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Global Knowledge Partnership Youth Awards - Geneva
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Eleven youth projects win ‘Cyber Oscars'. Cambodian initiative bags top award. Ten other projects honoured. Geneva, Switzerland: 9 December 2003
A project to connect disadvantaged Cambodian youth to the global market place through information and communications technologies (ICTs) has won the top award in this year's Cyber Oscars for youth projects.
The award winner, Digital Divide Data (DDD), is a Cambodian-US company whose operations are entirely based on ICTs. It provides data entry services to companies and institutions in the US. Inputs received as digital images are processed according to client specifications and sent back by DDD's staff – all of whom are under 25, and are orphans, physically disabled or trafficked women.
Since it was launched in Phnom Penh two years ago, DDD has benefited over 80 Cambodian youth, and runs as a self-sustaining enterprise. It has earned more than US$ 140,000 in revenue.
DDD will be presented with the GKP Youth Award at a gala awards ceremony in Geneva on December 11 during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Ten other finalists will also be recognised.
The winner receives US$ 10,000 and a trophy – now dubbed the ‘Cyber Oscar'. They have all been sponsored to attend the Summit related events in Geneva.
Heads of state as well as industry and civil society leaders will be among those who present awards in four categories – gender, youth, poverty reduction and media. The awards ceremony is a key highlight of a series of activities and events organised by GKP during the Summit.
The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) - a worldwide network of governments, donor agencies, private sector companies, NGOs and international institutions committed to harnessing the potentials of ICTs for development – has collaborated with the Youth Creating Digital Opportunities (YCDO) to select the winners from a worldwide selection process. YCDO itself is a coalition of organisations spearheaded by the GKP, Taking IT Global (TIG), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Digital Youth Consortium.
“If ever there was an area where young people are leaders not just of tomorrow, but also of today, it is undoubtedly in ICT,” says Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director of GKP. “Young people are at the forefront of transforming their societies using ICT tools. Yet too often youth projects lack mainstream recognition, opportunities to participate in decision making, and a sense of peer community to learn from. This is the gap that the GKP Youth Award seeks to fill.”
The international jury that selected winners was pleased with the high quality of applications to the inaugural award. “It was particularly interesting for them to see how many young people are developing hybrid institutions blending the management and funding strengths of small-scale, for-profit enterprises with non-profit goals and outreach abilities,” says Terri Willard of YCDO.
Many projects nominated involved setting up social enterprises that are flexible in their ability to create partnerships in support of social change and sustainable economic development. Others provided vibrant new models of education, and powerful examples of technology being used to promote human rights.
A total of 148 projects from around the world were submitted, covering themes ranging from culture and education to media, human rights and peace building.
The following are the eleven finalists who will all be recognised during the awards ceremony.
Category: Employment and Entrepreneurship
Orphan IT, Philippines: Provides a range of IT services nationally and internationally by training disadvantaged youth in web design, business process outsourcing, data processing and online marketing. http://www.OrphanIT.com
Category: Children's Rights
* Independent Children Media Centre “Children's Voice”, Ukraine: This is an independent media centre run by young persons aged from 10 to 18 years. They use radio, TV, Internet and newspapers to comment on national issues through the Independent Children Media Centre “Children's Voice”.
* Integrated education and capacity-building for girls and children, Nepal: This project, run by Nepal Institute of Foreign Affairs and Maiti Nepal, an NGO, trains young women in various IT skills. The project combats trafficking in women by improving literacy and marketable skills of young women.
Category: Education
* Engineers Without Borders Scala Project: IT Centres in the Philippines. Working through 19 IT centres, this Canadian youth driven project trains disadvantaged Filipino youth in IT skills. http://scala.ewb.ca/
Category: Human Rights and Peace-Building
* Rwanda Youth Rehabilitation Initiative: This project was created by young Kenyan IT professionals to assist Rwandan youth left homeless, orphaned or otherwise affected by the 1994 genocide. Basic IT skills are provided to youth.
Category: Rural Development
* Suba Youth Training Programme (“The Bridge”), Kenya: This after-school programme trains youth from low income background in IT skills.
Category: Health
* The Impact of HIV/AIDS in Katutura, Namibia: This project by non-profit Internet Service Provider SchoolNet Namibia, created the country's first website on HIV/AIDS with the active participation of school children.
Category: Environment
* ENO-Environment Online, Finland: This is a global web-school for environmental awareness. This online school connects 130 ENO classes in 52 countries involving 3,500 young people and 300 teachers.
Category: Culture
* Living Heritage, New Zealand: This programme brings together schools, students and ICT together to create a permanent, accessible digital record of New Zealand's heritage. Students create web pages about cultural treasures they find in their neighbourhoods.
Cateogry: Media
* MatMice, Australia: This project helps children everywhere to create free Homepages. Todate, over 350,000 children in 150 countries have participated. It makes the web accessible and friendly, and allows them to express themselves.
The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP)
The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is a worldwide network committed to harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable and equitable development. GKP's vision is a world of equal opportunities where all people can access and use knowledge and information to improve their lives. The network enables the sharing of information, experiences and resources to help reduce poverty and empower people.
Within the GKP framework, governments, civil society groups, donor agencies, private sector companies and inter-governmental organisations have come together for the first time as equals to apply ICTs for development -- now abbreviated as ICT4D. Such alliances are known as ‘multi-stakeholder partnerships', a relatively new approach to forging collaborations among different sectors sharing a common vision and goal. www.globalknowledge.org
Youth Creating Digital Opportunities (YCDO) Coalition was formally established in February 2003. Membership in the YCDO Coalition is voluntary and free for all organizations which have committed to achieving its vision and mission and agreed to its principles of collaboration. Its vision is realizing the potential of young people as leaders in using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to achieve more sustainable development in their communities and around the world. Membership in the YCDO Coalition is voluntary and free for all organisations which have committed to achieving its vision and mission and agreed to its principles of collaboration.
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