India Leads Way in New Approach to Development

Hyderabad, April , 2002: PRNewswire-AsiaNet-: A new Internet platform called DevelopmentSpace has recently been launched that will act as a powerful tool to raise the economic and social welfare of people throughout India and around the world. Though launched only few weeks ago, DevelopmentSpace has already secured initial funding for its first project a sanitation system for a school in Ganapathy, Coimbatore City. 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met with the creators during the design phase and
persuaded them to create enhanced functionality for Andhra Pradesh users. The Chief Minister then pledged up to $6.5 million in matching state grants for funding mobilized through DevelopmentSpace for education projects. "By showcasing projects through DevelopmentSpace, social investors all over the world will be able to see the creativity and energy that is dedicated to development in Andhra Pradesh," Chief Minister Naidu said. 

Randeep Sudan, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister, added that "lack of imagination is often the most important constraint to development. DevelopmentSpace is one outstanding example of how the digital medium could be creatively and innovatively used .." 

BodhTree Consulting in Hyderabad developed the software platform for this powerful service, dubbed, "the foreign aid equivalent of the speed of light," by the Washington Post. BodhTree was hired because of its deep expertise in web-services. 

"DevelopmentSpace overcomes the huge challenge of managing different kinds of individual, collaborative and community based development projects at remote locations," said Bodhtree CTO Sanjay Verma. 

DevelopmentSpace allows individuals, organizations, and companies around the world to collaboratively design, finance, and implement development and international assistance projects online. For the first time, small donors as well as larger social investors will be able to connect directly to leading social entrepreneurs in India to help finance high-impact projects both large and small. 

The DevelopmentSpace service can work in either of two ways. The first is bottom-up: for the first time social entrepreneurs -- people and organizations with ideas -- can submit projects for consideration by the global network of donors and development experts. 

DevelopmentSpace can also run in reverse: foundations, companies, organizations, or individuals can announce that they intend to provide a certain amount of funding for specific types of projects in specific countries. 

Dennis Whittle and Mari Kuraishi established DevelopmentSpace after having led the Innovation and
Corporate Strategy Group for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. They served a combined total of more than twenty years in the world's leading development institution. 

"In working at the World Bank, we realized that there is a huge untapped reservoir of ideas, expertise, and money out there," Kuraishi noted. "By opening up the process, we can spark innovative, life-changing aid projects --and what better place to start than India?"

DevelopmentSpace has a diverse group of founding partners including Hewlett-Packard, the Calvert
Foundation, Mercy Corps, Give2Asia, PACT, as well as universities like MIT. DevelopmentSpace is also developing a partnership with the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Indian School of Business. 

Reachout's News Bureau
-April '2002

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