The Global Knowledge Partnership Collaborative Awards provides international recognition to successful and innovative ICT for Development (ICT4D) initiatives from around the world. The awards spur the champions of the initiatives to continue to strive for excellence on the ground in using ICT while inspiring others to follow in endeavours to address community needs in a locally relevant way.

The Awards serve as a mechanism for gathering success stories from around the world on ICT4D initiatives, as GKP recognises that there are substantial benefits to be gained from sharing the lessons learned from the stories. The stories gathered via the Awards are snapshots of the learning process that accompanies the introduction and implementation of ICT in a community development project. A database of such best practices act as an invaluable resource to organisations and individuals who face similar issues in their development projects.

Through the Awards, GKP supports the increase of availability of information and knowledge on ICT4D, particularly on local knowledge, creativity and support resources.

The Awards series in 2003 and 2005 featured innovative initiatives in a number ICT4D areas.

The Awards series in 2007 were implemented with a number of partners and were presented at our GK3, An Event On The Future, in December 2007.


Background

The GKP Collaborative Awards were first presented at the Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Platform, a key parallel event held in conjunction with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS 2003) in Geneva. GKP also introduced a book, ICT for Development Success Stories, part of its Knowledge For Development Series, at the ICT4D Platform.

Past awards series cover 5 key ICT4D areas, which are:

• Gender & ICT

The Gender & ICT Awards recognise ICT initiative which promote economic empowerment of women.

• Media

The Media Awards recognise thoughtful and incisive reporting on the Information Society through analyses of social and political impacts and policy implications.

• ICT for Poverty Reduction

The ICT for Poverty Reduction Awards recognise initiatives and innovation which demonstrate the potential and impact of ICT on poverty reduction.

• Youth & ICT

The Youth & ICT Awards recognise outstanding young social entrepreneurs who have transformed social development opportunities into a sustainable social enterprise through innovative use of ICT.

• Local Content

The Local Content Award recognises projects and experiences which demonstrate the transformative nature of local content, and the methodologies that are used to achieve this in various contexts.