The Web in the village

An NGO in Delhi is empowering people across villages in India with digital literacy

At a time when data is being considered a more valuable resource than gold, contemporary economists have come to define poverty not simply in terms of lack of money and resources, but also lack of access to information. This is what makes the 15-year trajectory of the Delhi-based Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) so important. Since 2002, DEF has been spreading digital literacy across the country, with the understanding that marginalised communities can be empowered to improve their lives on their own simply by training them to use computer-based technologies. “When I began working in the development sector,” says Osama Manzar, founder of DEF, “I was struck by the ‘information poverty’ I saw in communities across the country.” 

Without any access to information about development schemes, marketing channels and educational media that could directly benefit them, let alone any knowledge of the world around them, these communities were poor at every level, and destined to stay that way. Manzar realised that digital literacy and easy access to internet at the grassroot level could offer a low investment, high outcome development tool. Thus, DEF was born. Since then, the folks at DEF have seen the transformational power of computers on people’s lives. From the teenager from Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh) who has made friends across the country on Facebook and surfs the internet for help with homework to weavers in Chanderi (Madhya Pradesh) who have set up an e-commerce platform to eliminate middlemen, access to the digital media has been a gamechanger. 

DEF has expanded its scope of work into five related areas: improving governance using information technology, promoting digital literacy, setting up online business channels to bolster rural livelihoods, creating wireless infrastructure, and using digital media for social upliftment. Here’s a sampler of what it has done till now. 

With National Internet Exchange of India, DEF has set up 500 digital gram panchayats in 10 states, with an easy flow of information and transparent functioning. “We are also developing an app through which people can get information about all the government entitlements and schemes,” says Manzar. DEF’s Wireless for Communities (W4C) programme in collaboration with Internet Society provides low-cost internet connectivity to hitherto unconnected regions. Additionally, DEF has set up over 200 Community Information Resource Centers (CIRCs) mostly in districts that lack digital connectivity. These have computers, printers, scanners and all basic digital equipment together with internet connectivity. In remote rural areas where mainstream ISPs fear to tread, DEF has provided broadband internet connectivity at a low cost using unlicensed spectrum and inexpensive wireless technology. Through its eNGO programme, DEF has put over 5,000 grassroot civil society organisations online, showcasing their accomplishments globally and boosting fund raising through digital means and crowd sourcing.

As Manzar says, the costs of developing digital infrastructure aren’t high, especially when one weighs them against the outcomes. For example, each CIRC, which is capable of serving people in a 5-10 km radius, costs about Rs 5 lakh to set up. DEF is able to develop simple websites for under Rs 15,000 per annum (e-commerce websites cost about Rs 50,000 annually). It’s the sheer scale of work that lies ahead, however, that is huge. The country has 250,000 panchayats, 1.5 million schools and, according to a recent McKinsey report, a billion people without internet access. It also must be done very quickly, as the present government’s plan of developing “smart” cities in a new digital India cannot be done without developing “smart” infrastructure. So far, DEF has collaborated with British Council, Ford Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Google and several other donors. 

Meanwhile, Manzar and his colleagues are driven by the zeal to connect all of India’s disconnected to the world. “The internet is a much more inclusive space than the offline world, with everyone having equal access to information on the internet,” says Manzar. “When a person is online, his caste, religion and economic status become unimportant.” This explains DEF’s ambitious aim of bringing digital connectivity and literacy to all of India’s 272 backward districts spanning 2,900 blocks in the next three years. For Manzar, this is as much of an imperative as ensuring food, education and health for all. “It’s time we began to see digital connectivity, not as luxury,” he says, “but as a fundamental human right.”
 

For more, visit defindia.org or their page on Facebook

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