Osama Manzar is the founder and director of Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF). DEF was formed in 2002 using Osama's past experiences in media, journalism and information technology. DEF works to increase the relevance of information technology to rural development programmes and employs various technologies and media to create livelihood opportunities and sustainable enterprises, and to provide mass education and transparent governance across all the villages of India. Recently DEF added its "Content in School" project to create a web-based, open platform for content created by children and teachers of rural India. Last, DEF also manages the national Manthan Award competition for 'the best e-content for development' across India. Osama is the Chairman of the Manthan Award.

Websites:

CHORD is a relief and development organization established in 1998 with the aim of finding solutions to the challenges threatening the lives of the vulnerable sections of Indian society, particularly children. The core focus of CHORD is elimination of child labor, child rights advocacy and women's empowerment. CHORD has been working in the field of child labor elimination in and around Hyderabad in partnerships with the International Labor Organization, local corporations, local communities and other civil society organizations to eliminate child labor and provide alternative livelihoods for families affected by child labor. CHORD recently received a meritorious services award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the contribution in the area of child labor rehabilitation.

Website: www.chordindia.org

INDUSTREE is dedicated to providing rural livelihoods in India through the artisanal sector, employing rural artisans to produce contemporary products for large international export markets. With the assistance of specialized training from Social-Impact, IndusTree will be moving towards a producer-owned cooperative model, in which the production base is owned by the participating artisans. IndusTree's self-empowerment model ensures that producers move up the value chain towards higher wages. Currently the production base is spread across six states in southern and eastern India and employs over 5,000 producers. Neelam Chhiber , is an industrial design graduate from National Institute of Design. Neelam also serves as the Managing Trustee of Industree Crafts Foundation.

Websites: www.industreecrafts.org | www.industreecrafts.com

Founded in 2005, the vision of the Water Literacy Foundation is to make India a 'water literate nation' by creating awareness on rainwater harvesting, conservation, recycling and sustainable natural resource development; and increasing access and quality of water to urban and rural Indians. Since 2005 WLF has conducted more then 829 training and demonstration projects to rural and urban locations throughout India, providing education and awareness to an estimated 2,500,000 people. WLF's most popular products include do-it-yourself manuals on the subjects of roofwater harvesting, rainwater harvesting, and groundwater recharging.

Website: www.waterliteracy.org

SAPL specializes in manufacturing socially relevant products that provide beneficial impact to society at large. The flagship products are the VARSHA RAIN GUN (a water management irrigation device) and the VENUS ENERGY EFFICIENT KEROSENE BURNER, which offers 30% savings in kerosene consumption. SAPLs objectives are energy conservation, water management, rural employment generation and rural energy independence and above all providing income generation opportunities to rural women. Servals' major production of burners is outsourced to a NGO which employs over 50 men and women in the manufacture and distribution of this product. Servals makes use of local self-help groups to market its products, simultaneously providing income generation opportunities to each group's members. Future products will continue to focus on rural energy independence and are being developed in collaboration with international NGOs and financiers.

Website: www.ciionline.org | www.tntdpc.com

Safa's provides socio-economic empowerment to urban, uneducated and economically disadvantaged Muslim women in the old city of Hyderabad. Safa's model provides income generation opportunities to this population, and invests in the community's long-term development through education and the preservation of cultural tradition. Under Safa's leadership, women's cooperatives partner with local NGOs to create unique, hand-made ethnic carpets and similar products. Safa then connects producers with local markets, with proceeds from sales channeled directly to providing fair wages to producers and education to producers' children (particularly young women). Rubina is an entrepreneur, providing training to new employees in the travel industry in Hyderabad. Rubina has been active in the social sector both abroad and in Hyderabad, and has been featured in national magazines for her mentoring efforts and entrepreneurial activities.

Website: www.safa-india.org

Aditi is currently starting Svayameva, with a vision of the creation of wealth for a larger common good. Svayameva will strive to develop the self determination of marginalized weaver and artisan communities to enable them to alleviate their families from poverty. Over and above providing integrated design development services and market linkages to generate ongoing livelihood opportunities, Svayameva will facilitate a fairer distribution of wealth amongst its producer communities at the bottom of the pyramid. Aditi is a textile design professional trained at the prestigious National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad. Aditi designs and develops handwoven and handcrafted products to enable marginalized weaver and artisan communities to leverage their traditional skills to manufacture quality products for contemporary markets. She has worked extensively as a consultant across the NGO, government and private sectors and has widened the scope of her professional services to include inputs related to organization development, business development and fair trade practices.

Niranjan started Nirantara Community Services with the mission of providing equal opportunities through the provision of integrated and quality livelihood financial services to socio-economically underprivileged populations. Nirantara's vision is to provide an environment of self-help through which beneficiaries come out of a vicious cycle of poverty and lead a dignified life. Currently, the organization is serving over 600 poor women entrepreneurs in Bidar district of Karnataka. NCS is planning to begin operations in 22 districts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in the next three years.

Niranjan Sheelavant has over eight years of experience in the development sector. Previous to NCS, he worked in participatory projects on watershed management, sustainable agriculture, natural resources management and livelihood development in the social sector, the commercial sector, microfinance institutions and local government projects.

Website: www.nirantara.org

Byrraju Foundation's mission is to create a world-class platform for sustainable rural transformation. Waste management, under the broader objective of sanitiation and hygiene, is one of Byrraju's 11 different interventions to achieve its mission. The ultimate aim of waste management initiative is to have safe, environment friendly and self-reliant waste collection in all 100 participating villages. Byrraju has initiated a systematic, scientific waste management plan, which addresses the collection, removal, transportation and disposal of waste generated within each participating village. After a two-year subsidized intervention form Byrraju, local community members assume full financial and operational responsibility for ongoing waste-removal and composting activities.

Sreehari has 14 years of experience in the fields of Waste Management with expertise in vermiculture; biotechnology; preservation of watersheds and environmental protection.

Website: www.byrrajufoundation.org

P.D'Silva leads the GramIT initiative at the Byrraju Foundation. GramIT aims to bring thousands of educated rural youth from 'the edge to the centre of the economy' by providing them with job opportunities using technology and connectivity. GramIT is involved in setting up BPO (business process outsourcing) centres in villages throughout southern India. Just as India is providing back office services to the world, GramIT aims to provide back office services to India (particularly the domestic corporate sector). By providing employment opportunities directly to rural communities, GramIT is helping to reduce migration to urban areas, creating wealth in the villages, building up the confidence of the rural youth and increased employment opportunities for women. GramIT currently operates three BPO centres employing over 250 persons. P.D'Silva brings GramIT extensive experience in senior management, sales and marketing.

Website: www.byrrajufoundation.org

The mission of PFT is to identify new market opportunities for small business and producer groups of fair-trade products in Pondicherry. In the next three years, PFT will work to create a fair-trade cooperative that brings several producer groups together, thus leveraging small economies of scale. Simultaneously, PFT will be working to increase access to the market for fair trade goods through active marketing and facilitation to consumer groups. Currently, Ravikuluaraman offers his consultancy services to like-minded civil society organizations working in the domains of livelihoods and fair trade. Currently PFT is working with 300 families that produce a wide variety of natural products, including cotton, wood and ceramics. In the next three years, PFT aims to support 1,000 families as well as increase the size and scope of its producers' coopertive. Ravikularaman has a Post Graduate in Law and has worked in the private and voluntary sectors for over 20 years.

Website: www.fairtradepondy.com

Krushi is a non-profit organization working in the Northern Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh since 1997. Krushi is a comprehensive rural development organization, working in the areas of natural resource management, health and nutrition, women's empowerment and sustainable agriculture development. Currently Krushi's services reach an estimated 60,000 families, covering 250,000 beneficiaries in districts such as Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Adilabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Before starting Krushi, Premchand began his career as village panchayat surpanch (President) in 1989. He took active part in addressing the people's issues and made strong efforts in the implementation of government-funded development projects. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh honored Premchand with a state level award as a token of recognition for his exceptional services in the fields of natural resource management and women and child welfare

Website: www.krushiindia.org

Books Line publishes local language books and magazines meant for the rural poor of Andhra Pradesh. In determining the content for its publications, Books Line first screens the information needs of the rural poor, then writes scripts with the help of content experts. Each publication is field-tested with the target audience prior to mass production. The books are self-learning material published in a jargon-free language with pictures covering a wide variety of topics related to rural livelihoods and women's health. Books Line's major customers (buyers) are individuals, farmers, women's groups, NGOs, donor agencies and local government agencies. Books Line has over 65 publications, and it is presently working on a pilot programme of village reading clubs for illiterate women's groups. In the next three years, Books Line intends to begin publishing its books in a number of other languages for a significant expansion of its readership. Before Books Line, Supriya Bhalerao was a professional publisher and regional manager with Wiley Eastern Ltd.

Website: www.bookslineindia.com