Dr. Amita Joseph Director, Business & Community Foundation (BCF) It is high time that no one is left behind, in the current interconnected world, we have to help the elderly to learn and reap the benefits of the digital era. In India, there are 106 million elderly of which 98 % of them do not…
As a part of our ongoing research on empowering rural communities digitally, the research department of Digital Empowerment Foundation produced two reports on Understanding Agriculture and ICT Practices in India and Enhancing Livelihood of Artisans and Weavers in Knowledge Economy in the month of February 2020. Both the reports have tried to shed light on…
Mohini, a resident of Saidanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is a housewife. Due to her husband’s busy schedule she was unable to get regular checkups during her pregnancy. Pooja Devi, one of the DEF’s Soochnapreneurs, with her smartphone and internet met her and the first thing she did was to link her to the maternity benefit program…
Navti, a 42-year-old mentee from Village Sawroli of Palgarh District, Maharashtra, has been supporting her family financially since the age of 10. She started as a next-door babysitter and earned bare minimum wages. But soon her capabilities and integrity attracted bigger opportunities and she moved to Mumbai to be an in-house babysitter. She travelled internationally…
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) supported by US India Policy Institute (USIPI) has set up eight community information resource. Most of these places do not even have a motorable road or direct transport. But the coordinators of these digital centers with the help of their laptops and internet ensure access to information to them. One of…
Menstruation is a biological process, a body expulsion exclusive to women. Management of this process of bleeding is a very crucial factor in a women’s life as she will experience around 400 periods in her life. However, menstrual options for women are few. In scenarios where resources are low, menstruation is poorly managed by the…
Hellotask App, based out of Dhaka in Bangladesh, was selected as the winner for 10th mBillionth Awards under the Inclusion and Empowerment category. Hellotask connects the nearest free and freelance domestic helpers with customers based on time, location and type of work. The app allows users to hire domestic help for any duration of time,…
Abhjeet Mehta, Chief Operating Officer, Quest Alliance Young people across the world see mobile and by extension the app ecosystem, as a symbol of progress, upward mobility and status. In India, Quest Alliance, a not-for-profit, has witnessed the rise of smart phone adoption among large cross sections of youth-from school dropouts enrolled in a short…
Fifty kilometers from Trichy is a town called Musiri which is home to over 5000 weavers. They make silk and cotton sarees or veshti. However, many shifted to powerloom and those who could not afford are struggling to make their ends meet. So much so that, a powerloom weaver earns around Rs.65 per saree and…
STEM for Girls (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) is an initiative of IBM, supported by QUEST Alliance and DEF. It is a school based programme focused on life skills, career guidance, digital literacy and coding skills. Teachers from 53 schools across districts of Guwahati attended a training programme from January 21-22. They were trained about…