Cover Story
C-DERP: Facet of Relief Amid Pandemic
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has been working towards empowering marginalized communities in information dark regions for over 18 years. With the aim of serving the community amid the pandemic, DEF launched the Covid-19 Digital Emergency Relief Program (C-DERP), an ICT-enabled, community specific programme through virtual community and service facilitation. It has enabled 600+ digital information resource centers and over 10,000 foot soldiers across 23 states and union territories in the fight against covid-19 in rural India. DEF’s Covid-19 Relief Warriors, as we like to call them, are working tirelessly across many backward and rural areas to help build community engagement and trust. They have delivered food relief kits, provided access to essential information on banking services and government schemes and other digital services. They have further helped raise awareness about Covid-19, enabled women entrepreneurs through making and distributing masks, hand sanitizers and tackling misinformation and fake news, thereby creating a huge impact on the community. Each week, we will share the change DEF’s Relief Warriors and Digital Foot Soldiers are making on the ground. Their hard work, motivation and will to help the vulnerable during the ongoing crisis have made community relations stronger than before. The Covid-19 pandemic has unimaginably affected social, economic, institutional and governance setting.
Community First: Smartpur Relief Warriors Step Up Amid Covid Crisis
As the country faces another extension of the covid-19 lockdown, state governments are preparing themselves for an unprecedented situation related to food distribution, health check-ups, allowing functioning of industrial units and allocation of other resources, especially for the poor.
DEF Dialogue: Productive Steps Towards Community Support And Sustenance
Lockdown has changed the way we interact with each other. The existing Digital infrastructure is acting as a crutch for the current economy and society. DEF keeping in mind the current situation is interacting with people in 600 locations across 25 states to analyse the current scenario equally across the country.
Not All Superheroes Wear a Cape, Some Stitch Masks
The ongoing global pandemic has led government agencies to refocus on community healthcare and hygiene. Individuals as their social duty should maintain and uphold the prescribed health norms to protect not only their lives, but also of others. The Covid-19 Relief Warriors at DEF's Smartpur Kollegal center in Karnataka...
Relief Reaches Weaver Clusters Amid Lockdown
With a county-wide lockdown situation throughout April and now May, DEF’s Covid-19 Relief Warriors worked in clusters across the county to benefit those in need amid the ongoing health crisis. Under the Digikala project, coordinator Rakesh in Barapali in Odisha made food kits and distributed it in the community.
Relief Warrior Nutan Forwards a Helping Hand for Community Sustenance
The Internet Saathi team is committed to provide relief resources and opportunities to all its beneficiaries amid the ongoing pandemic. With the belief that war against Covid-19 can be only won with awareness, empathy and coordination among communities...
The World Stopped, Not Our Goals
COVID-19 and its fast spread around the globe have forced us all to be in lockdown. The world has almost come to a standstill, though the Digital World is alive beyond thought. GOAL is a digitally enabled mentorship project which has proved to be sustainable during the lockdown.Our mentors have been taking regular classes with mentees.
Digital Solutions to Covid-19 Crisis with Osama Manzar
In an webinar held on May 9, 2020, Osama Manzar, DEF founder and director talked about impact of Covid-19 on communities in rural India. He also explained how DEF's digital interventions under its Covid-19 Digital Emergency Relief Programme (C-DERP), helped build community trust engagement. The programme aims to extend aid to 3,00,000 households through its 10,000+ Digital Foot Soldiers or the Covid-19 Relief Warriors.
DEFDialogue Covid-19 E15: Pre and Post Covid Economics
Watch DEF's special series on Covid-19 where we connect to our network in 600 locations across 25 states to find out how the corona virus and the lockdown has impacted their area and measures they are undertaking to tackle it.
Kya Aap Hamare Saath Hain?
With 10,000 digital foot soldiers across 130 districts in 23 states, DEF has been instrumental in providing basic necessities such as ration, government entitlements, safety kits, vital information and banking services to keep people safe and healthy during the ongoing Covid c-19 crisis.
House No. 44, 3rd Floor, Kalu Sarai, New Delhi | def@defindia.net | www.defindia.org | +91-11-26532786