It’s a truism that in the computer age
change occurs at ever-increasing speeds. In
the blink of an eye, technologies evolve and
concepts shift — and once-familiar landscapes
suddenly become difficult to recognize. So it
is in the field of Information Dissemination
and Knowledge for Development by which we connect
communities and provide voice to the voiceless…
A few short years ago, the overwhelming concern
was with access to new technologies. But conditions
are different now. An international boom in
mobile telephony, for example, has led to 52%
of the world’s population — roughly
3.3 billion of the world’s 6.6 billion
people — being able to use mobile phones.
The communications revolution is simultaneously
posing new questions and opening up new frontiers.
“Having access to the technology is not
enough”. “It seems to us the biggest
future determinants will be whether people have
free and open access to the information that
flows through these new networks, as well as
the ability to create information.”
“For
me, Open Forum is about fresh ideas, working
at the frontiers and trying new things.
And always with a really strong commitment
to the true interests of people in the
Nation, not just for institutional interests.
You see that right through the entire
organization, in all of Open Forum’s
people.”
Mr.
D. R. Kartikeyen
Member, Governing Board, Open Forum
Former DG, National Human Rights
Commission & Former Director,
Central Bureau of Investigation |
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Innovation is vital for any country’s
development. Developing countries, however,
face many hurdles in their efforts to innovate,
to acquire and effectively use technology to
reduce poverty, and to undertake original research.
Chief among these constraints are weak policy-making
structures and lack of credible information
on which to base policies.
When you witness any of the
Programme or services of Open Forum, you can
not only review information but can share widely
your organizational and individual success and
needs with ease. The ease of sharing your practices,
experience and information was never easier
with such innovative programmes of Open Forum.
The team at Open Forum developed this collaboration
network after the need was expressed by many
individuals and organizations, thus creating
an easy to share platform which is relevant
for the resource sharing among stakeholders.
With a team of expertise of over Twenty years
in various fields ranging from communications
to fundraising and project implementation to
capacity building, Open Forum, today, is a trusted
source for journalists, organizations and communications
professionals. We enable organizations to provide
speedy communications for project effectiveness.
We have proved our potential to address the
major issues and iambically have enhanced the
value of Issues and came up with a reliable
response network of the abilities of thousands
of organizations and individuals in a connected
way. The need for policy advocacy and building
capacity among the Grassroots communities and
NGOs was felt, so till date Open Forum has organized
9 National Advocacy Conferences and 26 Regional
Conferences, on different thematic areas of
MDGs and also submitted the outcomes and remarks
of the conferences to the related authorities
and policy makers for its incorporation into
policy matters. The number of participants in
each of these conferences ranged from 103+ to
2180+. In Building Communication Opportunities
the Communication & Advocacy Unit of Open
Forum, with its strong partners base, was able
to not only provide increased coverage on the
MDG theme, but also made available information,
knowledge and resource requirements for the
capacity building of partners. Some of the Issues
we have successfully addressed are listed in
this section of website.
