Press Releases

Solution Exchange’s ICT for Development Community Holds its Visioning Workshop 

Auroville, Tamil Nadu, 6 December 2007: Eighty ICT for Development practitioners from across India, representing their 1,300-strong “Community of Practice”, will be gathering at Auroville, Tamil Nadu, on 6 and 7 December for their first “Visioning Workshop” under Solution Exchange, the knowledge-sharing service of the United Nations Agencies in India.   

The group, which has been working through e-mail over the past year, will convene for a two-day meeting to share knowledge and experience in a face-to-face environment, and to identify strategic opportunities to take the ICTD agenda forward. Members come from a wide spectrum of organizations, from policy makers to grass-root field workers and include specialists working for national, state and local governments, NGOs, donors and UN agencies, academic and research institutes, and the private sector. 

Over the past year, the ICTD Community has interacted via email on a diverse range of issues, such as Community Radio, ICT for Print Disabled, ICT in Education, e governance, Local Content Creation, Community Multimedia Centres, Community Service Centres, Free and Open Source Software, Agriculture and Disaster Management among others. The interaction has brought significant benefits to its members, providing them with a wide range of experience, knowledge and insights on issues they face on a day-to-day basis, and enabling them to proceed with confidence that they are not reinventing the wheel. 

This Visioning Workshop will give the Community the chance to take these issues further, working in collaboration to produce action plans and strategies on a few select strategic priorities. It will also promote networking and “community-building”, strengthening professional ties and learning about the key issues in ICTD for India. 

The Visioning Workshop is being carried live on internet radio by Auroville Radio (www.aurovilleradio.org), and can be found on the following links: 

http://62.75.222.90:8000/ictd_aurovilleradio.m3u
http://radio.dyne.org:8000/ictd_aurovilleradio.m3u 

The ICT for Development Community is one of eleven Communities set up by the United Nations agencies in India under its “Solution Exchange” service, connecting the nation’s development practitioners, promoting collaboration and improving their effectiveness. UNESCO and UNDP facilitate the Community. 

For more information, contact Gitanjali Sah- Research Associate, ICTD Community email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it