Responding to Philip's query: [quote]-> How have value propositions been created to drive demand for ICTs?[/quote] The value proposition should be defined by the incremental benefit that the farmer is deriving out of using an ICT application. In case of LifeLines, the key differentiator is critical & time dependent knowledge on farm input, that impacted crop productivity and profit to the farmers. Even within our project villages, a direct correlation between demand for LifeLines service & crop productivity can be established. And I would argue this to be true in other rural ICT applications as well. Naimur Rahman OneWorld South Asia

Hello, My name is Naimur Rahman and I am associated with OneWorld South Asia - the South Asian Regional Centre of OneWorld Network. At OneWorld South Asia we believe in leveraging the democratic potential ICTs and emerging media for sustainable development; and appropriating traditional and state-of-the-art Internet technology to bring about qualitative improvements in people's lives in remote rural communities. In realisation to these goals, we now have initiated LifeLines-India, an innovative and multistakeholder initiative to provide key knowledge service to around 40,000 farmers in 700 villages in North & Central India. During the course of this e-discussion, I hope to share more on LifeLines-India initiative and its newer derivatives. For other details on OneWorld South Asia, please do visit our portal http://southasia.oneworld.net Thanks & Regards, Naimur Rahman