Ekgaon Wins Nasscom Social Innovation Honours 2010
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ekgaon wins NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2010
ekgaon technologies, the New Delhi based firm developing information technology innovations and services for rural areas, has won the NASSCOM Social Innovation Honor 2010.
NASSCOM Foundation established the Social Innovation Honors to recognize excellence and encourage innovation in social development initiatives. NASSCOM Foundation and Genpact jointly presented the Social Innovation Honors for 2010 to showcase projects that demonstrate the use information communication technology (ICT) as a tool for social transformation. This award is a celebration of innovations that bring about social change and development through the application or use of technology.
ekgaon received the award for the ground breaking e-governance project entitled "MERComs – Tracking Entitlements of Rural Communities for Rural Livelihood Security in Odisha." ekgaon was the technology partner for the project that included Concern Worldwide, an Irish non-government development agency and Women’s Organization for Socio Cultural Awareness (WOSCA), a non-profit working with various government departments to ensure social welfare program delivery for the poor in Odisha.
The award ceremony was held on February 9, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai. Mr. Ashok Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, presented the award at the NASSCOM Leadership Summit, which was attended by the top managers of global IT companies. The Grand Jury panel for the IT award included Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Founder-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited, Mr. T.N. Ninan, Chairman and Editorial Director of Business Standard Ltd, Ms. Rama Bijapurkar, BoG IIM, Ahmedabad, Mr. Jerry Rao, Founder, Chairman and CEO of MphasiS Corporation and Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Cofounder and former Chairman of NASSCOM and Chairman of the Indian Venture Capital Association.
Regular audits and studies have identified that there is a need for greater transparency at all levels of service delivery to ensure entitlements reach the intended recipients. Citizens need information about how the government has delivered the services in order to strengthen their bargaining position when asking for reforms. Monitoring Entitlements for Rural Communities (MERComs) is a mobile tool for tracking entitlement delivery for all citizens.
Concern Worldwide and WOSCA partnered with ekgaon technologies to design and implement the MERComs system in Ghatagaon and Banspal blocks of Keonjhar District in Odisha. These areas are home to large tribal populations of whom 80% live below the poverty line.
MERComs is a social audit platform that can be localized in English, Hindi and Odiya for NGOs and volunteers to monitor rural entitlements. MERComs framework developed by ekgaon allows central tracking of rural entitlement disbursement through a decentralized field monitoring units and partners using a mobile phone application. The system captures transaction data that serve as evidence for the delivery made to all the persons being covered or are eligible to be covered under the NREGA, Public Distribution System (PDS) and various Pension schemes such as the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana.
The system can generate a wide range of reports that are shared with various levels of government to advocate for anti corruption drives and promote reform. The results of collecting information on entitlements empower people to push for corrective measures and become advocates for their own reform.
Receiving the award, Mr. Rohit Magotra, Chief Operating Officer of ekgaon said “the technology has created not only transparency in tracking social entitlements but we have also proved that effective mechanism for delivery of services through mobile phones. We are looking forward to scale the solution throughout the country and provide the solution through leading mobile phone service providers”.
Please visit our website for more award details: http://ekgaon.com/award2/