the entrepreneurial spirit, business insight, leadership and non-profit principles to solve the problem. Eligible applicants for the award were the youth between the ages of 17 and 30 years old, from a developing country or a country in transition, who demonstrate social impact, innovation, sustainability and commitment and passion in their social enterprise while using ICTs as a means for achieving their enterprise’s social objective.

The Youth and ICT Awards 2005 are presented by the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), in collaboration with Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, MITRA Technology Foundation (MITRA), TakingITGlobal (TIG), Thai Rural Net (TRN) and Young Asia Television (YATV). 

Awardees
Nominations for the award were received from all around the world. Initially, there were plans to recognize six awardees. But later the number of awardees were increased to maintain a gender balance and to increase the regional diversity.

The list of winners of the Youth and ICT awards 2005 are as follows:

• Wu Yang (China)
• Raj Ridvan Singh (Malaysia)
• Mark Okowa (Kenya)
• Salah Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh)
• Jean-Paul Bauer (South Africa)
• Audrey Codera (Philippines)
• Rana Gulzar (Pakistan)
• Nileshni Sekar (Fiji)

Each of the six successful candidates will receive a number of important prizes that will not only allow them to network with other youth, but to also move their initiative further in their local community.

The winners will receive:

• A US$500 cash prize
• Travel and accommodation to Tunisia for Phase 2 of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, Tunisia
• Access to an exclusive one-day capacity building workshop prior to WSIS
• The opportunity to showcase their social enterprise on a panel at the WSIS to policy makers, private sector and civil society groups during WSIS
• Media exposure through a profile in i4d Magazine and a feature on YATV.

In terms of geographic spread, there are awardees from East Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa and Oceania. Among the eight winners, there are two women – Audrey Codera from Philippines and Nileshni Sekar from Fiji. Most of the judges are also social entrepreneur themselves. Applications for the awards opened on July 22, 2005.

Each of the winners has shown considerable effort and success in their respective field and has already curved a place of their own. They are using ICTs for diverse developmental causes like education, environmental conservation, youth empowerment, income generation, poverty alleviation, fighting HIV/AIDS, etc.

A Panel discussion has been arranged on ‘Young Social Entrepreneurs and The Use Of ICTs’ on 17 November 2005 at Kairouan Room in the premise of WSIS event at Tunisia. In this panel, the winners will share stories about their enterprise and discuss the role of ICT in fostering innovation and collaboration. They will share challenges, insights and best practices as well as engage in a dialogue about social development opportunities. The opening remarks will be delivered by Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director, Community Affairs World Wide of Microsoft. Jennifer Correiro of TakingITGlobal and Rhul Nainwal of iVolunteer will moderate the event. The closing remark will be delivered by Sunit Shrestha, Director amd Co-founder of Thai Rural Net.

Youth and ICT Awards provide an opportunity to attract dynamic young people and organisations/projects from diverse regions. There is plan to increase the geographical spread of the award in future.

Sejuti Sarkar De, sejuti@csdms.in
Source: http://www.globalknowledge.org/youthawards/