Empowering India's Rural Workforce: DesiCrew

It is hard to decide where to start when writing about DesiCrew.. The only thought that comes to mind is, AWESOME. Few can top the flair they infuse in their business. Whoever said that businesses are like people, would surely find exemplary conduct in the behavior of this particular team. DesiCrew found its purpose from the social and market conundrums holding India back from reaching its maximum potential in geo-political growth. When we think of India’s problems of over-population, poverty and pollution we do not consider that these are problems caused primarily by the extreme overcrowding of cities due to high rural to urban movement of the population. With the current rate of urbanization, in approximately two decades, India’s urban population is set to reach 600 million, a figure twice as high as it is today. One possible solution to the resulting urban poverty and income inequality would be to include and integrate poor migrants into the urbanization agenda. Another solution would be to nip the problem at the bud. DesiCrew seeks to do exactly this by focusing on the development of social activism amongst India’s rural population.

Founder Saloni Malhotra at a DesiCrew micro-center

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) estimates indicate that there are 130 million educated workers in rural India with little or no access to meaningful employment. DesiCrew’s decentralized business model stimulates profit-accumulating social enterprise that benefits clients as well as educated, unemployed Indians.

The DesiCrew network is composed of carefully selected rural and semi-urban micro-centers of about 25 facility workers. Each center runs under the guidance of a professional and provides back-end services to global clients. These micro-centers are usually located in territories with populations ranging from 10 to 100 thousand people and the workforce manning these centers are trained by the DesiCrew staff.

DesiCrew's workforce

This business model seems to benefit the community above all by introducing IT-knowledge and computer based jobs, lowering attrition rates amongst families of the community and offering viable but lower costing production for clients. The performance of DesiCrew in managing to cater to multiple industries, geographies, and Indian languages/ dialects hopes to encourage the reversal of currently trending migration. By the looks of their impact and success so far, there is no doubting they will. It comes as no surprise that their priorities seem to be in constant auto-correct mode after having read their vision statements and “Quality Charter.”

The current portfolio of DesiCrew enjoys a strong world-wide reputation for outstanding delivery and an average 40% cost saving from existing clients. In addition to the growing projects, clients and contracted clients, DesiCrew is living proof that a certain stereotype of rural people’s incapacities is indeed unfounded when push comes to pull. The success of DesiCrew reflects the dedicated efficacy of rural BPOs. It is certainly worth keeping an eye out for this organization as they seek to expand the number of employees and clientele of leading companies. Visit http://desicrew.in/index.html to meet the board of directors, management team and partners involved in driving this group forward.

Iliana Foutsitzis is a recent graduate of Northeastern University's Political Science curriculum. Before embarking on a law degree Iliana is spending a gap year in New Delhi, India interning with the Niiti Consulting team. Contact Iliana at ifoutsitzis@gmail.com.

Using Communication Technology to Help Farmers Become More Productive: Digital Green

Digital Green (DG) has been a revolutionary example of how communications technology can change the lives of many. Digital Green has succeeded in providing opportunities for communication between people of a targeted interest, specifically, farming. Their aim is to impact the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across the developing world through the targeted production and dissemination of agricultural information via participatory video and mediated instruction through grassroots-level partnerships.

Digital Green is unique in that it has used social networking to improve farming knowledge. It has created “Wonder Village,” a virtual game for getting acquainted with rural realities and various farming techniques, as well as “Farmerbook” an online social platform for farmers to upload videos, share insights and create venture opportunities.

A video in the process of being shot

The DG system provides structure to a traditional, informally-trained vocation. Small and marginal farmers have come together like never before from across seven states -Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Uttar Pradesh in India. Recently the organization has extended its work to Ghana and Ethiopia, as well as sending a research team to work in the Philippines with the partnership of International Rice Research Institute.

The Digital Green model promotes inclusive growth by diffusing sustainable, high-productivity agricultural methods to all interested members of a community, regardless of class or caste. And it works. The DG model has been found to be 10 times more effective per dollar spent and 7 times more impactful when compared to conventional agricultural extension systems. Further, a preliminary sample analysis found that in the first eight months in which the Digital Green system was deployed, there was an average cumulative increase in incomes of US $242 per farmer relative to control sites. Hence it is no surprise that Digital Green has gained attention from US-Secretary General Hillary Clinton. Addressing a US-India Innovative Solutions seminar earlier this year, Clinton commented: “For decades, scientists, engineers and social innovators from India and United States have worked side-by-side, the most famous example perhaps are the agricultural improvements that led to the Green Revolution. Today I met entrepreneurs from an organization called ‘Digital Green’, who are carrying on that work. Using technology to share agriculture-based practices with farmers themselves (it) is now possible…for farmers to be in their villages (and) look at videos about agricultural techniques that they can apply in their own work.”

Rikin Gandhi (CEO, Digital Green) explaining DGs model to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi, India on May 8, 2012

Ingredients involved in the making of Digital Green involve a video-centric database, farmers and distribution management. India is an agriculture-based economy where over 60% of the population relies on home production for livelihood. However due to rapid social, economic and environmental change, farming has been unable to make money as well as maintain its inherited traditions. The video based approach therefore has many advantages for both economic and cultural reasons. Farmers can now watch comprehensive video content without the barriers of language, expert terminology, grass-root practicalities or a sea of scattered media. Aside from the online platforms, means of disseminating content from the Digital Green database is shipping DVDs to a village. Villages are provided a minimum of a TV and DVD player that is operated by NGO field staff and managed by local farmers.

Screening of DG carried content with a TV and DVD player that is operated by NGO field staff

In the next three and half years Digital Green hopes to expand its out-reach to 500,000 small and marginal farmers in partnership with the National Rural Livelihood Mission. In future, this initiative will be co-funded by the Government of India and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and will eventually transition to larger alliances of partners, donors, and supporters coordinated by Digital Green. Visit www.digitalgreen.org to know more or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

Iliana Foutsitzis is a recent graduate of Northeastern University's Political Science curriculum. Before embarking on a law degree Iliana is spending a gap year in New Delhi, India interning with the Niiti Consulting team. Contact Iliana at ifoutsitzis@gmail.com.

Taking Control of a Tourism Industry: Mountain Shepherds Initiative

Nanda Devi, one of the tallest mountains along the Garhwal Himalayas, takes its name from Hindi meaning Bliss-Giving Goddess. Nanda Devi stood for a long time as the tallest peak in the Indian country and in the entire British Empire, hailing people with a passion for climbing from all parts of the Western World and otherwise. The first ascent was made by four American undergraduates of the Harvard Mountaineering Club coupled with four experienced British Mountaineers and was the first of what has totaled to 13 complete ascents to this day.

Anglo-American Summit Team first to ascend Nanda Devi, 1934

One of Britain’s first climbers and explorers Eric Shipton expressed his joy while treading on the mountain terrain in the diary that he kept in 1934 in Nanda Devi: “Each step I experienced that subtle thrill which anyone of imagination must feel when treading in hitherto unexplored country. Each corner held some thrilling secret to be revealed for the trouble of looking. My most blissful dream was to be in some such valley, free to wander where I liked, and discover for myself some hitherto unrevealed glory of Nature. Now the reality was no less wonderful than that half-forgotten dream; and of how many childish fancies can that be said, in this age of disillusionment?”

This set the stage for subsequent climbs of this summit and inspired the Mountain Shepherds Initiative to focus on a new model of tourism, leading to capacity building and employment of youth from the region.

Snow capped Nanda Devi in daylight

The Mountain Shepherds Initiative represents a grassroots effort to evolve a new model of tourism in the Himalayas. Beginning with the Nanda Devi Campaign for cultural survival and sustainable livelihoods in 2003, Mountain Shepherds has promoted communities and activists to come together to promote community-owned ecotourism.

The all-women activist group led by Gaura Devi carved a place for the Chipko community as one of the world’s greatest global environmental movements in history. The inspiring story of their movement was put in a book, “Emancipated Women-Folk of Uttarakhand”, by the Himalayan Action Research Centre. An abridged version was recounted by C.S. Lakshmi in her Hindu article, Lessons from the Mountains: The Story of Gaura Devi.

The reunited women of the activist campaign, 2001

The main interests of Mountain Shepherd are to preserve both the biosphere reserve and the unique trans-Himalayan culture of the Chipko heritage community. The villagers outlined their tourism approach in the ‘ Nanda Devi Declaration ’ in 2001, representing efforts to actualize Mountain Shepherds with a focus for equity and conservation. Up on a mountain, at the clearest and finest points of our world, we find a movement to savor a clash of culture and ecology.

Mountain Shepherd ensures that local culture and way of life is not lost at the expense of Nanda Devi climbers.

• It has built capacities of more than 70 youth from remote areas in a variety of skills necessary for responsible tourism in the Himalayas ranging from search and rescue methods, energy medical response, life saving techniques, nature guides, yoga and cooking.
• To ensure minimization of ills of tourism, a systematic garbage management system has been put in place. The exposure of local communities is increased through direct interaction with visitors and through participation in tourism fairs.
• Some of the avenues through which the locals earn apart form daily employment include direct sale of carpets and woolen products from remote villages, homestays, mule services for treks, porters/guides for treks, and local transport.

A painting from Mountain Shepherd organized artist camp, 2004

Mountain Shepherds has transformed from a seasonal trekking company to become one of the most popular lodges for trekking and skiing. The future plans involve improving infrastructure to strategic locations, expanding the network of people and promoting the capacities of youth in other tourism potential areas.

Taking control of a tourism industry with community responsibility, cultural survival, and ecological sustainability at the forefront.

Contact: Dr. Sunil Kainthola, Director
Phone: 9719316777
Email: kainthola@gmail.com Website - http://mountainshepherds.com/

Iliana Foutsitzis is a recent graduate of Northeastern University's Political Science curriculum. Before embarking on a law degree Iliana is spending a gap year in New Delhi, India interning with the Niiti Consulting team. Contact Iliana at ifoutsitzis@gmail.com.

Broadening Our Vision Of Empowerment: Braille Without Borders

Sometimes the people most capable of saving the world are the ones who don’t expect anything in return. Sabriye Tenberken lost her sight at age 12 and while studying Central Asian Sciences at Bonn University, Sabriye developed a Braille script for the Tibetan language that would later become the renowned standard text. Sabriye went on to initiate Tibet’s first school for the blind, wrote a bestselling book that has been translated into 13 languages and participated in the making of an award winning documentary, Blindsight, that follows six blind Tibetan teenagers on their journey to climb a mountain in the shadow of Everest.

Together with an inspired social engineer, Paul Kronenberg, the two have changed the landscape of the blind and broadened our vision about what it means to be truly empowered. This is the kind of vision that really matters in the world today.

Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg: helping the blind attain equal opportunity in society

In addition to Braille Without Borders, helping the blind attain equal opportunity in society, Sabriye and Paul co-founded Kanthari formerly known as the International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs. In Trivandrum, Kerala Kanthari offers a seven month curriculum, preparing future change-makers to turn their dreams into reality. Focusing on social solutions, movements, campaigns and innovation, a new class of social entrepreneurs within India and Nepal now have the resources for taking the lead in advocating focused and sustainable change. Exemplary alumni and their impact can be seen on Kanthari’s website.

Graduates of a recently concluded seven-month Kanthari programme

Khom Raj Sharma is one of the alumni of the Kanthari programme, who sought to voice the concerns of the blind in order that they are able to access the same goods and services as the rest of society. His goal is to fight discrimination against the visually impaired, who are often neglected due to religious and cultural stigmatization. With entrepreneurial vision however, Mr. Sharm started the Inclusion Empowerment Center. In the town of Pokhara, Nepal, I.E.C. trains the visually impaired in the English language and computer technology, empowering them to feel capable of inclusion in sectors of the labor force and of higher education.

Other organizations with various goals continue to spring to life across different parts of the world. From rights of women, rights of Albinos, fighting female circumcision in Kenya and setting up programs for ex-child soldiers in Sierra Leone, a new paradigm of leadership has evolved and been realized at the hands of critical doers for ethical social change. If that simple fact is not inspiration enough, they come to us from the margins of society.

Kanthari and Braille Without Borders are lighthouses for great things to come.

Meet the 2012 Participants here: http://www.kanthari.org/participants/ and follow Braille Without Borders on Facebook.

Iliana Foutsitzis is a recent graduate of Northeastern University's Political Science curriculum. Before embarking on a law degree Iliana is spending a gap year in New Delhi, India interning with the Niiti Consulting team. Contact Iliana at ifoutsitzis@gmail.com.

Understanding Differences: Trinayani

Usually, the more visible a disability, the more awareness, sympathy and financial support is invoked for people with it. Deafness is hugely misunderstood because it is an invisible disability and the special needs of the hearing impaired and education of people around them are therefore vastly neglected when compared to other disabilities. Presuming incompetence in persons with disability is common amongst the non-disabled population, so disabilities are often kept hushed.The challenge lies in altering prejudices of pre-conceived notions about what it means to have a disability.

Ritika Sahni, B.Ed in Deaf Education, identified that the awareness level of disability issues among the non-disabled population of India was minimal, if not nonexistent. She founded Trinayani in 2006 with the aim to create awareness, tolerance, respect and equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Over the past few years, Trinayani has worked to fight stereotypes, educate and erase fears among the non-disabled and end discrimination towards our disabled.

Qualitative Courses of Action by Trinayani:

• Workshops for the academic and corporate communities to change the way persons with disability are perceived, to recognize their needs, abilities and diversities. e.g. recognition of sign language as the language used by deaf persons for communication.

• Provide livelihood and economic independence to blind persons by employing them as trained Foot Reflexology Therapists at the Sparsh Foot Spa and also work towards changing attitudes of non- disabled clients towards what they are capable of. 

• Changed the attitudes of spa employers in particular to hire blind persons groomed by Trinayani’s therapists.

• Successful placement of intellectually disabled candidates at Sai Service Auto Stations at various locations in Mumbai.

• Weekly reading of their THIS-ABILITY article in National Dailies like The Telegraph, Kolkata, Navhind Times Goa, One India One People magazine, BetterIndia.com.

• Weekly broadcast of radio show on cross disability issues titled Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh on All India Radio 107.1 FM Rainbow.

Trinayani has lots more in store in the months to come and we look forward to their upcoming initiatives that would no doubt empower the disabled to be part of the mainstream and help create a more inclusive, sensitive society.

Ritika conducting an UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES session at Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai for their ancillary staff

To keep up with Trinayani’s future projects, please visit http://www.trinayani.com/index.php or like us on Facebook.

FREEWAYFOLLIES

The formal announcement of the new 16 lane freeway proposed to slice through the city of Gurgaon aroused serious concerns with many of its residents. 60mins to 6mins is the USP for the freeway connecting two parts of the city which already has a wide enough road to deal with peak time traffic. While many worried about pedestrian access, cyclist routes, etc … some worried about the awkward disconnections that deepen as the city is fragmented further.

Freeways by definition are controlled-access highways designed exclusively for unhindered high speed vehicular traffic with no signals, at-grade crossings or property accesses. All pedestrian/vehicular crossovers are either over or under passes.

The predatory nature of freeways is manifested in a spatially and socially fragmented city. They do not connect with their sheer size and speed, they divide. They reject the very city they mean to bind because they knowingly relegate the quality of human life thriving in the neighbourhoods: they displace, divide and re-define.

We never learn, do we? There are innumerable instances of terrible things freeways have done to their cities and there are ample ‘been there, done it’ cities who have burnt their fingers only to reverse their own acts. The early 20^th century built freeways to counter rapid increase in traffic volumes and to reduce travel time. The fallouts in the past few decades led to widespread public opposition. Proposals were abandoned, significantly scaled back and freeway removal policies were adopted to rip off and reclaim taken spaces in the city. These cities gained both economic and environment revival and have become models for alternative planning thereafter.

Again, freeways are often self-defeating and they inevitably trigger what is called 'induced demand.' The phenomenon is consistent with the economic theory of supply and demand and is often used as an argument against freeways. They are known to generate more traffic over the years as the number of cars and trips go up and in turn clog the same freeway which was brought in to reduce travel time!

That is not all, various other negative externalities compound the same problem. Freeways bring change in land-use distribution patterns – urban sprawl which is directly proportional to higher energy consumption. They are seen to lower abutting property values because of their spatial disconnect topped with air and noise pollution which besides leading to urban blight, has been shown to cause autism in children. An increase in accident fatality rates comes built-in, as does an unaesthetic and inhospitable cityscape with crisscrossing tarred scars, cutting the city's fabric into smaller enclosed pockets of isolated land parcels.

Neighbourhoods remain detached even after bridging them with under and over passes, especially impoverished ones where residents are less likely to own cars or alter ways to improve their quality of life. Over-passes even with escalators are not popular pedestrian preferences over under-passes but the latter are dungeons by night fall unless they have physical/electronic surveillance. Finance limits the number of these passes and leave huge walking distances between them. Walking or cycling past zipping cars on one side and high boundary walls with thick tree buffered development (to cut noise and air pollution) on the other, can't be a pleasant experience by any standards. It can only be boring and yet more boring.

Pro-development governance with its vested interest has supported the freeway without considering local interests. Citizens need to question the very need of a freeway running through Gurgaon. It only adds value to a group of car users and in no way guarantees public convenience or mass utility. Effective traffic intersection engineering and management at the local level coupled with city level traffic planning should counter congestion issues of Gurgaon on the given route. Authorities should invest in building mass transit modes and attempt to implement smart growth policies which support transit-oriented mixed use development, walkable, cycle-friendly neighbourhoods, and encourage mass transit ridership.

Maybe years from now we will tear down these freeways and replace them with parks and boulevards, streets and squares, which truly connect and bind communities together, which make attractive, engaging and memorable public realm, which is pro-people. But must we learn the hard way in a resource-poor and congested country?

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RwiteeMandal is a practicing architect and urban designer. She is also a visiting faculty at the Post Graduate Urban Design Programme at her alma mater, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Rwitee can be contacted at rwitee.mandal@gmail.com

Stories of the Horizon

NOTE: Cities have always inspired art. Neil Diamond’s “What a beautiful noise” comes to mind when talking about art related to the urban. Here, our guest columnist, Vinita Karim, explores urban landscape from the perspective of a painter. How cities inspire her and what they mean to her.

The reason that I paint abstract landscape is perhaps because of all the shifting landscapes I have been exposed to.Cities, strange and beautiful,teeming with life and paradoxes, are a source of inspiration for me. Cities are on the move, rapidly growing, they are filled with the old and new living in close proximity--flyovers and skyscrapers augmenting the natural horizon and transforming it irrevocably. Within these broad strokes and large changes there are smaller constants; the colors of the market, the persistent flow in and out of the city. All of which define, as well as provide, context and structure to my work.

My work has many diverse sources stemming from an initial education in Stockholm, followed by exposure to cities rich in history and culture such as Cairo, Bonn, Berne, and Manila.

My earliest memory is of living inBonn, the beautiful, orderly, well planned capital of West Germany. High-rise buildings were present but there were a lot of independent bungalows and houses. However, none of the skyscrapers of today existed then, in the mid sixties. I believe that architecture strongly affects how lives are lived in cities.The galleries of cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurtare full of amazing and innovative art. Berlin has kept parts of the old wall intact where one can actually read what people have scribbled and engraved years ago. The four historical quarters have been meticulously preserved. It is truly a great marriage of the past and present.

My next memories are of Delhi.Almost all sizes and types of buildings co-existed amicably with each other. Over the years, however, it has become a mega-city bursting at its seams. What strikes me is how much the city has expanded outwards as well as the rate at which the city is growing everyday. Industrialization and urbanization are the twin forces driving the country forward. This whole system is moving in one huge wave which is sweeping overvillages outside the cities and their habitats and livelihood. Migration adds color and diversity to the cities. Art and crafts, which have always been an integral part of India, are now thriving due to an increased interest and demand. Contemporaryart has multiple sources in our rich tribal and folk art as well as several historical strains of art movements in India.

I have been living in Dhaka for almost two years now and this period is an extremely prolific one for me. Dhaka, with its incessant buzz ofrickshaws, cars and humanity has its own tempo. The city is growing rapidly and more and more people pour in daily in search of livelihood. There is an enormous pressure on infrastructure, power and space. From an aesthetic point of view, the city has really deteriorated. The beautiful green areas and single unit houses have vanished. Instead a concrete jungle has emerged. One needs to leave the city limits to enjoy the fabulous green fields and riches of rivers all over the country. As for the artistic scene here, I believe that Bangladeshis are intrinsically artistic and it is only a matter of time beforeBangladesh finds its way on the art map globally.

A considerable part of my time is spent in Mumbai due to work related activities.The city itself, the buzz, the enterprise and the pace is exhilarating. The slums, the houses, the high rise buildings all emerge in my paintings. Vivid images of colorful streamers, strung across narrow streets at festive times, have found their way into my paintings.

I will be sharing my art with the people of this city in September.


Dhaka-based Karim is currently showing “Stories of the golden horizon” at JAMAAT Gallery,Tulloch Rd. opp. Bade Miyan, Colaba, Mumbai till early October. She can be reached on 022 22822145 or vinitakarim@gmail.com. Or via her website, www.vinitakarim.com

Woman and the City

A lone woman.Walking down a deserted, dark street at night.With broken pavements. By now you're primed to hear about a crime or attempt at one, right? Let's try another one. A lone woman.Walking down a well-lit, populated street at night, with broad sidewalks.The image it conjures is totally different. Whether or not we make a conscious connection between the two, the fact remains that there is a very close link between our urban environment and the manner in which urban spaces are utilised and safety. Gender safety, in fact, is a great entry point to study this, since women are particularly vulnerable to acid attacks, kidnapping and sexual assault in large Indian cities, particularly in the Delhi NCR. A recent study in Kerala reported here also busts the common myth that women are treated better in public spaces "down South".
Simple things make a huge difference. For instance, in a safety audit conducted by several groups in Gurgaon a couple of months ago, it was discovered that there were no operational street lights on MG Road for a nearly 3km stretch, dubbed the "Mall Mile". Few of the pavements were usable, denying an escape to relative safety for a woman on foot, forcing her to use the same road from which she can be dragged into a passing car. And so on.
A simple fix: usable pavements of the correct width and height and operational streetlights, can create a far larger measure of safety for women frequenting this stretch. There are, of course, other issues to be dealt with, chief amongst which is the difference between private security and public safety. Indians who can afford it, tend to concentrate on the former and don't bother about the latter. It is the already marginalised who are left to bear the burden of increasing privatisation of security – particularly in cities like Gurgaon where the private security guards outnumber the police force by as much as five times – which translates into reduced public safety. This interesting piece by RakaChoudhury throws more light on the paradox.
Apart from fixing the obvious, like streetlights and pavements, we need to call for a conscious rethinking of our cities from the perspective of all, rather than the privileged few who feel that "good walls make good neighbours" and build them ever higher.
Encouraging beginnings have been made in transportation at least. Admittedly, though only for the privileged, Sakha Cabs offers the services of women for women and was featured in Aamir Khan's popular TV show on social issues in the episode on violence against women. In various parts of the NCR groups like Jagori, Gurgaon Girlcott, IUDI, Let's Walk Gurgaon, Saksham Gurgaon and others are campaigning for a safer city through public spaces.
We wish them all the very best 

Niiti consulting partners with Gurgaon Girlcott and Jagori for its Gender in the City campaign and is in the process of formalising an MoU with Jagori. Richa Dubey works with niiti consulting and started the Gurgaon Girlcott campaign
A history graduate from Delhi University who believes in "more is less". Richa loves writing on a wide spectrum of topics from textiles to Sufism to technology. She has anchored web communications at Cisco India, led public affairs for a prospective national innovation university on urbanization, and is presently building an advocacy strategy for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative’s India office. In her 16 year career in communications, she also has dabbled as a content specialist for print, new media and television. Richa is also a self-confessed textile lover and a voracious reader.