Vodafone Foundation Invites Applications For M4GA Awards

Vodafone Foundation has announced the fourth edition of ‘Mobile for Good Awards 2014,’ a flagship initiative that recognizes and supports emerging talent and innovative mobile solutions from NGOs/NFPs that facilitate community empowerment and inclusive growth. Applicants from NGO/NFPs can submit their mobile application ideas at http://www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood. The application process will be open through the portal till August 31, 2014. The Mobile for Good Awards 2014 will select five best-practice NGOs / NFPs for providing mobile application solutions in five critical areas of Governance, Health, Education, Agriculture & Environment and Women Empowerment and Inclusive Development. Adding another milestone to the M4G Awards this year, the “Special Awards” category have been introduced that will recognize winning ideas or concepts using mobile solutions in the defined focus areas. Similar to the last three years, the M4G Awards 2014 will provide funding and mentorship to winning NGOs/NFPs. This year, the total funding grant has been increased to sixty lakh rupees; providing 5 winning NGOs/ NFPs access to crucial funding of 12 lakh rupees each, over one year, through the Main Category Awards. In addition, the Main Category Awardees will receive structured mentoring, monitoring and impact evaluation support from credible institutions, incubators, etc. to upscale and build greater capacity of their projects. Eligibility criteria for main awards are: The M4G Main Awards is open for all Indian registered NGOs and NFPs who have been registered on or before 30 June 2011. However, any NGO or NPF which is not registered in India but has a presence across three or more locations and can showcase work experience of not less than five years with tie-up with Indian registered NGOs and NFPs is eligible. In this case the NGO/ NFP which is not registered in India can participate in a consortium/ association with an Indian Registered NGO/ NFP. Also the fund grant will be released to the registered NGO/ NFP in India of the consortium/association. The project/initiative selected for participation shall be based on Mobile platform or shall leverage mobile-based technologies. The project/initiative selected for participation shall be in implementation-phase for a period of minimum one year. The NGO or NPF shall be capable of demonstrating the success, scalability and sustainability of their project (through documentations – success stories etc.) Speaking about the Mobile For Good Awards , Rohit Adya, Director, External Affairs, Vodafone India, said “Since last three years, The Mobile for Good Awards has demonstrated the power of innovative mobile solutions to drive social change and inclusive growth in our country. High tele-density in India provides a tremendous potential for leveraging mobile platform to address the informational and developmental needs of communities both in rural and urban areas. I personally appeal to each eligible individual in the country to participate in large numbers in the application process with refreshing ideas to usher in true Mobile for Good for the citizens.” Mobile for Good Awards is a special platform created to recognize the best talent available providing social innovation through mobile and wireless technologies.

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