success stories

15.08.2003 Nearly 5,500 adult residents in rural slum areas around India's major cities have become literate as a result of a new literacy programme organised by the Tata Consultancy Services. Used computers are being utilised in this programme, which focuses on developing reading skills among its beneficiaries.

28.07.2003 The Gender and Science Digital Library, an online collection of "gender-fair resources" in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), aims to help students who don't traditionally go into STEM-based careers fully explore how their personal talents and interests might be tapped.

08.07.2003 The Indira Soochna Shakti (ISS) project launched by the Indian state, Chhattisgarh, continues to impart IT training and education to more than two lakh high school girls in a cost effective way.

22.06.2003 Establishing Internet kiosks in villages across 18 Indian states has proved to be an innovative way of enabling the buying of agricultural produce directly from the farmers. Started in June 2000, with prominent local farmers familiar with computers manning each kiosk, the project now spans 6,000 villages with 1,200 such kiosks, or e-choupals.

09.06.2003 Over 200 rural villages in India's Maharashtra state have formed a wireless Internet cooperative, establishing 50 wi-fi "hotspots" in their communities. The co-op has managed to raise more than USD$400,000 (RS20 million) to expand the reach of wireless Internet locally.

04.06.2003 The Global Trade and Investment Management network, a collaborative effort led by the US Embassy in Nigeria and several private-sector partners, is a Web-based service designed to "convert an aspiring entrepreneur into a global business person, whether doing business across the street or across the ocean."