WSIS 2024 Prize Winner Finland - Smartpur
Winners of the WSIS Prizes, recognizing innovative technological approaches to support sustainable development, were announced on 28 May 2024 at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Overall, projects from 18 countries were presented with WSIS Prizes top honours, showcasing leading efforts to bridge the digital divide, foster digital inclusion, and drive socio-economic progress on a global scale.
“This year's WSIS Prizes demonstrate the innovation and energy that exist to find technological solutions to some of the globe's biggest challenges," said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “These are the creative contributions that the world needs in our effort to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals."
Smartpur, Nokia’s flagship CSR initiative, is a digital village ecosystem project aimed at integrating technology into the daily lives of communities living in remote villages across India. Smartpur is executed in partnership with Save the Children India and Digital Empowerment Foundation.
The project intends to empower and support local entrepreneurs through digital technology. Entrepreneurs are provided with facilities to make services across the pillars of Livelihood, Health, Education, Financial Inclusion, and Governance accessible at the village level through Smartpur centers. Beneficiaries of the project leverage digital tools to access livelihood opportunities and skill-based training programs, telemedicine services, education in technology and computer literacy, financial services such as banking, and government schemes and services.
The project was first implemented in 2017 with 10 Smartpur centers established in the state of Haryana. The number of centers has since grown to 350 in 2023, established in 10 states across India. Between 2017 and 2022, 40 centers have been exited sustainably. These centers continue to provide the intended services to rural communities and generate a livelihood for the entrepreneurs.
The project has created large-scale social impact – it reached over million beneficiaries. Between April 2022 and March 2023 alone, the project reached over 835,100 beneficiaries. Approximately 480,000 people were supported with access and awareness on social protection schemes and services; over 26,900 people sought digital literacy training, career counselling camps and academic support; more than 297,500 people accessed financial literacy services such as conducting digital financial transactions, opening and operating banks accounts, and financial literacy; over 17,500 received telemedicine services and attended health awareness camps, and over 9,600 people were linked with livelihood opportunities, received vocational training, and trained on life skills.
Project website
https://smartpur.in/the-project/
