Microsoft announces Rs 6 cr grants for 4 NGOs

Bangalore, Feb 8: Under its Unlimited Potential Program (Project Jyoti in India) Microsoft India today announced an additional funding of Rs 6 crores to four of its partner NGOs.

The Unlimited Potential, launched in India in 2004, is aimed at enabling IT access to underserved communities in rural and semi-urban India. The grant beneficiaries include Aga Khan Foundation (India), Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and Udayan Care. With this announcement the total grants given by Microsoft under Project Jyoti in India stand at Rs 35 crores training over 220,000 individuals by 2010 across 17 states and Union Territories in India.

Project Jyoti involves a joint commitment by Microsoft and its NGO partners to deliver effective interventions for taking Information Technology to women and underserved communities in rural and semi-urban India. The pivot of the program is a networked Community Technology Learning Centre (CTLC) which is a free or low cost, friendly place (in a community center, school, housing facility or other convenient public location) where people of all ages and abilities can come to learn about computers, use the internet, explore new careers, further their education, participate in community activities or develop technology skills.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director and Worldwide Head, Community affairs, Microsoft Corporation said, "Information Technology is a great enabler for individuals to explore new opportunities and improve their lives. This is particularly true for marginalized communities which risk being left behind in the development process. Microsoft's Unlimited Potential program seeks to help these communities bridge the divide. Since its launch, the program has invested in close to 100 countries across the globe. We are very excited about the impact of our program in India and are committed to its long term benefit in the country."

Commending Microsoft on its initiative Mr M M Nambiar, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India said, "IT capacity building is a key component inclusive growth. In this context, it is heartening to note the active participation of companies like Microsoft for imparting IT skills training to disadvantaged sections of the population under its Unlimited Potential Program".

Elaborating on the association with Microsoft, Prof M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, said "The Microsoft Unlimited Potential Grants will help to make many blossoms in the dust flower and bear fruits. This is the most important programme for human resource development in rural India."

Microsoft is making a cumulative grant of Rs. 2.88 crores to the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, which will mobilize this corpus to add 30 new CTLCs to the existing network of centers to take the total to 62 CTLCs across Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Maharashtra and Kerala. Customized livelihood modules - pertaining to micro enterprise activities like pickle making, mushroom cultivation, rabbit farming, etc. - will be developed by involving local experts from the community and networking with partner organizations. Similarly, five disaster preparedness modules will be developed. The project will train 13,000 rural community members in IT skills over three years. It will further provide livelihood, education, health and other useful content to indirectly benefit 70,000 persons through the CTLCs over this period.

Speaking on the grant to the Aga Khan Foundation Mr Nicholas McKinlay, Chief Executive Officer, Aga Khan Foundation (India) said, "This partnership between the Aga Khan Development Network and Microsoft will bring essential IT skills and know-how to rural communities and thereby help them to connect with the rapid advancement of technology and the associated social and economic benefits."

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), India, recipient of Rs 1.46 crore grant from Microsoft, will utilize this fund for setting up 13 CTLCs covering over 250 villages in five drought-prone and tribal districts of Gujarat and one district of Madhya Pradesh in partnership with existing farmers' federations and women's self help groups (SHGs). Through this project the aim is to provide IT skills training to 18,000 underserved people directly and additionally bring benefits to another 130,000 farmers, unemployed youth, women, and members of federations and SHGs over three years.

Mr. Chetan Sharma, Founder Trustee, Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust, the NGO partner for Microsoft's Project Jyoti said, "Microsoft's visionary support to Datamation Foundation's Community Technology Learning Centres will enable upscaling of efforts to make the women and girls of Central Uttar Pradesh self reliant, confident and empowered. The project will go a long way in delivering quality ICT and livelihood skills to the socially and economically disadvantaged."

With Microsoft making grants worth Rs. 1.26 crores to Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust, the NGO will increase the number of CTLCs in Uttar Pradesh to a total of 30 and continue the focus on providing IT skills for underserved women by training 21,000 of them and indirectly benefiting 84,000 people from the larger underserved community through information access and IT-enabled vocational training over a period of 3 years. Placement services will be established to help UP trainees find employment and ICT-enabled livelihood training modules will be deployed to support income generation.

Elaborating on the association with Microsoft Dr Kiran Modi, Managing Trustee, Udayan Care said, "In this age of information boom and market economy, the underserved communities can harness their potential and improve their lot only by gaining access to IT skills. The Unlimited Potential Program is one such offering from Microsoft to join hands with NGOs, help them set up computer centres and thus serve the underserved people from the lower socio economic communities. Udayan Care is proud of this association."

With Microsoft making grants worth Rs. 20.75 lakhs, Udayan Care - which works towards improving the quality of life of the disadvantaged, especially women and children - will set up one new CTLC in the Delhi region to train 500 underserved persons in IT skills and indirectly benefit another 200 over the next year. Since February 2006, with the help of an UP grant, Udayan Care has already set up four CTLCs in slum areas in and around Delhi. The focus of the initiative will continue to be on women drawn from poor urban communities, and the trainees will be linked to the job market through placement services to help improve their economic condition.

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