Vodafone Foundation’s Search for the best Social apps in India Continues

Vodafone Foundation today, launched the sixth edition of their flagship initiative ‘Mobile for Good Awards 2016’, in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, through the NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum. The Awards recognise and support emerging and innovative mobile solutions from NGOs and ‘For profit’ enterprises and government departments that facilitate community empowerment and can have a transformational impact on the society at large facilitating inclusive growth.

The launch event, held in the national capital, was graced by the presence of Chief Guest Shri Sunil Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. He talked about how large social change can be brought about using the smallest of the mobile devices. Also present on the occasion were ‘Mobile for Good Awards’ winners from previous years showcasing how their mobile driven solutions were able to create a sustainable impact across communities.

Speaking about the Mobile for Good Awards, P Balaji, Director- Regulatory & External Affairs & CSR, Vodafone India, said, “Over the years Mobile for Good Awards has evolved as a platform to recognise social innovations through mobile and wireless technologies that have created impact in the critical areas of health, education, governance and agriculture. The Awards have supported emerging new talent in developing ideas that are helping make the Digital India dream come true. Vodafone Foundation is proud to announce the 6th edition of The Mobile for Good Awards in association with NASSCOM Foundation. Last year the Mobile for Good Awards received 245 nominations. I am confident this year too we will discover many more inspiring stories of how mobile technology is transforming communities across India.”

This year, 11 winning innovations will be recognised across two categories – ‘Leading Change Maker – NPO’ and ‘Leading Change Maker – For Profit’. Innovative mobile driven solutions in four critical areas of Health, Education, Agriculture & Environment and Women Empowerment & Inclusive Development will be selected from both the categories. Apart from this, there will be separate category for innovative mobile solutions by government departments.

Vodafone Foundation will provide a total grant of INR 9 million to the winning Non-profits in addition to structured mentoring, monitoring and impact evaluation support from partner institutions, supporting them achieve larger impact. All winning projects will also be featured in the ‘Social App Hub’, a unique platform for social apps curated by Vodafone. The Social App Hub is a platform which brings together mobile solutions for social impact to further strengthen delivery of mobile technology.

Applicants from NGOs Social Enterprises and government organisations can submit their entries on the portal www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood until 15th September 2016.

This is the second year when NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum (NSIF) will power the Mobile for Good Awards. NSIF is NASSCOM Foundation’s program that has been honouring, mentoring and providing catalytic grants to social innovations across technology platforms, since the last 8 years.

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, said, “Mobile telephony is the most exciting field to be in where a new innovation is changing the world around us every single day. With now over 1 billion mobile connections spread across India, mobile phones are being looked at as the largest platform for social development. We are glad to collaborate with Vodafone Foundation for searching the right fit mobile solutions to India’s social issues and providing them with both grants and mentorship to scale their innovations and bring about a possible country wide change.”

For more information about the Awards, to apply and read about the past winners and their successful applications, please visit www.vodafone.in/mobileforgood

The last date for submitting the entries is 15th September 2016.

All the entries will be carefully filtered through a two round Jury process consisting of a great mix of industry leaders, entrepreneurs, social investors, journalists and will be judged upon various parameters of originality, perceivable social impact, feasibility, scalability etc. Following this, the final 11 winners will be chosen and awarded at a Gala event in November 2016 in New Delhi.