[UgaBYTES] CTA - PRESS RELEASE

[Ndaula Sulah]

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*WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands, November 29, 2009 - Twenty-four
(24)*representatives from fourteen (14) African countries are
scheduled for a
10-day CTA-led study visit to India, one of the most powerful emerging
economies, starting 29 November 2009.


 Supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
(CTA), the ground-breaking initiative, whose theme is “*Social and Economic
Development using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)*”, is
meant to enhance participants’ knowledge on how India has harnessed ICT to
promote its overall growth. Collaborators for the study visit in India
include Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), Kerala
State IT Mission (KSITM) and SREI-Sahaj Corporate.


 The delegation will visit Calicut (Kerala State), Bengaluru (Karnataka
State), Kolkata (West Bengal State) and New Delhi to experience how India
addresses the diversity of challenges and positively enhances its economic
growth using ICTs.


 Senior officials in government, industry and civil society organizations
from these African countries will maximize this opportunity to understand
the success story and replicate in their respective regions.


 Taking its advantage in IT skills, India has embarked upon some of the most
ambitious plans for welfare and governance. For instance, the National
e-Governance Plan (NeGP), which is currently being implemented, aims to set
up more than 100,000 rural telecentres to deliver government services. The
African delegation will mostly be interested in ICT application in areas
such as governance, agriculture, public health, education and rural
empowerment. Moreover, the delegation will analyze the concept of Public
Private Partnerships (PPP) that is being used as a key factor for long-term
sustainability of the telecentre movement in India.


 The participating countries in the study visit include Burkina Faso,
Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger,
Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


 *Notes for Editors*


 *More about CTA*: CTA, (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural
cooperation) is an ACP–EU1 <#sdfootnote1sym> institution established in
1984, based in Wageningen, The Netherlands, working in the field of
information for development.

CTA develops and provides services to improve access to information for
agriculture and rural development and strengthens the capacity of ACP
stakeholders to acquire, produce, exchange and utilise information in this
area. CTA views ICTs as a major technological intervention for faster
growth.

For more information about CTA, visit: *www.cta.int*


 *More about IL&FS*

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) is one of the
largest program management and consultancy institution that focuses on
infrastructure development. The company is promoted by large financial
institutions like the Life Insurance Corporation of India and HDFC Ltd.
IL&FS, has been appointed by the Government of India as the program managers
for setting up 100,000 Common Services Centres for the delivery of
Government To Citizen (G2C) and Business-To-Customer (B2C) services in rural
India. This project is considered to be the largest ICT-driven
citizen-centric scheme in the world. IL&FS is implementing the scheme
through its Education and Technology Services subsidiary. Till now, the
company has facilitated setting up of over 55,000 centres under the Public
Private Partnership.

For more information about IL&FS, visit: *www.ilfsindia.com*


 *More about Sahaj e Village*

Sahaj e village Limited is a subsidiary of SREI Finance, mandated to set up
Common Service Centres and bring government and business to rural India,
within the Aegis of the National E-Governance Plan. Aimed at bridging the
undemocratic urban-rural divide, Sahaj has delved into Infrastructural
Development to set up, operate & manage as many as 30,000 CSCs across India
under the Public Private Partnership framework. Already about 27 services
G2C and B2C services have been rolled out through these CSCs, including
government form submission, agricultural soil testing, e-Learning, electric
bill collection, mobile top ups, railway reservation, insurance premium
collection, and rural job portal.

For more information about Saha e Village, visit: *www.sahajcorporate.com*


 *More about Kerala State IT*


 Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM) is the nodal agency for
developing IT infrastructure in the state of Kerala. KSITM is credited with
successfully creating a conducive eco-system for taking Information
Technology to the common people. KSITM started the “e-Litaeracy for All”
campaign through the Akshaya telecentres. Akshaya centres have grown in
strength and have added more services later. There are over 2000 Akshaya
Centres in the state today. KSITM is set up by the Government of Kerala.

For more information about Kerala State IT, visit: *
http://www.itmission.kerala.gov.in*


   *Contacts*


   *Mr **A. Koda Traore *

Programme Coordinator, ICT4D

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), The
Netherlands

Tel: +31317467138

Fax: +31317460067

Email: *traore at cta.int*

Website: *www.cta.int *

*Dr Arun Varma*

Vice President
IL&FS Educational Technology Services Ltd, India
Tel: +91-11-64519957
Fax:+91-11-24363552

Email: *Arun.Varma at ilfsets.com*

Website: *http://ilfsets.com/*




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