Empowering Smart and Service Oriented Women

Women empowerment plays a pivotal role in the overall development of any country besides positively impacting the day to day lives of women. The progressive change in the fields of employment and information technology have brought a wide range of opportunities for women in India and across the globe.

The reforming development in mobile technology has brought world communities closer, narrowing the digital divide. One, now has access to the everyday national and global news at their fingertips, this has led to women being more socially and culturally aware. Technology has enabled them not only to be updated about their surroundings but also to become independent. Digitalization has empowered them economically and made them aware of global trends.

One such example is the Smartpur project initiated by Nokia and DEF. The project works around the six pillars of health, education, finance, governance, entertainment and livelihood. This testimonial will narrate how the women of Kollegal are working towards making their community more digitally sound and equipped. This edition narrates the story of three women, Radha, Gowri and Sathya,  who overcame all the odds to provide services to the people of their community.

Before the Smartpur spoke centre opened in Palanimedu, all the three residents used to go to Ramapura Village (8km away) or Hanur (20km away) to avail services under the governance pillar. This process was tedious as it robbed them of the daily wages for that particular day, other than this they had to spend extra money for travelling and waste many hours. With the initiation of the Smartpur centre in their area, they avail all these facilities almost at their doorstep. The facilities include printing, photocopy, Aadhar edits etc.

These women not only availed the services of the Smartpur centre but also acted as the resource persons to spread knowledge about digital literacy. These motivated individuals asked the youth to enroll themselves in the various Digital Literacy classes conducted under Smartpur’s education pillar. These women have been a great source of motivation in their village.