Ten In Ten: 10,000 Connected and Sustainable Villages in Ten Years

LEN - kioskby Judi Romaine

A man named Manav is empowering the most disenfranchised of women of rural India.

Using science and technology, he and his team have created a project entitled Ten In Ten  (10,000 Villages in 10 Years), providing the training, basic computer tools and technical support needed for those women to educate their children, create sustainable businesses and connect with women in other rural villages.

The fulfillment of Manav’s dream will be to have 10,000 Indian villages financially sustainable within ten years.

In 2004 when Manav did The Landmark Forum he asked himself the questions “What do I stand for? What is my calling?” The answer was and continues to be making a big difference in the world, creating a ripple effect of empowering others to become leaders and empower others. When Manav began Landmark Education’s Team Management and Leadership Program in 2012, he found the tools to go beyond where he had been stopped as an individual and create a team with the capacity and resources to fulfill on his vision.

Manav realized that while India has become a leader in global technology, the country itself is facing an agrarian crisis, with many families trapped in the cycle of poverty, with no access to technology that can lift them out of this condition.

The first phase of 10 In 10 is to provide:

* Internet literacy

* Communication skills

* Support in applying these skills to educate children and create businesses and entrepreneurships.

Manav and his team realized that it is the women who make things happen for families in poverty around the world.  They determined that if the 10 In 10 Team provides the women in the villages with access to technology, local trainings and ongoing support, the women will use those tools to create village level businesses, offering products in larger markets and using technology for gathering information in other villages to team up and create sustainability. The use of technology will transform their economic viability.

WHAT’S HAPPENING  SO FAR

When the project got started four months ago, the first obstacle the team encountered was how to make technology friendly. Since the tree is held in high regard throughout India and is an object everyone relates to, the team built an artificial tree kiosk in the center of the first village and installed the monitor within the trunk.

The first village is already up and running, using Skype as the first access tool. By the end of 2012, a curriculum will be available in a 20-hour course for the women on how to use the Internet. Already the computer is being used by the villagers to connect with banks and other villages.

Manav and his team have begun raising funds and gathering sponsorship. They have enlisted two major global corporations so far who have signed onto the project. The next phase is to expand the technology, offer training camps, recruit trainers, and complete the curriculum for that training. The short-term goal is to have one hundred villages connected within nine months, seeking donors who can sponsor those individual villages. The team is now putting together proposals for the government, individual donors and large corporations as well to raise one million dollars for the first 100 villages.

THE FUTURE

Manav envisions his team’s project eventually becoming a nonprofit organization, affecting a million people who in turn will impact a billion others. With Ten In Ten already up and running in one village in less than four months, the next question Manav is considering is how to move the project beyond ‘us’, so that it is sustainable and eventually brings financial sustainability well beyond India to the youth of Palestine, to poorer countries in Africa and around the world until it becomes an unstoppable force woven into the fabric of all cultures, taking on a life of its own.

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10 comments

Mindy says:

GREAT job, Judi! It was my homework in ILP to be reading this and THEN i realized it was YOUR story!!!! I was completely taken into this story……

Next time it will be mine!

Mindy Sullivan
landmarkforumnews.com columnist

Arnab Chakraborty says:

Hi,

Can I please get Manav’s email address.

Thank you,
Arnab Chakraborty

tusha gupta says:

hi,
I d like to keep in touch with this project as it progresses.Kudos Manav.Great initiative.

Sandra Valks says:

I would like occasional updates. Perhaps in the future I can step up for an active part, but at this time, I would love to be following the developments! Amazing work being done. I’m currently working with the Quinte Grannies for Africa through the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Same premise – to empower the women to make a change in their villages. Great job!

I am very inspired by your initiative. Planning to launch an empowerment initiative for the women of Guyana in 2013. I look forward to following your progress. Much success to you, your team and the women of India.

LE Grads - Initiative Brings Technology to Indian Villages says:

[…] More can be read about the initiative at Landmark Education News. […]

Brigid Greene says:

I hope to read about how this project is progressing. Keep us updated.
Also, I’d like to be involved.
How can we reach Manav?

Krishna Prasad says:

Heartening .. but it is 2 years now .. and how do we track / follow the progress ?
.. Also Manav and Shubham may like to take a look at RANGDE.ORG .. a fully Online and Unique Model / Platform to Fight Poverty in India .. not thru Donations – but thru Social Investors / Investment. I am associated with RANGDE.ORG since Jan 2010. In Dec 2012 me along with family had a session with the Founders .. and I Pledged to Play for raising 40,000 Social Investors on RANGDE .. for I firmly believe that RANGDE Model is that effective in fighting Poverty / Empowering Rural Entrepreneurs. .. I got into LONG DISTANCE RUNNING to associate with Socila Initiatives in 2009.
I have done my Landmark FORUM in 1992 .. so the Interest -Sagi

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