Carlos Afonso at WSF 2003 Carlos Afonso, executive director of the Information Network for the Third Sector (RITS) was presented with the ARede 2008 Award for the best digital inclusion projects in Brazil. The judges named Carlos Personality of the Year 2008, based on his commitment to connecting Brazilians of all backgrounds and classes by promoting social inclusion through the development of internet and digital inclusion programs.
In his acceptance speech, Carlos thanked the panel and audience for the award via video, and pointed out that Brazil needs a strategic national policy on information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) that takes into account Brazil’s unique geographical situation and caters to the needs of people across the country, benefiting citizens of every socio-economic class.
The ARede Award is an initiative of ARede magazine, which also awarded eight other projects in the following categories: Special education, enterprise, public sector and third sector. Of the total of 206 projects that were registered from almost every state in Brazil, the majority (79) belonged to the special education category.
About Carlos Afonso
Carlos was one of the co-founders of the APC in 1990, and served as APC’s first chair from 1997 to 1998. He has been with RITS for over eleven years, and has been executive director there since March 2008.