The expected impacts of the fund are the:
      - Development of new income generating opportunities for the poor.
      - Improvement of educational, health and other charitable services.
      - Safeguarding of sustainable environmental management.
      - Strengthening of democratic civil participation.

The supported projects ought to strengthen the local level and the equality of opportunities for women and youths, should be utilized by a broad group of beneficiaries, be replicable and influence the policy level. ICT applications should include “old” and “new” technologies and contribute to support specific greater development processes.

The fund will support the development of ICT solutions in the following areas (see also the project examples in the appendix):
      1. Local/regional economic development through the use of e-business applications.
      2. Primary and vocational training through the promotion of blended learning 
         applications and local content development.
      3. Development and use of modern information and knowledge management systems
          for: 
              a) Health
              b) Environmental management
              c) Support of the civil society and networking
      4. Protection of intellectual property rights and promotion of free access to information and knowledge as part of comprehensive
          ICT strategies.
      5. Improvement of local public services and local citizen participation (e-government).

Beneficiaries of the projects supported by the fund are groups of disadvantaged rural and urban small scale producers and enterprises, indigenous and ethnic groups, women and youths, older, handicapped or people with health problems.

Project partners are NGOs, associations, educational, health and other non-profit organizations that co-operate closely with the beneficiaries or their legally recognized representations.

The fund should be established for at least two phases of three years each in order to be able to evaluate, systematize, document and disseminate the experiences and impacts of the projects after their implementation and to be able to incorporate the experiences of the first phase into the concept of the second phase.

The indirect costs for the fund’s administration, consultation of project partners and project analysis and evaluations should not exceed 15 to 20% of the fund’s financing volume for the individual projects which should not fall below € 1,5 million for each phase.

Fulfillment of BFSD Members’ Project criteria:

• International or scalable on an international level:
The fund supports ICT projects in African, Asian and Latin American countries. The projects experiences are systematized, documented and disseminated internationally.

• Multi-cultural or adaptable for different cultures:
The projects are implemented in different countries, in rural and urban settings with different beneficiaries and develop replicable ICT solutions adaptable for different cultures.

• Contribution to humanity / natural heritage:
The projects promote the inclusion of disadvantaged people into the information society, improve their access to information and knowledge and safeguard their cultural heritage.
• Sustainable Development aspect: The fund will support projects which are economically viable, ecologically sound and which improve local participation, develop capabilities and abilities of the poor and strengthen civil society through networking.

Participation:

• What type of collaborative effort might be possible?
Participating members will collaborate in an advisory committee that establishes the fund’s management structure and the selection criteria for the project proposals submitted to the fund, and will participate in the approval of the projects to be financed by the fund.

• What elements might additional partners bring? Financial resources to establish the fund and technological know-how and resources to support project partners in the implementation of their projects.

Additional Information:

• Web-link: www.gtz.de/gate/