On April 14, 2018, DEF in collaboration with Qualcomm took its SoochnaPreneur initiative to Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. The Barabanki leg of the initiative was launched amid much celebrations in Saidanpur village, where 25 newly inducted all-women SoochnaPreneurs had gathered in the presence of DEF Founder-Director Osama Manzar, FLO chairperson of Lucknow Chapter Jyotsana…
Soochna Seva, an initiative of DEF and the European Union, is implemented in five backward districts across five Indian states—Barmer (Rajasthan), Guna (Madhya Pradesh), West Champaran (Bihar), Tehri Garhwal (Uttarakhand) and Ranchi (Jharkhand). Initiated in 2014, the project is now in its fifth year of operations. On April 19-20, 2018, an annual review was organised…
Rakhi Kumari is an Internet Saathi from Jamui district of Bihar. As a Saathi, she goes from one house to another every day, enabling more and more women to experience technology, particularly the wonders of a smartphone. However, it’s not an easy job for her either. Firstly, she has to fight the social norms that…
Sanjit Ali Khan hails from Kotulpur district in West Bengal. For the last few months, he’s been working as a volunteer with DEF for its DigiSupport project. DigiSupport, an initiative of DEF and Axis Bank, aims at empowering financially excluded communities to digitally access and consume financial products, services and information through rural digital interventions.…
A collaboration between DEF and Nokia, Smartpur is an initiative that aims to create smart villages in rural India. In these smart villages, the focus is not merely on digital infrastructure but on the resourceful utilisation of digital tools and technology in the daily lives of people. This is achieved through activities across six key…
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) aims to create a knowledge hub and network of leading organisation and innovators in the development sector across South Asia. With this in mind, DEF organises and hosts four annual awards with the overarching goal of creating a common platform for all kinds of digital interventions aimed at socio-economic development and…
Prateek Pathak ISOC Mumbai The Internet has had a transformative impact on human life by facilitating collaboration and interaction between individuals across different identities. Whether it is online browsing, reading a research paper, ordering a dress, interacting with friends, editing an image, engaging with peers over a not-for profit cause, availing e-government services or creating…
The International Women’s Day was celebrated with much enthusiasm on March 8 in Alwar city of Rajasthan. The occasion was celebrated at the local Police Adhiveshan Bhawan, which saw a participation from different civil society bodies, government representatives and women from rural and urban parts of the district. Several organisations that work with women had…
DigiPreraks or volunteers of the DigiSupport project, an initiative of Axis Bank and DEF, across 30 villages in 15 states have completed a three-month-long Digital Financial Literacy Awareness Campaign. DigiSupport is phase two of the DigiPrayas initiative that enabled rural villages to access digital tools and spread awareness on e-banking services through village-level community leaders.…
Rinki Bakoriya, an entrepreneur at CIRC Doudi in Madhya Pradesh, is leading her village towards transformation by empowering the community with simple but integral information services. From a small digital infrastructure hub, she offers a range of services to community members, including digital literacy, access to digital services such as photocopying and printing, and information…