"With the Award"
Rev. Pattiyawela Mahinda Thera and Dr. Gamini Batuwitage
-
Project Director-Gemidiriya
Gemidiriya
secured the Manthan Award South Asia - 2008 for "the
best e-content for development" in the e-enterprise
and livelihood domain. The ITShed commercial web portal
of Gemidiriya has been recognised as the best e-solution
in South Asia that links the rural communities with
markets.
ITShed is helping communities by bridging the information gap that isolates the rural poor in Sri Lanka. The demand for ICT training is currently greater than the supply, and there is a great potential for expanding the IT shed and the content provided through it, the appreciation letter signed by the chairman of the World Summit Award Peter A.Bruck and the chairman of the Manthan Award Osama Manzar said.
The Award
Gemidiriya works closely with village youth and provides skills training in computer and other ICT tools. Already Gemidiriya has established over 160 IT and communication centers providing total ICT services for in villages.
The Manthan Award is a tribute to rural communities in 1036 Gemediriya villages for their commitment in developing their villages. Gemidiriya project was implemented to help in achieving Mahinda Chintana policies, which clearly recognised the regional imbalance in economic growth and income distribution and to address the reasons for the rural economy to lag behind. In Gemidiriya we launched a novel approach giving decision-making power to the communities. Always we use IT as a tool at village level in the project and therefore usage of IT applications and e-literacy is higher among Gemidiriya communities.
The award ceremony was held in New Delhi recently and
264 nominations were presented for the competition.
Sri Lanka presented 18 projects for the competition
while India presented 225 projects.
With the Chairman
Mr. Peter Bruck - World Summit Award
