eRomania Gateway (eRG) is a not-for-profit organization promoting and supporting e-development in Romania. Established in November 2001, the association is an open partnership between the public sector (represented by the Romanian Government as a founding member and under the umbrella of the Romanian Presidency), the business community and civil society organizations eRG runs its activities within the context of World Bank's "Development Gateway" (DG) initiative, which aims to assist countries in establishing a presence on the Internet through Country Gateway portals, as well as promoting the Internet as a central tool for development and poverty alleviation at a global level. Mission Objectives Results Market position Funding Background Mission The mission of eRG is to create an institutional framework that will become a comprehensive tool for development, communication and knowledge exchange for individuals, governments, businesses and civil society at large. To this purpose, eRG will act as a facilitator, promoting and implementing e-development initiatives and providing a co-operation platform for stakeholders from various fields interested in interacting and sharing information, resources, knowledge, and expertise. top   Objectives Our goals are: to develop and manage a leading Internet portal on Romania - "Romania Development Gateway" (RDG); to assist the Romanian Government and Romania in general in drawing-up and implementing various initiatives part of the national information strategy; to conduct public awareness campaigns on ICTs' impact on economy, education, and society as a whole. eRG will serve five broad market segments - individuals, governments, businesses, civil society organizations and donor agencies. People / institutions not using the Internet at this moment or those that are not aware of all its benefits represent a special category. top   Results The expected results of the association's activity are: Leverage the capacity of the Romanian government, the private sector and civil society to use the Internet to promote development; Facilitate creation and sharing of development knowledge, solutions and opportunities globally and locally; Foster the transparency of local and central administration, private sector and civil society; Enable local partnerships and affiliation programs in adding value to RDG; Build, mobilize, and upgrade local content and capacity; Foster community expression; Promote local ownership; Facilitate e-commerce; Reduce the digital divide between developed and developing countries by building an infrastructure suitable to the DGD - RDG connection that will enable collaborative information exchange. top   Market position eRomania Gateway positions itself as: the operator of the development portal with the same name aggregating information in key areas such as: Romanian business environment, legal framework, international development programs (World Bank, EU, USAID, UNDP, etc), civil society resources and NGOs, etc; a public awareness campaign vehicle aiming to present the impact of IT on transforming the economy and the society; eRG will conduct media and PR campaigns, will organize seminars and workshops, prepare white papers and other relevant materials, etc.; a technical assistance resource center for programs of interest (those addressing issues such as e-government, e-learning, IT in healthcare, etc), as well as an instrument for managing such programs financed by various donor organizations. top   Funding eRomania Gateway benefits from an implementation grant from infoDev (a multi-donor grant facility hosted by the World Bank Group - www.infoDev.org). Local groups in 32 countries have received infoDev Planning Grants and many others have expressed strong interest or are preparing proposals. The grants are provided to various local organizations, including research centers (Uzbekistan), private sector companies (Kazakhstan), governments (Indonesia), universities (West Bank and Gaza Strip), foundations (Costa Rica), and non-governmental organizations (Romania). In all cases, government clearance and support is required. Many of the organizations represent groups from various sectors that have joined together for the purpose of establishing country portals on development. In fiscal year 2002, infoDev will allocate USD 1,350,000 for both Country Gateways Planning and Implementation Grants. infoDev expects to fund about 5-7 proposals with an average of about USD 100,000 per grant. Background Development Gateway (DG) initiated the setting up of a network of globally linked Internet portals ("gateways") for developing countries. The DG is the most comprehensive portal for information on development, emerging markets and business opportunities throughout the world. It will offer an efficient way to gather and present data and information relating to all aspects of development. It will create a marketplace that can apply the evolving e-business techniques to business, government and development communities. DG will provide easy access to relevant knowledge, contacts and opportunities for development. It will thus enable governments, the private sector and civil society to leverage information technology for faster development, capacity building and partnerships on a global scale. Since knowledge is highly distributed, local participation has to be a key feature of the DG. In terms of content, much of the DG will have to be built bottom-up by local and professional communities. Country Gateways will thus be an important organizational feature of the DG network. top