Thank you for your interest in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Access to Learning Award. This award recognizes the innovative efforts of libraries or similar organizations outside the United States to connect people to information through free access to computers and the Internet. The recipient of the Access to Learning Award will receive US$1 million.
Applications must be submitted by 31 December 2007.
Please read this important information about eligibility and selection before completing the application.
APPLICATION OVERVIEW
What is the philosophy behind the award?
Computers and the Internet are powerful tools that provide opportunities for people to improve their social and economic well being. They can help individuals, regardless of age, race, income or geography, to pursue education and employment, access government services, learn about valuable health information, conduct business online, and exchange information and ideas.
The foundation’s Global Libraries initiative is dedicated to opening a world of knowledge, information, and communication by partnering with public libraries provide free computers connected to the Internet. Access to Learning Award recipients are helping people in some of the world’s most remote and poverty-stricken areas – countries like Bangladesh and South Africa – live healthier, more productive lives. The Access to Learning Award is aimed at encouraging new, innovative ways to provide these services to people most in need, and will promote development of new ways to increase public access to information technology around the world.
What kinds of institutions may apply?
We invite public libraries or similar organizations outside the United States to apply, if they provide free public access to information through the use of computers and the Internet. The foundation particularly encourages applications from institutions in developing countries or those working with disadvantaged communities. We will give preference to organizations that reach out to socially excluded groups, such as poor or disabled patrons, or those from minority communities.
How is "free public access" defined?
A library or similar organization offers “free public access” to computers and the Internet if it allows all members of the public--without exception--to use these tools and its facilities free of charge. Organizations must show how they make technology services available to the public in a community space without charging any membership or access fees, and must detail the types of technology training they offer to the public and their staff. Organizations that restrict services or charge fees on the basis of membership, age, geography, income, institutional enrollment, or other such characteristics are not eligible.
What is considered innovative?
A program is considered to be innovative if it provides access to information through technology and services that were previously not available to the community. Programs of any size or scope are considered. We will specifically look for ground-breaking Internet connectivity, training, and sustainability models and programs that creatively reach underserved communities.
How will the foundation determine whether an organization is effective at providing free access to computers and the Internet?
A program is considered to be an effective provider of free technology services when it offers tools, training and guidance that directly impact and benefit individuals and their communities. Examples of this can include helping farmers to use technology to learn about crop prices and improved practices, teaching job seekers how to increase their technology skills and find employment over the Internet, and showing students how to use Web-based resources in their coursework. In addition to providing anecdotal evidence of these types of successes, the foundation encourages applicants to demonstrate measured impacts on individuals through quantitative data if possible.
Is this award intended to fund a proposed project or activity?
No. The Access to Learning Award is a one-time recognition, or prize, for organizations which have created programs that are currently committed to providing free access to computers and the Internet for the public. This is not a grant application for future projects.
Are there any restrictions as to how the award funds are spent?
Yes. The award funds must be spent exclusively in furtherance of the charitable, educational, scientific or literary purposes of the recipient organization. In addition, no portion of the award funds may be used to support efforts to influence legislation or participate in campaign activity for or against political candidates. The award recipient must agree to these restrictions on the use of the foundation's funds in order to accept the award.
Can institutions that applied previously apply again this year?
Yes, eligible libraries or similar organizations are invited to apply again. Previous award recipients may not reapply.
PROCESS FOR SELECTION
An award administrator receives and acknowledges each ATLA submission, screening all applications for eligibility. Next, an international advisory committee made up of librarians, information technology experts, and foundation staff evaluates applications based on candidates’ innovative efforts to:
1make computers and Internet access free to the public;
2train the public in using technology and accessing information;
3educate staff on technology use; and
4reach out to underserved communities.
The committee then selects a list of final candidates for consideration by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Based upon an independent financial and organizational review of those finalists, the foundation selects the final recipient.
Timeline:
An award administrator will inform all ATLA applicants of their status by July 2008.
The 2008 ATLA recipient will be publicly announced in August 2008.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
1)Use this electronic document for the submission of your application. It has been designed so that you may type answers directly into the appropriate fields. (Note that form fields will increase in size as needed to accommodate your responses.)
2)Please follow these additional guidelines when submitting your proposal:
1Applications must be written in English.
2Each page should include a footer with a page number and the name of your organization.
3Applications must be submitted via email attachment only to: .
4All applications must include a signature. Please attach a scanned copy of the signature page with your submission.
5Attachments sent in addition to the application will not be taken into consideration in the selection process.
6)
7)Applications must be submitted by 31 December 2007.
APPLICANT ORGANIZATION CONTACT INFORMATION Applications must be submitted and signed by an authorized representative of your organization, such as the director (listed below as the primary contact.)
Name of organization / The East West Foundation of IndiaName of primary contact at organization / Megan Nutbean
Title of primary contact at organization / Education Coordinator
Mailing address / 1 Kamala Avenue, Off Alamparai Beach Road
City / Kadapakkam, Cheyyur Taluk,
Kancheepuram District
State/Province / Tamilnadu
Postal Code / 603301
Country / India
Website of organization (if applicable) /
Phone / +61 44 27501200
Fax / NA
Email address of primary contact / ,
How did you hear about the Access to Learning Award? (Type an X next to the
appropriate answers.) / X By word of mouth
Read a news article about ATLA
Received a promotional mailing
Received an ATLA brochure
Received an ATLA bookmark
Online at
Attended the ATLA award ceremony
Other (please describe)
APPLICANT ORGANIZATION STATISTICS
What is the tax status or structureof your organization?
(Type an X next to the
appropriate answer) / Public library (e.g., government-funded)
Other library organization (please describe)
X / Non-governmental organization
Other (please describe)
General population of the area served by your organization.
(Type an X next to the
appropriate answer) / X / under 25,000
25,000 – 100,000
100,000 – 500,000
500,000 – 1,000,000
More than 1,000,000
Average number of users your organization serves per day / Whole of TEWFI services around 140 directly.
Computer Centre 10-20 each day.
Average number of users your organization serves per year / Whole of TEWFI services around 15,000 directly.
Computer Centre – 65 regular users
Number of computers reserved exclusively for public usage at your organization / Presently 6 computers. From January 2008 there is hoped to be around 30 computers.
Number of full-time staff at your organization / TEWFI has 30 full-time staff
Computer Centre – 1 full-time staff member
Number of part-time staff at your organization / TEWFI – 2
Computer Centre – 0
Number of volunteers at your organization / Average number of volunteers – 6
Number of computers reserved exclusively for staff usage at your organization / 2
APPLICANT ORGANIZATION SERVICES
Type an X next to the services thatyou offer at no charge. / X / Book lending(Children’s Home only at present, to expand in future)
Reference services
X / Computer usage
X / Internet usage
X / User computer training
Other (please list)
Please give the average number of unique* users of each service by day and year.
* “Unique users” means you should count individuals using library services only once per the noted time period (day or year). For example, if a user accesses the Internet in the morning and again in the evening on one day, they should only be counted as one “unique user.” / Service / Average UNIQUE users each day / Average UNIQUE users
each year
Book lending / 5 (Children’s Home only) / 35
Reference services
Computer usage / 10-20 / 65
Internet usage / 2 / 65
User computer training / 10-20 / 65
Other (please list) / Above figures to expand from Jan. / Above figures to expand from Jan.
Do you have Internet connectivity? (Type an X next to the appropriate answer) / X / Yes / No (LIMITED AND SLOW AT PRESENT)
If yes, what type of connectivity?
X / Dial-up (in process of obtaining broadband)
Broadband
Other (please list)
Do you charge user fees
for Internet use? / Yes / X / No
Do you have a membership fee? / Yes / X / No
Are there any members of the public that are not invited to use your computer and Internet services free of charge? / Yes / X / No
Type an X next to the kinds of
training that you offer to the public. / X / Using the Internet
X / Word processing
Job searching on the Internet / resume writing
Using email
X / Basic computer usage
X / Searching on the Internet
X / Other (please list)
Vocational training in various IT related tasks for unemployed youth
Supplementary education for local school children attending poorly resourced schools – based on State curriculum
APPLICANT ORGANIZATION FINANCES
What is the annual operating budget of your organization? Please state in US dollars using the most current exchange rate. Please include the exchange rate you use for this calculation in your response below.(NOTE: It is not necessary to submit a budget.)
Can be supplied on request.
REFERENCES
If your application is selected for further consideration, your organization may be contacted for a review of your programs, administration, and financing. This review will be conducted by an independent intermediary organization on the foundation’s behalf and may include a site visit. During this review, the references that you list below will be contacted.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR PRIMARY FUNDER OF APPLICANT ORGANIZATION
Please list contact information for your organization’s main source of funding. If there is more than one major source of funding, please submit information for each. Simply cut and paste this table as needed.
Name of organization / The East West Overseas Aid Foundation (TEWOAF)Number of years as funder / 15
Name of contact at organization / Dr. Natteri V. Chandran
Title of contact at organization / Founder, Chair – TEWOAF, TEWFI
Mailing address / Lvl 6, Druid’s House
407-409 Swanston St
City / Melbourne
State/Province / Victoria
Postal Code / 3000
Country / Australia
Website of organization (if applicable) /
Phone / +61 3 96501200
Fax
Email address /
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR GENERAL REFERENCE
A reference can be a professional organization or colleague that knows about your organization and is willing to speak about its accomplishments and impact. You may submit contact information for more than one reference but only one is required. Simply cut and past this table as needed.
Name of contact / Ashok and Mary ShroffTitle of contact / Doctors (Ashok - Anesthesiologist, Mary - Internist)
Name of organization with which contact is affiliated
Mailing address / 46329 SE 131st Street
City / North Bend
State/Province / WA
Postal Code / 98045
Country / USA
Website of organization (if applicable)
Phone / 425-831-2422
Fax
Email address / ,
APPLICATION NARRATIVE
1.Please give a brief description of your organization, including its vision and mission. (Approximately 100 words)TEWFI is a non-profit, non-religious organization that aims to ease the suffering of disadvantaged communities in rural India, through a range of initiatives in health care, child welfare, education and community development. TEWFI’s Health Centre has been running for 10 years, sees around 80 patients and also conducts community education programs and workshops on nutrition, HIV, alcoholism, as well as conducting health and development education in local schools. The Centre also addresses long-term effects of the Tsunami on the local population. TEWFI’s Children’s Home cares for 39 vulnerable children providing them with fundamentals such as nutrition, healthcare and education, in a loving and nurturing home. We are currently focusing on Education – working with local schools that are very under resourced as well as targeting various other groups such as school drop outs and illiterate persons.
2.Please describe the people who use your organization’s services and for what purposes. (Approximately 200 words)
TEWFI facilities are located in a rural coastal area, south of Chennai on the SE coast of India. Local communities generally rely on farming and fishing for livelihoods, however are no longer making sufficient income from these professions. The area was hit by the December 2004 Tsunami and since then problems have been exacerbated. Since TEWFI takes a holistic approach to development, there are many people who use our services for a variety of reasons. Almost the entire population accesses our health centre to address their primary health needs. Our mobile service focuses on senior citizens and women. The Children’s Home provides shelter, care and love to children who are orphaned, abandoned or destitute. TEWFI’s education and community development activities attempt to reach as much of the local population as possible by targeting a range of groups including youth, women and children.
The computer centre is currently open to the children living at the Children’s Home to provide them with IT education to supplement what is available locally. In addition, classes for community children are held on weekends and holidays for same services. Vocational training programs for unemployed youth have also been occurring for two years. Future classes to target other groups including illiterate women, farmers and fisherman, and children and youth from additional communities.
3.What groups, if any, cannot access your organization’s computer and Internet services and why? (Approximately 50 words)
No groups are excluded.
4.Please describe your organization’s innovative approach to providing free computer and Internet services to the public. (Approximately 300 words)
We are working to establish the area’s first computer training centre, hoping to improve the educational and employment opportunities of the young people in this remote part of rural India.
The permanent e-Education Centre will feature 34 PC work stations, offering free classes to UCH children and to the youth and unemployed from the surrounding villages. The facility will also allow the local community to access vital medical, educational and other information relating to their daily lives, such as weather forecasts, national and state government support, etc.
At this time it is hoped that children from the local primary school can be transported to the Centre for regular lessons as part of their school day. Given the severe lack of resources and high teacher absences being faced at such schools, it is envisaged that this will supplement and enrich what students currently learn at school.
Since 2005, a pilot computer classroom of 6 machines has been running in a spare room in the Children’s Home. The children receive regular tuition and are developing a sound understanding in IT. Classes for community children also occur on weekends are school holidays – they have been intensely popular. A program for local unemployed youth has also been developed, leading to employment in several cases.
The core goal is community empowerment, and to that end we want to support the Indian Government's recent announcement that they want to have all Panchayats (village councils) communicating online in the next years. Uluru's eEC would be a logical place to do this for the nearby villages, including (first) training the Panchayat officers in using the internet. Publication of a community magazine from the eEC is another, related, initiative. We are also seeking opportunities to allow the farmers and fishermen to get a better price for their goods by checking the Chennai marketplace, or communicating directly with buyers.
We are also forming a partnership with the M S Swaminathan Foundation, with the goal of transforming our eEC into a knowledge centre that is relevant to the needs of the wider community, beyond what is envisaged in terms of educational programs.
5. How does your organization help the public learn to use technology and find information using computers and the Internet? (Approximately 100 words)
Currently we offer training courses to various target groups in the community (children, unemployed youth). With the opening of the permanent centre in January, programs will expand to provide knowledge and training that is relevant to a wider audience (illiterate community members, fisherman, farmers, a larger number of school students, etc. ).
6. How does your organization ensure that staff are capable users of new technologies and are able to train users on how to use those technologies? (Approximately 100 words)
Engineers Without Borders Australia has been providing volunteer technical expertise in the form of computer & network engineers to provide technical assistance and training to Vijay, the local system administrator and computer teacher. We are very fortunate to have Vijay living in the local community, as his computer skills are rare in such a rural area and his interest to work with the foundation is strong. Vijay is currently undertaking an Honours course in Computer Hardware and Networking which will assist him to maintain the centre. Local unemployed youth and local teachers are being trained to assist.
7.Describe the impact of your organization’s programs. What has your organization accomplished? How do you know that your programs have made a difference in people’s lives? We encourage you to use anecdotes and, if possible, measured evidence of the impact of your programs on the public. (Approximately 300 words)
Classes have been very successful: the UCH children enjoy their computer time very much, and some have become quite skilled in programs such as Word processing, Presentations and Photoshop. Community classes have been intensely popular: during the holiday period in March 2007 up to 8 classes were run each day as children from up to 10km away came or were brought by their parents to receive free training.
Several youths in their 20s attend as well; one has since been retained by UCH as an assistant teacher, and another was employed for a month to do some data entry for Uluru Health Care Clinic. We are always on the lookout for employment opportunities that we can train people towards.
8.What are the future goals of your organization? Please describe your plans to sustain your services into the future. (Approximately 100 words)
As mentioned throughout this document, a permanent computer education centre is to be opened in January 2008. We feel the impact this house in the local area will be dramatic and look forward to transforming the centre into a successful model of how ICT can empower a rural community such as the one TEWFI is working in.
9.Please briefly summarize why you feel your organization’s work should be considered for this award.
(Approximately 100 words)
TEWFI is using Information and Communication Technology to address the needs of these communities on a variety of levels, to build local capacity and develop programs that target as wide a variety of community groups as possible. TEWFI is showing how collaborations and the sharing of knowledge and resources between various organizations can empower and make a dramatic impact in a small, rural community such as this one.
APPLICATION SIGNATURE