Previous Awards

2005

eChoupal

eChoupal, a program of ITC Ltd., of India, has been chosen from a group of 135 nominees as the winner of the Development Gateway Award 2005. The $100,000 award recognizes eChoupal’s impact in enabling millions of farmers in India to improve their livelihoods with access to information on growing and marketing their products.

The award was presented September 16th at the Development Gateway Forum 2005 in Beijing, where ITC Chairman Y. C. Deveshwar also described eChoupal’s addition of health services to its network of Internet kiosks six months ago and announced the launch of a new educational services pilot in the coming months.

"By delivering essential healthcare and educational information, we can extend the benefits of eChoupal more deeply into the fabric of communities across India," Mr. Deveshwar said. "And by recognizing programs like ours, the Development Gateway Foundation is spurring on the use of information technologies in communities worldwide, to build grassroots capacities and enhance the quality of life."

Since June 2000, over 5,200 eChoupal Internet kiosks have been established to serve 3.5 million farmers in 31,000 villages. At the kiosks, farmers learn management techniques, order fertilizer and other supplies less expensively, check market prices and sell products online, with resulting increases in earnings of up to 20%.

The Development Gateway Award 2005 was sponsored by T-Systems, of Germany.

2004

Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus

Grameen Bank-Village Phone has been chosen from a field of more than 200 nominees for the Development Gateway Foundation’s first ever Petersburg Prize (now called the Development Gateway Award).

Grameen Bank, which provides microcredit to underprivileged people, established a program called Village Phone, through which women entrepreneurs can start a business providing wireless payphone service in rural areas of Bangladesh. In doing so, Grameen has created a new class of women entrepreneurs who have raised themselves from poverty. Moreover, it has improved the livelihoods of farmers and others who are provided access to critical market information and lifeline communications previously unattainable in some 28,000 villages in Bangladesh.

In selecting the winner, an independent panel of jurors focused on the scale of Village Phone’s impact. Tens of millions stand to benefit from Village Phone. “I hope from now on the world will pay more attention to the power of information technology in ending global poverty,” said Grameen Bank Founder and Director Muhammad Yunus.

The prize was awarded on the eve of the Development Gateway Forum 2004. Prize sponsors were Deutsche Telekom AG and Microsoft.