Over the years, ‘knowledge’ has become a key component of development discourses that traditionally focused only on capital formation and economic growth. This is corroborated by the fact that currently, ‘poverty’ is defined as deprivation not only in terms of denial of access to resources, but also to knowledge and information. These are increasingly being recognized crucial for the holistic development of the marginalized and underserved communities by major international forums. Consequently, ‘Knowledge for Development’ (K4D) has become an integral part of their development agenda.

The international community considers ‘knowledge’ crucial for expanding the choices of the people and to avoid the ‘reinventing the wheel’ syndrome. With the integration of the K4D program within its organizational activities, Open Forum considers knowledge critical for development and for increasing livelihood opportunities. It is presently working towards enhancing rural community's access to 'knowledge' with the help of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). Along with increasing rural poor’s reach to knowledge, Open Forum is also promoting ‘Knowledge Based Advocacy’, so that the ‘voices’ of the people are listened to at appropriate levels. Subsequently, it will influence the framing of pro-poor policies and implementation of development initiatives, especially the ones targeted towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

These are internationally agreed, time bound, quantifiable targets for alleviating human poverty in its different manifestations. They are solidly anchored, both in terms of substance as well as process, into human rights. At the same time, they aim at the international community an expanded vision of development, and recognize the importance of creating global partnership for development. These goals have been universally accepted as a framework for measuring development progress in developing and underdeveloped countries.

Open Forum has undertaken to advise the stakeholders on how ICTs could be mainstreamed, mainly from the perspectives of the policy-makers and the practitioners on the ground. The Monthly Publication ANTATAH and Annual Publication Development, focusing on the issues around the MDGs helps the stakeholders in their planning process. The basic aim of these publications is to create a platform for critical debate on role, scope and experiences relating to mainstreaming ICTs in the development interventions. The Content consists of feature articles, project reports (including research documentation), case studies, project experiences (including both policy and grassroots voices), views, interviews, events, statistics, analysis etc. In each issue a conscious effort is made to incorporate views, opinions, perceptions and experiences of different sectors, organisations and agencies. The periodical seeks to address the concerns of the policy-makers, government and nongovernmental agencies and the donor world that are still sceptical about the utility of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as tools to enhance human development. The 18 issues brought out thus far of ANTATAH, have succeeded in attracting reputable and well-informed contributors and attracted a good response. The Antatah content is mirrored electronically in the DLP for online access.

How Editorial Support can help Open Forum Programme & Activities
The primary aim of this initiative is to provide customized community based contents and reach to its related services for the local community. Here we will try “To create and implement a sustainable, scalable platform of entrepreneurship for enabling the development of rural economy and society through contents with the use of Information and Communications Technologies”. The Editorial Support will help editors find the files they’re looking for, and alert individuals and groups related with social development activities to any problems with their source materials. In everything this section of programme covers, our legacy of journalistic excellence is a defining element that sets Editorial Support apart from any other services.

Open Forum has an author-centric editorial process to help everyone get the most from writing. The first stage is to develop an idea to the point where we have a strong concept and an editorial outline. Authors and Development Editors usually work together during this phase. We want to make sure that the article has an audience, and that we are going to develop a article or write up that informs the audience about social development Issues. Editorial Support help Open Forum publications and programmes develop its idea, content potential, and gain advice on how to write well and on delivering excellent results ensuring the quality of article remains strong. Here’s the editorial processes flowchart to have a clear idea.

Reviewers play the most important role in transforming a manuscript into a high quality journal article. The approach of this support is to provide Open Forum publications with review tools for independent handling of the different working steps. On the other hand, our aim is to be assisted at any time personally through intensive editorial support whenever a problem may arise.

The following steps can be managed online in communication with our editorial support system whereas all information and action requirements are provided automatically via email or any other alternate communication method:

1.	Author's referee proposal during the manuscript registration;
2.	Call-for-Editors based on journal subject areas or nomination by Chief-Editors;
3.	Editor's acceptance of the review and nomination of referees;
4.	Call-for-Referees;
5.	Referee's acceptance of the review;
6.	Upload of the referee reports;
7.	Upload of the editor report;
8.	Technical corrections editor – author, minor revisions and major revisions;
9.	Final acceptance of the manuscript.

Open Forum Editorial Policy: learn more