SEI Update

In this space you will find updated information on the progress of the current SEI cycle. This information will change, so please do check back for the most recent information.

E-Commerce

Project Name: Handicrafts E-Trade Center
Organization Name: MITRA Technology Foundation
Location: India
Description:
MITRA is developing a handicrafts e-trade center that would connect producers directly to wholesale and retail buyers, resulting in increased efficiencies in marketing and production. This extranet-based computerized network would connect producers to buyers in a Business-to-Business (B2B) environment, helping the NGO produce and market their products efficiently. Bulk buyers, exporters, retailers, and importers will be able to interact with the non-profit organizations to buy their products. The bulk market will be targeted to provide economies of scale, thereby making the effort sustainable. At the same time it allows the end customer to buy products in a traditional manner without losing the 'feel' of handicrafts. MITRA is looking for a group of students to help it refine its business model and is working with a team from Harvard Business School.

Project Name: EnableAll.org
Organization Name: Enabling Dimensions
Location: India
Description:
EnableAll.org looks to develop a self-sustaining, online, self-help community for the disabled that will help them acquire the training to enhance their employability and quality of life. EnableAll will provide web-based education and training courses that are customized for the disabled community. The portal will offer specialized training courses tailor-made for employability. Specialized e-Learning courses, like audio-only e-learning courseware for the blind, will be made available, as well as career counseling, interview and CV drafting skills, and listing of available job vacancies from equal opportunity employers. EnableAll.org will also look to provide the Disabled with linkages with similar communities across the world. EnableAll is seeking improvements to its business plan and assistance on strategic issues and is working with a.

Project Name: Putting ICTs in the Hands of Poor Women
Organization Name: Datamation Foundation
Location: India
Description:
Datamation Foundation will put ICTs in the hands of poor and semi-literate women of India through the extensive deployment of web- and multi-media - based learning tools that will empower the women to create sustainable livelihoods. Datamation proposes to draw on its expertise of working with women & youth within the commercial space to deliver a scaleable, replicable project. The proposed project would benefit more than 500 poor & semi-literate women of East Delhi's slums & ghettos by imparting them ICT based training in life-skills, empowerment & the usage of ICTs in vocations such as tailoring, quilt-making, food preservation, embroidery, furniture design and apparel design. Training would be delivered via multi-media based courseware developed in Hindi. Counseling will also be provided on how the women can access the credit to start their own businesses. The complete mentoring process will allow the women either to gain meaningful employment or start their own micro-enterprises. Women who do not possess past vocational experience would be trained in starting ICT businesses. Possible student work could include: conducting a baseline study to assess current socio-economic and demographic status of women of the East Delhi slums and ghettos: mid-term action research and project appraisal; and final action research and impact assessment on poverty alleviation as well as skills upgrading through the use of ICTs. Datamation is working with a team from the University of California-San Diego.

Microcredit

Project Name: Smart Card-based Electronic Passbook
Organization Name: EximSoft Technologies Private Limited
Location: Sri-Lanka and India
Description:
EximSoft's Smart Card-based banking services will lower the cost of delivering financial services to the rural poor by eliminating manual record-keeping and increasing the number of clients that field staff of the Samurdhi Authority (a Sri Lanka-based microfinance institution) can service. To meet the enormous demands of clients and to become financially sustainable in a reasonable period of time, the Samurdhi Authority needs technology to scale up its operations. One of the constraints to Samurdhi Authority in reaching financial sustainability, however, is the high cost of delivering micro finance, which stem from staff and travel costs. In response to these needs, The Sasmurdhi Authority is looking to implement a Smart Card-based ePassbok for Samurdhi Authority, Sri Lanka, using Smart Cards and Hand-Held Devices through a Pilot Project. EximSoft would like a student team to conduct a detailed study and provide a report on the benefits this system would bring after implementation.

Health

Project Name: eSwasthya: Health Care Facilities
Organization Name: Bihar Institute of Economic Studies
Location: India
Description:
BIES's eSwasthya project would allow the poor in the rural Madhubani district, Bihar, India to gain access to better health care at lower cost by providing them with smart health cards containing their entire health history, which can be accessed at local community health centers. Online medical advice will also be available to allow patients to gain instantaneous access to expert medical advice. The health cards would enable the patients to walk into any of the health center where their health history would be extracted from the network and updated accordingly. Health Specialists present at the main health center or Health Consultants can provide instant online medical advice to the patients at any of the health centers. The network will act as a health program awareness (Polio Eradication, HIV, etc) and health product (Family Planning, etc) awareness medium for the underprivileged. Upon successful implementation, the project will be taken to different districts of the states and eventually to the national level.