Winners – 2016

Agriculture & Environment – Read More

• Kisaan Suvidha – India
• Breathe – India

Business & Commerce – Read More

• Ftcash – India
• UltraCash – India
• AppBajar – Bangladesh

Culture & Tourism – Read More

• Sri Lanka Museums – Sri Lanka
• Patari – Pakistan
• Matrubharti – India

Early Stage – Read More

• Katha – Sri Lanka
• iShippo – India
• District Nutrition Monitoring System (DNMS) – Sri Lanka

Learning & Education – Read More

• Missed Call Do, Kahaani Suno – India
• OnlineTyari App – India
• RiSE App – India

Government & Citizen Engagement – Read More

• Hawk Eye – India
• VAT Checker – Bangladesh

Inclusion & Empowerment – Read More

• Sign Language Interpreter (SLI) – Sri Lanka
• Vibration Series-Products for Deaf -Blind

Health & Well Being – Read More

• iKure – India
• The Vision Guard – Sri Lanka

Media & Entertainment – Read More

• Sensy Remote – India
• Vizmato – India

Smart Settlements & Urbanization – Read More

• Bangladesh Emergency Services – Bangladesh
• Intelligent Transport System – India
• Rmitra – India

Project Name: Stove Trace
Organisation: Nexleaf Analytics
Website: http://nexleaf.org/
Email: anirmukerji@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nexleaf/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nexleaf

Measuring usage of clean cookstoves through a mobile based sensor and a mobile application and enabling savings in carbon emissions.

Traditional cookstoves, which many families in underserved communities use, can have both adverse health and environmental effects. Clean-burning Cookstoves reduce the amount of firewood used in open fires, as well as the amount of smoke indoors and outdoors and improved health benefits for families. It is difficult and expensive to verify the reduction in carbon emissions produced by clean cookstoves, making it a challenge to apply carbon credits to the use of improved cooking technologies.   To address this issue, the StoveTrace includes a mobile phone-based temperature-sensing application and a thermal sensor that connects to an Android phone. Each time the cookstove is fired up, the temperature increase activates the sensor. This temperature data is then uploaded from the cellphone using mobile data to a server where it is analyzed to indicate the number of times a stove is used and the duration of each use, enabling remote verification of stove usage. This makes data available to carbon market investors as proof of reduction in carbon emissions.

Currently, over 650 sensors have been deployed among users in Orissa and Uttar Pradesh states of India. For 2015, the sensors have tracked that participants have used clean cookstoves for a total of 103,000 hours, enabling savings of 249 tons of CO2 thereby earning US $1497.

The Project enables measuring usage of clean cookstoves through a mobile phone based sensor and rewarding families for the consequent savings in carbon emissions.

The StoveTrace solution comprises of a temperature sensor which is attached to the clean cookstove. This temperature sensor is connected to a smartphone.  A special stovetrace android app is loaded on the smartphone which enables recording the temperature and transmitting it to a central server.  A dashboard in the central server can tell us the usage of various stoves.

Project Name: Mahindra Comviva
Organisation: Mahindra Comviva
Website: www.roshan.af/roshan/m-paisa.aspx
Email: vrishali.sinha@comviva.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MahindraComvivaOfficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MahindraComviva

Enabling greater financial inclusion in Afghanistan using Mobile Phones

MPaisa is Afghanistan’s first mobile money service designed to provide financial services to the 95% unbanked population in the country. It is facilitating convenient and secure digital services and contributing to the finanicial landscapes of the country by providing mobile phone based financial service.

The service is operated by Afghanistan’s largest mobile operator Roshan and uses Mahindra Comviva’s mobile money platform mobiquity Money.

MPaisa leverages mobile phone to offers safe, secure and fast access to a range of financial services including receipt and payment of microfinance loans, peer-to-peer fund transfer, salary disbursement, airtime purchase and bill payments,  MPaisa customers can also covert cash into m-money or vice versa. The service can be accessed by any type of mobile phone (smartphone or feature phone) by dialing MPaisa USSD or IVR code which has a localized menu in Dari, Pashto and English.

Today, In Afghanistan, Individuals, businesses, Government officials, women, low, mid-income and high-income banked people, farmers, microfinance institutes use MPaisa to transfer money, recharge mobile, pay bills and merchants, repay loans, pay for tickets, groceries, restaurants, fuel etc. Farmers use MPaisa to repay agriculture loans Government and businesses use MPaisa for paying salaries and business purchases.

MPaisa has collaborated with government, businesses and bank for account transfers and service disbursement. Consumers can send money to relatives in remote areas by instantly transferring money into their MPaisa account or Bank accounts. MPaisa has partnered with Finance agencies to offer loans and financial aids at lower interest rates which improves the collection status of institutues.

MPaisa has helped to improve the financial conditions of Afghanistan, create a banking and money saving culture, ensure transparency in government and other organisation,  eliminate corruption, reduce money laundering and cash handling, and reduce gender gaps as women can do instant banking using their mobile phones.

MPaisa has over 1.3 million registered users, system processed over 780,000 transactions users over US$130 million (9.0 Billion Afghani) transacted annually.

Project Name: Right2Sight
Organisation: Right2Sight
Website: http://www.iamsarves.com/
Email: iamsarves@gmail.com
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Providing access to mobile phones via voice message tool for blind and visually impaired

Sri Lanka’s Righ2Sight is an android application that empowers and provides a completely new user experience to all blind visually impaired people (braille and non-braille readers) by providing them access to smart phones via voice messages and braille input tools to perform their day to day activities.

The app incorporates Braille input method on the touch screen in addition to the traditional input method. Users can use braille text to dial phone numbers, write text messages or save contacts in the phone directory. The app uses bi-lingual (Tamil or Sinhala) voice directed menus, by double clicking on the options; the phone vibrates, notifying the user about the selected service. Users can listen to messages, time, battery level, date, reminders, reply to a message, manage message history, make calls, listen to the call history, and make calls.

The Mobile app is developed as a theme so that it can be easily launched and accessed without the interference of other apps. Further, frequently used tools and utilities are added to the application and this application can be launched easily by pressing the home button of the mobile phone.

This mobile app aims to connect 200,000 blind and 400,000 visually impaired people in Sri Lanka through a smartphone. To increase its usability in other countries, the app would be extended to other languages also.

Project Name: TeachApp
Organisation: FOCUSONE Nepal Pvt.Ltd
Website: http://www.ccfocusone.com/
Email: evelyn@focusone.com.np
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FOCUSONE.Nepal/
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For creating a mobile-based self-assess learning tool for Teachers

British Council Nepal in collaboration with FOCUSONE Nepal has developed a mobile application ‘TeachApp’, a self-assess learning tool for teachers.  TeachApp aims to improve the classroom performance of teachers by providing instant solutions to common problems like proper pronunciation, spellings or rhymes etc.

TeachApp consists of practical advice and classroom ideas for the developing teachers. They cover topics such as lesson planning, finding resources and storytelling, using multilingual approach and contain ideas that the teacher can take into the classroom and use immediately. The ideas here are relevant to teachers at both primary and secondary levels and in all kinds of teaching situations. It contains audio video incorporated within the project manual which allows the participants to easily view and use. The application also has an inbuilt feedback/enquiry system for teachers to use and get in touch with the project staff.

TeachApp features 2 sections for teachers and trainers. Teachers can access free resources and tips to make teaching more effective and childfriendly, Classroom languages, Teaching Skills, Audio/Video, useful links etc. Trainers are resource persons from British Council Na

Started from January 2015, this 3 year-long project aims to benefit teachers from all 75 districts of Nepal with 7000 teachers receiving the training in the first year. This app has added value to all the teachers nationwide by spreading better quality teaching, learning by ensuring that every state sector school teacher has reached a minimum international standard of teaching proficiency. Teachers are finding it easier to communicate with the students while teaching English. Their confidence level is up. Teaching methods in education sector is slowing changing from traditional to interactive style in rural areas like Jhapa, Nawalparasi and Surkhet districts. The app has opened the door for inventive training for teachers due to their feedback to British Council Nepal. It has helped to uplift the education sector especially in learning/teaching English to teachers/students in different parts of the country, not just the main urban areas in Nepal.

Project Name: Meri Vaani; Speech and Language Therapy app
Organisation: Neuro Hero Limited
Website: http://www.neurohero.com/
Email: aviva.cohen@neurohero.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeuroHeroOfficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/neurohero
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App empowers people with speech, language disorders communicate confidently

Talk Around It app, also called Meri Vaani has been created by speech and language therapists to provide rehabilitation and education for those living with word finding difficulties that often follow stroke, brain injury, dementia, intellectual difficulties, autism and a range of other conditions.  Talk Around It is unique because it supports people to become more autonomous in their rehabilitation. It improves their quality of life by improving their ability to communicate. People with limited language often become socially isolated. Apps provide opportunities for family members to enjoy spending time with a disabled loved one. In addition to addressing rehabilitation our apps are designed to promote social interaction.

The app uses Semantic Feature Analysis, an evidence based therapy. They can be described as ‘confrontational naming’ apps that provide exercises that help people to learn or relearn words. Each app presents over 100 pictures to name. Each picture is accompanied by a set of questions that a therapist would usually ask. The apps also offers a range of cues and clues that therapists use to help people to learn or remember the name of each object. It apps allow people to tests their progress and select lists of words they wish to learn. Talk Around It apps help people with word finding difficulties to practice ‘naming techniques’ so that they can improve ‘word retrieval’. The user can select from more than 800 cues that prompt them to remember or learn the words. The apps also include options to test and monitor progress over 12 months.

It has a user friendly interface that does not necessarily the need the support of supervision of a therapist. This is the first evidence based speech rehabilitation app in Hindi. The app is not translated but localized, images, cues and clues are chosen that are relevant to each country. The voices behind each app is not automated but a voice over of a native speaker is included. This is very important; a disabled person who is trying to learn language should not be confused by unfamiliar images, an unnatural sounding voice or cues that do not make sense in his or her culture.

All Talk Around It apps can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play onto any iOS (Apple) or Android device. There is also a 10 image free version of the app in every language which has full functionality. Over 26,000 people have downloaded one or more Talk Around It apps in over 100 countries.

Project Name: Meri Vaani; PickMe
Organisation: Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (PVT) Ltd.
Website: http://www.pickme.lk/
Email: fathhi@pickme.lk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pickme.lk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PickMeLK
Download App Now

Sri Lanka’s PickMe app brings drives, passengers, taxi fleet owners and taxi dispatchers on one mobile platform

Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka (PVT) Ltd. has developed a mobile application— ‘PickMe app’, a GPS and GIS based software is an an integrated solution to bring passengers, drivers, taxi dispatchers and taxi fleet owners on one platform. Further, the app has two interfaces— ‘PickeMe Passenger app’ and ‘PickMe Driver app’

PickMe Passenger app opens to a page that shows the location of the user and the taxis available that are around within a predefined radius. The passenger can hail a vehicle type of his choice. The app would show the movement of the taxi along with the driver details.  The passenger can follow the movement of his/her taxi on the passenger app once the booking is confirmed. When the driver reaches the location, the passenger will get a notification text. Once the trip has been completed, the passenger would get an option to rate their driver and leave a feedback.

On PickMe Driver app, drivers can stay ‘online’ and ‘accept’ request for a taxi hire. Once the ride has been accepted, the driver is indicated the location of the passenger by a red line. The fare of the trip starts when the driver presses ‘Start Trip’ and then ‘Ends Trip’ The fare is automatically calculated and displayed on the phone screen. The driver app is available in 3 languages (Sinhala, Tamil, English) and also colour coded for easy usage by drivers who may not be literate in either language.

Unlike similar applications available worldwide, PickMe actually works to bring people together and maintains it as the main focus. PickME app is building an organised and healthy business ecosystem while giving a hassle-free experience and helping drivers gain more hires.

PickMe has produced a software that arms local taxi drivers with an easy to use technology that builds their occupation and empowers their lives.

PickMe schedules extensive training programmes every week, in which drivers participate to get updated on the latest advancements of the technology, to discuss problems faced in the field, to learn of service etiquette and to address any other issues they may have.

Further, PickMe will include credit card and in-app payments to promote banking and direct payments in a driver’s bank account.  Currently there are 100,000 registered passengers and 3000 drivers approximately. Passenger app available for iOS, Android & Windows phones in all 3 languages.