7th eNorth East Award: Two projects from Nagaland among winners

Morung Express News

Dimapur | June 24


Two innovative development projects in Nagaland were among the 11 winners of 7th eNabling North East (eNorth East) Award 2019-2020 which was declared on June 22.


The virtual award event declared a total of 23 sustainable development projects (11 winners and 12 special mentions) of North East India as winners and special mentions in as many as 10 categories including – Access to Public Schemes, citizen services and e-governance services; Agriculture & Rural Development; Biodiversity and Sustainable Development; Livelihood and Income Generation; Education and Learning; and Health and Sanitation.


Among the award winning projects from Nagaland, the ‘Strengthening governance and management of Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) in Nagaland’ project undertaken by the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) won in the Biodiversity & Natural Resources Management category, while the ‘Integrated livelihood with agriculture and piggery in Nagaland’ project  by the North East Initiative Development Agency (Nagaland) (a special agency promoted by the Tata Trusts) won in the Macro Livelihood Intervention Category.


The eNorth East Award event with the theme ‘Sustaining the Pursuit of UN SDGs Post in COVID-19 North East India’ was held virtually following a three-day virtual session where 21 jury experts from academics, development, public sector and media came together to assess, evaluate and shortlist the winners and special mentions for the 7th edition out of 45 development project shortlisted as finalists.


 Secretary of the North Eastern Council (NEC), K Moses Chalai graced the occasion along with other dignitaries and delivered the keynote during the Plenary Session. Chalai highlighted the fact that COVID-19 poses multipronged challenges in almost all sectors of society and economy. However, he observed that it has also forced people, institutions and governments to think differently, find low cost and alternative solutions to deal with the challenges now and for coming days.


He highlighted the need to generate more local entrepreneurship in the region with focus on improving transportation in the region to reduce cost of ferrying goods and services. There are many avenues for local entrepreneurships that the region must look into and NEC is working to support Start-ups in this direction, he said.


Other winners of the 7th eNorth East Award 2019-2020 include ‘Election e-ATLAS’, by the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) in the category Access To Public Schemes, Entitlements, Citizen & E-Governance Services; in Agriculture & Rural Development category the winner was, ‘1917–Integrated Technology Enabled Agri Management System (1917iTEAMS),’ by the Department of Agriculture, Meghalaya and NIC Meghalaya; in the Environment, Climate Change Mitigation & Disaster Management Category, the winner was, ‘Binbag e-Waste Management’, by Binbag Recycling Services Private Ltd. For the Livelihood & Income Generation Category, the InterGlobe Aviation Limited’s (IndiGo)- “Livelihood improvement of tribal communities from Assam- Meghalaya border areas through multiplication of spices”, won the Micro Livelihood Intervention Category.


 In the category Decent Work, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Employment Generation Category, the winner was, ‘Bio fertilizer, bio pesticides, Probiotics based enterprise for Livestock and Aquaculture inputs manufacturing cum marketing,’ by the Green Biotech Ecosolutions , Manipur. In the Quality Education & Learning Category, the winner was, ’Integrated Approach to Technology in Education (ITE) in Assam,’ by the Tata Trusts. In the Health, Sanitation & Well Being Category, the winning Project was the “Bixudha Jol Asoni” by the Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU). In the Science & Tech Category, the winner was, ‘Decentralized Solar Energy Initiative in Manipur,’ by the Centre for Microfinance & Livelihood (CML) An Initiative of Tata Trusts. And in the Peace, Justice & Strong Institution Category, the winner was the, ‘Project Mukti: Freedom from Exploitation of Children and women from Child Sexual Abuse and Human Trafficking in the state of Manipur,’ by the FXB India Suraksha. 


Further, 12 development projects in the region were declared as Special Mentions of the 7th eNorth East Award. 


The 7th eNorth East Award was organised by the North East Development Foundation (NEDF) and Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ICCO India, READ India, NERAMAC, NGO Planet, Development Today, Developmently Magazine, and Association for Social Media Professionals (ASMP) as knowledge partners.