Mobile for Good Awards 2015 – Deadline extended to 15th August, 2015

This article is sponsored by NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum in partnership with Vodafone Foundation

Technology is playing a huge role in creating transformational impact across communities at a rapid rate. With almost 900 million (and rising) users of mobile phones in India, mobile technology can create change at the grassroots towards development and empowerment across the country.

With an aim to recognize innovative solutions for mobilising social change in India, the Vodafone Foundation launched the ‘Mobile for Good’ initiative in 2011. This year, to maximize social impact, the NASSCOM Foundation joined hands with the Vodafone Foundation to launch the Mobile for Good Awards 2015. There are several NGOs, Social Enterprises and Government departments across the country that are developing solutions to benefit their communities. Through the ‘Mobile for Good’ initiative, these solutions will have an opportunity to gain momentum and touch the lives of hundreds of people across the country. These initiatives will be able to receive the critical funding, mentorship and guidance to grow exponentially in the future.

Due to an overwhelming number of requests and the sheer number of applications received, the deadline has been extended to the 15^th of August, 2015. Through this extension, every eligible organisation has an opportunity to apply with their unique mobile solutions irrespective of geography or scale.

The M4G Awards 2015 has 2 categories- ‘Leading Change Maker – NPO Category’ and ‘Leading Change Maker – For profit category’ and invites applications across the 4 crucial areas of Health, Education, Women Empowerment & Inclusive Development and Agriculture. The NPO category will focus on recognizing all projects by NGOs and NFPs. The For Profit category will focus on initiatives by Social enterprises and individuals. This year, a special category has been introduced for Government led mobile solutions. The applications for all 3 categories would need to be submitted online with all the necessary details of the mobile solution and the organisation. The application is a carefully designed, 3 stage selection process with jury members consisting of some of the most reputed experts in NPO, Social Enterprises and the Government space. The finalists will be required to present their mobile solutions to the jury, following which the winners will be announced on 3^rd December at a grand event.

There will be 5 winners selected from the NGO category, each of whom will receive critical seed funding of 1.2 million each. They will also receive structured mentorship, monitoring and impact evaluation from partner institutions to build scale and capacity over a period of one year. The 5 winners from the For Profit category will receive special recognition and an opportunity to showcase their innovation at the newly launched ‘Social Apps Marketplace’ in December. There will be one winner in the Government solution category who will receive a recognition certificate on a national platform.

If you have a mobile solution impacting our community and building sustainable solutions, apply for the M4G 2015 Awards and stand to win funding/mentorship and national recognition.

To apply for the M4G Awards 2015 and for additional information, visit www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood. For more information, write to [email protected].