– 6th edition of Mobile for Good Awards announces grants worth INR 9 million plus mentorship to winning NGOs/NFPs
– Applications for the awards are open till September 15, 2016
– Awards recognize innovative solutions for mobilizing social change in India
– Partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, through NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum, Maximizes reach and makes the selection process more robust
New Delhi, July 26, 2016: Vodafone Foundation today, launched the sixth edition of their flagship initiative ‘Mobile for Good Awards 2016’, in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, through the NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum. The Awards recognise and support emerging and innovative mobile solutions from NGOs and ‘For profit’ enterprises and government departments that facilitate community empowerment and can have a transformational impact on the society at large facilitating inclusive growth.
The launch event, held in the national capital, was graced by the presence of Chief Guest Mr Sunil Sharma, Joint Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. He talked about how large social change can be brought about using the smallest of the mobile devices. Also present on the occasion were ‘Mobile for Good Awards’ winners from previous years showcasing how their mobile driven solutions were able to create a sustainable impact across communities.
Speaking about the Mobile for Good Awards, P Balaji, Director- Regulatory & External Affairs & CSR, Vodafone India, said, “Over the years Mobile for Good Awards has evolved as a platform to recognise social innovations through mobile and wireless technologies that have created impact in the critical areas of health, education, governance and agriculture. The Awards have supported emerging new talent in developing ideas that are helping make the Digital India dream come true. Vodafone Foundation is proud to announce the 6th edition of The Mobile for Good Awards in association with NASSCOM Foundation. Last year the Mobile for Good Awards received 245 nominations. I am confident this year too we will discover many more inspiring stories of how mobile technology is transforming communities across India.”
This year, 11 winning innovations will be recognised across two categories – ‘Leading Change Maker – NPO’ and ‘Leading Change Maker – For Profit’. Innovative mobile driven solutions in four critical areas of Health, Education, Agriculture & Environment and Women Empowerment & Inclusive Development will be selected from both the categories. Apart from this, there will be separate category for innovative mobile solutions by government departments.
Vodafone Foundation will provide a total grant of INR 9 million to the winning Non-profits in addition to structured mentoring, monitoring and impact evaluation support from partner institutions, supporting them achieve larger impact. All winning projects will also be featured in the ‘Social App Hub’, a unique platform for social apps curated by Vodafone. The Social App Hub is a platform which brings together mobile solutions for social impact to further strengthen delivery of mobile technology.
Applicants from NGOs Social Enterprises and government organisations can submit their entries on the portal www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood until 15th September 2016.
This is the second year when NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum (NSIF) will power the Mobile for Good Awards. NSIF is NASSCOM Foundation’s program that has been honouring, mentoring and providing catalytic grants to social innovations across technology platforms, since the last 8 years.
Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, said, “Mobile telephony is the most exciting field to be in where a new disruptive innovation is changing the world around us every single day. With now over 1 billion mobile connections spread across India, mobile phones are being looked at as the largest platform for social development. We are glad to collaborate with Vodafone Foundation for searching the right fit mobile solutions to India’s social issues and providing them with both grants and mentorship to scale their innovations and bring about a possible country wide change.”
For more information about the Awards, to apply and read about the past winners and their successful applications, please visit www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood
The last date for submitting the entries is 15th September 2016.
All the entries will be carefully filtered through a two round Jury process consisting of a great mix of industry leaders, entrepreneurs, social investors, journalists and will be judged upon various parameters of originality, perceivable social impact, feasibility, scalability etc. Following this, the final 11 winners will be chosen and awarded at a Gala event in November 2016 in New Delhi.
About Mobile for Good Awards
The Mobile for Good Awards aim to recognise, promote and support mobile innovations for driving social change in India. Since 2011, we have recognised 36 diverse NGOs & social enterprises in India. Winning NGOs receive critical funding & mentorship. The Awards are back for the fifth consecutive year in 2015. The M4G 2016 Awards will recognise 11 winning mobile solutions in 2 categories that are addressing issues in education, women empowerment & inclusive development, agriculture & environment, health, government solutions.
The Mobile for Good Awards 2016 initiative is led by the Vodafone Foundation; powered by NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum as Implementation Partners; Grant Thornton India LLP as Knowledge Partners and NextGen as Mentorship Partners.
About Vodafone Foundation
The Vodafone Foundation in India recognises the power of mobile technology to address some of India’s most pressing challenges relating to education, health, equality and access. We are committed to enable people and technology to drive innovation, disseminate knowledge, and create shared value to improve lives.
By leveraging our mobile technology in the four areas of m-women, m-education, m-health and m-agriculture, we work in partnership with key charities, development agencies and the community to drive social change on a large scale in India. As part of our social investment programme, the Vodafone Foundation in India also focusses on disaster relief and implements the World of Difference programme, an unique employee engagement.
In countries in which Vodafone operates, a unique footprint of 27 Vodafone Foundations operate to deliver our social investment programme. These programmes are directed and chosen by the Foundation Trustees and receive funding from the Vodafone Foundation in the UK as well as their local Vodafone company.
About NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum
In line with NASSCOM Foundation’s vision of enhancing lives through technology, the NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum (NSIF) identifies, Awards, showcases and supports innovative initiatives that have used Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for positive social impact. NSIF provides ecosystem support to social innovators, to aid and enhance the development and reach of technology based solutions. With an aim to address the key gaps in inclusive development, NSIF focuses promoting solutions on education, skills development, health, financial inclusion, disaster management and Assistive Technologies (for Persons with Disabilities). Through this platform, NSIF, aspires to build a systematic commitment to social innovations and inspire change-makers in Corporates and Not-For Profits to leverage technology to deepen social impact. For more Information, please visit, https://nasscomfoundation.org/get-engaged/nasscom-social-innovation-forum.html
Grant Thornton India LLP
Grant Thornton India LLP is a member firm within Grant Thornton International Ltd which is one of the world’s leading organisations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms which presence in+130 countries, having +700 offices and with +38,500 consultants/ employees.
Grant Thornton India LLP with its presence in 11 major cities in India (Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune), is a leading firmproviding assurance, tax and advisory services to privately owned, not for profit organisations, public listed and public sector clients and help them find solutions to their business. Within the Advisory practice, Grant Thornton India LLP has a dynamic team of professionals dedicated to Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Climate Change & Energy, Quality, Environment Heath, Safety, Social, CSR & Energy, Sustainability & Social Responsibility, Third Party Audit and Assurance Services) perspective of businesses and compliance thereof.
NextGen
NextGen, previously incubated at NSRCEL, IIM-Bangalore and TBI, BITS-Pilani is one of India’s fastest growing cleantech companies. NextGen operates in 6 countries with Fortune 500 clients across 16 different sectors. NextGen’s passionate team from the best universities across the globe delivers innovative and best in class solutions across sectors and geographies. The genesis of NextGen was from a research paper developed at BITS-Pilani when the Founders were students then. NextGen evolved into two broad domains of Sustainability Management and Waste to Energy.