Digital Bridge Initiatives
Village Knowledge Centre (VKC)
Besides the US$ 20,000 grant given by Lehman Brothers Foundation in Japan to MSSRF, an additional funding of three million yen has been provided by Asia Initiatives for this group. Farming regions in Maharashtra that have experienced a failure of crops in recent years were given 2 million yen to set up VKCs to offer market, health, education, e-governance and e-education information to farmers as well as Computer Aided Learning Programs (CALP). Over 3,500 computers have been sent to India, the Philippines, and Cambodia. This project has enjoyed significant success in attracting students who were no longer interested in school back to edcuation, and performance has improved significantly for those who have joined this initiative. More children from these families in VKC areas have also started attending schools. The villages where VKCs have been in operation for over five years have seen the incomes of the lowest 10% of the regional households doubled.
