On 11 January 2021, the World Bank Group and CES announced the winners of the Global Tech Challenge: Solutions for Women, launched at CES 2020. Among the list of winners is the ‘SoochnaPreneur’ (Information Entrepreneur) model from India, a solution driven by the New Delhi-based Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF). The other two winners of the Global Tech Challenge are Bridge for Billions and MicroMentor.
The winning solutions are recognised for their innovative efforts in addressing the widening digital divide and internet access gaps for women, and for generating opportunities created by digital technologies, particularly during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when connectivity is key.
“From increasing access to connectivity and information for women in rural areas to mentoring isolated female entrepreneurs, the winners of this challenge are tackling the digital gender divide on multiple fronts. The World Bank Group is pleased to work with the selected innovators so that women and girls worldwide can fully embrace the opportunities offered by digital transformation,” said Boutheina Guermazi, the World Bank’s Director of Digital Development, during the announcement.
The SoochnaPreneur solution is recognised for its digital-based rural and community entrepreneurship drive that connects India’s rural citizens to information, rights, government entitlements, and other essential digital services. Since its inception, it has trained 25,000 rural women, who have in turn empowered more than 5 million rural women across India.
“We are strongly committed to the idea that connecting women to communication and information technologies will ultimately benefit the development of society at large. Therefore, the prospect of scaling our innovation and reaching more people is thrilling for all of us working on the Soochnapreneur programme, and we look forward to engaging with World Bank Group teams to create a greater impact,” said Osama Manzar, Founder of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), in his response to the announcement.
“DEF is committed to working towards addressing social and economic challenges through social and digital innovations and solutions involving critical stakeholders, including women, and to addressing the gender digital divide and other access-related gaps,” Mr Manzar added.
The ‘Soochnapreneur’ initiative was launched by the Digital Empowerment Foundation in 2016 with initial grant support from Qualcomm under its ‘Wireless Reach’ programme. Since then, the solution—traversing diverse scopes, challenges, and opportunities—has been able to reach underserved areas and communities with access to information, public entitlements, and digital resources through community-led ‘Soochnapreneurs’ (more at https://soochnapreneur.in/). The solution has since received support from diverse partners and stakeholders for replication and scale-up, with the vision of creating ‘Soochnapreneurs’ in every village/Panchayat in India as information and digital change agents.
The 2020 winning solutions were evaluated by a panel of leading experts from Microsoft 4Afrika Initiatives, GSMA, SoftBank, the International Telecommunication Union, IBM, and The Female Quotient.
Digital Empowerment Foundation and IIHMR University, Jaipur, joined hands to address India’s rural digital gender divide through the Global Tech Challenge 2020. Winning this challenge is a testament to these joint efforts and recognition of initiatives that have helped improve diversity and promote women’s empowerment. Both DEF and IIHMR are committed to taking this knowledge and digital partnership forward to address wider digital gaps in India and beyond.
The Global Tech Challenge was launched by the World Bank Group—one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries—in partnership with CES, the world’s most influential technology event, to bridge the digital gender divide. Supported by the World Bank’s Digital Development Practice, whose mission is to achieve connectivity for all, the challenge rewards scalable and innovative technological solutions that seek to increase digital access, skills, and opportunities for women. Through the Tech Challenge each year, the World Bank Group and CES aim to recognise scalable, innovative technological solutions that empower women across four areas: Platforms, Digital Skills, Online Content, and Enhancing Digital Access.
Digital Empowerment Foundation is a pan-India ICT for development organisation working towards digital innovations and solutions to address critical development needs in India, especially in underserved and marginalised regions, communities, and geographies.
