Using ICTs to create opportunities for the marginalized
Women & Men : The Private Sector and community
working together
Presented By
Chetan Sharma -Founder
Datamation Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
&
Datamation Foundation
(A Non-Profit Organization)
On Invitation of the
Gender and Development Thematic Group
Social Capital Seminar Series - ICT
for Empowerment
Community Driven Development Group
&
Info Dev Groups of The World Bank
Tuesday December 18, 2001
Inspiration & Homage
Mrs. Vimla Sharma
(1932 – 1994)
We owe our formation to the vision & inspiration of Mrs. Sharma.
Her concerns about life long conditions of the women and rising
unemployment in India, helped us formulate our social and business
goals. Our resolve of creating large scale employment opportunities
for the poor & women further consolidated after her untimely death
battling against cancer in 1994.
CAN ICTs REDUCE POVERTY AND
UNDER-DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA
• Even though 200 – 300 Million are
progressing in India; 700 – 800
Million people are excluded from
the growth process
• Current inequalities have their
origin in the industrial revolution
and have worsened
• The World Bank reports even in last
5 years from 1993 to 1998, the
share of income of the poorest 10%
in the world fell by 25% while that
of the richest 10% rose by 8%.
(By Yuri Dikhanov and Michael
Ward, 2001)
• Education for all still remains a
dream – Over 40 % population is
illiterate.
• Even if the Indian economy grows at 5 – 6 % per annum
as has been the case over last 2 – 3 years &
consequently doubles, sadly the economy cannot bridge
disparity and eradicate poverty.
• McKinsey reports over 25% unemployment rate in India
(full as well as marginal) due to the continuing
transformation in the economy & non- competitiveness
of the Indian Agriculture and Industry
DAUNTING TASK AHEAD FOR THE SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURS AND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
EXPERTS
ICT Based Occupations/Professions yet have the
scope to reduce poverty and under development
Past Success Stories : Cable Operators, Pay Phone Operators
Current ICT Led Business Models
 Diversified IT Service
Companies
 Specialized IT Services
SPECIALIZED IT SERVICES
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Call Centres
Transaction Processing
Transcription Houses
Portals/Vortals/Exchange
Internet based services
Multi-purpose tele-centers
GIS Applications
Content Aggregation &
Consolidation
Tele-Medicine
Information Services
Data Centers
On-Line/Off-Line
Computer based education
On-Line Govt. Services &
E-governance
Estimated number of
direct beneficiaries in
India
(employment in the
sector)
Estimated number of
indirect ICT
beneficiaries
4.5 – 5 million people over
next 5 Years
24 – 26 million people over
next 5 Years
ICT SUCCESS STORIES AFFECTING DEPRIVED
MASSES
• GYANDOOT – Rural
E-Governance project in Dhar
(M.P)
• UJJAS – Women’s newsletter and
public radio, Gujarat
• AGRI-CULTURE/FISHERIES
PROJECT – M.S. Swaminathan
Foundation, TamilNadu &
Pondicherry.
• ANDHRA PRADESH HEALTH
PROJECT – Supported by World
Bank
• Vijay Wada, Andhra Pradesh & few
other E-Governance projects
• Several Pilot Projects on the anvil
TARAHAAT, CORDEC, DRISHTEE
THE SUCCESS/FAILUREOF THE INDIAN IT
INDUSTRY
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Indian Software & Services export of over
US $ 18 Billion FY (1999-2000) essentially
an urban hi-tech syndrome.
Software & Services providers have focused
mostly on the international markets at the
cost of the local Indian market.
Indian Software market (local) has not
grown in real terms over the past few
years.
Lopsided manpower planning – too much
urban centric recruitment, preference for
engineers of all specialties consequently
neglecting other disciplines.
High billing rates/Unstable work force
handling mostly US based development
contracts resulting in enormous
competition from China, Philippines,
Korea, Far-East
Lack of marketable software products
since focus has always been on rendering
contract programming services.
Mission Statements of Datamation Consultants
& Datamation Foundation
• Deliver high quality diversified, responsive, cost
effective, ICT services delivered by marginalized &
deprived workforce to top notch organizations.
• Plough back profits in ICT initiatives to
-- help improve the state of people using ICTs
-- help create large scale employment opportunities
-- help educate marginalized people using innovative online & off-line ICT media.
DATAMATION – A CASE STUDY OF
DELIVERING IT SOLUTIONS BASED ON AN
INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODEL
• One of the early starters – in
existence for over 14 years.
• Pragmatic business model based on
low cost infrastructure, networked
PC operating environment.
• Invests significantly in people not
as much in equipment and
infrastructure (in proportion).
• Operates frugally, kept costs under
tight control by stringent project
monitoring.
• Internal organic growth – No
borrowing/funding from any source.
• Save on wage costs by the Cost Of
Living Index (COLI) hence a highly
decentralized, dispersed work
model
• Aggressive marketing both in local & international
markets
• Sustained growth in sales turnover/meteoric growth in
sales for the last 3 years.
• Equal focus on the Indian & International markets
• Diversified portfolio of services
1) Document Management
2) Scanning & Imaging
3) Data conversion & Data Entry
4) Application Programming
5) E-Services, Setting up of
Portals/Vortals/E-Commerce
solutions
6) Rastorization, Vectorization &
GIS applications
• Customer Relationship
Marketing (CRM) Services
• Database Marketing
• Image Processing
• Market Research
• Logistics and Fulfillment
• Business Advisory Services
• Rural ICT initiatives
• Current Manpower strength of
1200 + operators from 28
locations
• Bigger city offices service local
Indian clients
• International projects are
serviced from non-metro
locations some of which are
very small towns consequently
net profitability on
international projects is
significantly higher.
• No segment of the Indian &
International market has been
left untouched.
• Involved & personal client servicing
• High quality at competitive pricing
• Consequently client retention rate is
90%.
• Estimated sales turnover for FY 2001
– 2002 US $ 6 Million
• Projected turnover growth US $ 50
million by FY 2004 – 2005
• Projected jobs at Datamation by FY
2004-2005  3000+
• 85% force comprises women &
deprived, marginalized people
including physically handicapped.
• Fully law abiding and statutory
compliant.
DATAMATION – AN ENDURING
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PRIVATE &
VOLUNTARY SCTOR
FRAME WORK
• Consistent interface and
partnership with select voluntary
groups imparting IT education to
deprived & marginalized.
Communities -- Slum children,
dowry victims girls from
economically weak background for
the creation of sustainable
livelihood
OBJECTIVES
•Recruit qualifying candidates from
the voluntary groups in whole-time
employment at Datamation.Lobby
with other private sector companies
as well as for providing employment
opportunities for the deprived
•Provide technical inputs to help
improve quality of IT education.
•Since target students are from very
deprived backgrounds, innovative
tools are deployed to enhance
understanding of IT concepts.
•Support curriculum development in
local languages.
PARTICIPATING COMMUNITIES & VOLUNTARY
GROUPS DELIVERING COMPUTER EDCATION
•Nari Raksha Samiti (A
women’s self-help group
imparting it education to
needy girls & dowry
victims)
•Prayas ( A non-profit
dedicated for juvenile
delinquents & slum kids)
•Deepalaya (A non-profit
dedicated for rehabilitation
of slum kids )
•Udayan (An orphanage for girls
run by socially conscious women
in the spirit of a family home)
•Arise & Shine Church
International (A registered
orphanage).
•Help Care Society (Registered
society supporting care of the girl
child).
How this works/deliverables ?
• Select jobs within Datamation are
set aside for the voluntary groups.
• Recruitment from the voluntary
groups expected to increate
manifold with the increate in sales
turnover at Datamation.Support
from the Corporates is also being
sought.
• No discrimination based on
economic & social background.
• Post-recruitment , A
dedicated group is
responsible for the
mentoring & training new
recruits.
• Mentoring includes exposure
to professional work
environment, basic
etiquettes, work ethics,
quality standards, quality
assurance process,
fundamentals of data
conversion & document
conversion business.
• Post-mentoring/training
session; new recruits work
on live projects.
• Ongoing refresher /
reinforcement courses are
organized on continuing
basis.
CHALLENGES
• Deprived background
mandated to deliver in a highly
competitive industry.
• Past legacy very difficult to
overcome-requires lot of effort
& patience to heal.
• Technical perception being low
constant refresher programs
needed.
• Making girls from deprived
background work in a
professional industry is an
awesome task. The social &
peer group pressures are very
high.
• Women employees need
constant counseling &
mentoring.
• Difficult to sustain women
employees in a high pressure IT
industry after they get married &
have children (only 40% women
continue working after the first
child).
• Assimilation process between
haves & have-nots is slow.
• Create a friendlier, easier work
environment for, new mothers.
DATAMATION DELIVERABLES
• Technical support.
• Software tools development &
implementation.
• Life long career opportunity,
websites development &
maintenance, facilitation of
E-Commerce
• Limited financial support
Initiative # 1-B
DATAMATION - AN ENDURING PARTNERSHIP
BETWEEN PRIVATE & VOLUNTARY
ORGANIZATIONS
Framework
• Fund raising support for almost all Voluntary
Groups/ NGOs in India for the past decade.
Objectives
• Use cutting edge database driven fund raising
drives
• Integrated 4 channel deployment for fund raising
 Postal System
 Tele-Marketing
 Internet
 Direct Dialogue
Participating Communities & Voluntary Groups
for
Raising Funds From Datamation’s Services
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Help-Age India
SOS Children Villages
UNICEF
Global Cancer Concern
Child Relief & You
Bombay Leprosy Mission
• Deepalaya
• Oxfam
• World Children Fund
• Green peace
• Arpana Trust
And hundreds of voluntary
groups from India and
World wide.
HOW THIS WORKS / DELIVERABLES
• Datamation possesses Asia’s largest & most authentic
Consumer & Business database segmented across
categories. (total repository is more than 40 million
names)
• Strategic inputs for Fund-Raising
• Direct Mailing & Response handling support for FundRaising drives.
• Donation accounting including issue of receipts, tax
exemption certificates.
• Outbound tele-calling for fund-raising
• Internet based campaigns to raise funds
• Design of Donor gets friend programs
• Implementation of Dialogue program
DATAMATION FOUNDATION:
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
An international think-tank on ICTs and poverty
alleviation, gender and employment generation has been
set up to actively implement few projects that would
change the lives of the women & marginalized. Top-notch
IT & Development experts have been nominated to the
Board of Trustees. There are :
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Dr. (Ms) Janice Zarro Brodman
Dr. (Ms) Nalini Abraham
Mrs. Sarita Sharma
Dr. Mark Warshauer
Mr. D. K. Aggarwal
Mr. Akhtar Badshah
Mr. Dinesh Nambiar
Mr. K.C.Sreenath
Mr. Chetan Sharma
DATAMATION FOUNDATION
(A CHARITABLE TRUST CURRENTLY UNDER
REGISTRATION)
Datamation Foundation has been set up to design &
implement innovative ICT project targeted towards women &
marginalized communities. Gender and poverty
alleviation/employment generation are key goals of the
trust.
Datamation Consultants
Datamation Foundation
Gets from Foundation
Cutting edge
Innovative best ICT
practices
worldwide/knowledge
base
Gets from Datamation
Consultants
Organizational
Goals
Financial
Support
Volunteers
Technical, Admin &
Logistical Support
Active participation
of voluntary groups
Business Strategy
& Roadmap
DATAMATION FOUNDATION: ACTIVE
PARTICIPANT OF THE SAVE THE GIRL CHILD
COMPAIGN
• India facing worst ever “ Gender ”
crisis in its history.
• There are only 945-947 females per
1000 males per recent census
published by the Govt. Of India.
• In 126 districts of the country ; the
percentage of female is even less than
the national average and even lower
than the pre-independence numbers.
• Medical community & local police
authorities/administration are active
abetters/participants in this crime.
Initiative # 2
INTERVENTION
Datamation chose not to be a silent spectator to this
‘ Genocide ‘ . We have played a leadership role in the
“ Save the Girl Child “ campaign.
Our Interventions are:
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Web site dedicated for female foeticide.
www.indiafemalefoeticide.org has been
launched voluntarily site has:
• Complaint lodging process against the
medical community & citizens
indulging in this crime.
• Hyper-linking the
indiafemalefoeticide.org site to other
relevant sites world-wide. Emphasis is
to link site with other human rights,
violence against women & female job
opportunity sites.
• Dissemination of the complaints to
regional authorities for tracking
complaints.
• Net based pledge & support enlistment
from the community in favour of
stopping the female foeticides.
• Mass-scale email broadcasts ( Over 6
million homes & medical
professionals , bureaucrats, law
makers have been covered to far).
• Developing & implementing ICT
based pilots for the field work,
counseling & capacity building of the
self-help group[ (SHGs), volunteers &
counselors.
• Integration of ICTs in the overall
communication & awareness
campaign.
• Web-casting of films on female
foeticide & dissemination from the
site.
Partners:
• Ministry of Health & Female Welfare ,
Govt. Of India
• Plan International
• UNICEF
• UNIFIEM
• Population Council of India
• JICA
• BBC World Wide
• UNFPA
• CEDPA
• Nari Raksha Samiti
• Nanhi Kali
• And a large number of women’s group
• Activist women volunteers
FUTURE GOALS & TARGETS
• Strengthen intervention
in the most affected
states of the country
• Consolidate the
consortium &
relationships with all
concerned partners to
stop by implementing
innovative ICT
strategies.
Initiative # 3
DATAMATION FOUNDATION: INITIATOR OF AN
ICT BASED BRIJ REGION’S WIDOW
UPLIFTMENT PROGRAM
CHALLENGE
• Over 33 million widows in
India –10% of the overall
female population
• Every 4th household has a
widow, 50% of the widows are
over 50 years old
• After husband’s death, only
3% widows shared the same
health.
• Over 6500 widows live in Brij
Pradesh comprising
Brindavan, Mathura and other
religious place
• Religious institutions mandated to take
care of the widows have become defunct &
impassive to the plight of the widows
• Local administration in collusion with the
police loots donations in kind as well as
large number of sexual abuse cases have
been reported.
• A large number of young widows are
exploited into prostitution
• Older ones live life worst than that of
animals getting meager 200 gms. of pulses
& rice every day & that too at the whim &
fancy of the religious trusts for religious
singing
• Nobody has a clue about their number, age
& current state
• Ongoing need, hence charity/donation
based model is unsustainable
INTERVENTION
• Providing photo ID Cards to the
widows
• Setting up of a database containing
widow’s history, current contact
details
• Sharing the database with the local
administration & police
• Database/Photo Id Cards project
have the support of local religious
trusts/Govt. agencies
• Launch of few emergency relief
programs
• Delivery of snack packets to the
widows
• Setting up of tea vending
machines (on the anvil)
• Distribution of woolen blankets.
• Get food companies to install
‘Made to deliver food kiosks ‘
which the widows can access
for a nominal cost
• Local counseling,help to be
offered by the foundation staff
• Issue Multi-purpose smart cards
to the widows to enable
withdrawal of money from
ATMs, food from vending
machines
PARTNERS
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Guild for service
Mathura District administration
Key Local Religious Trusts
Lancer Food Products
Nestle ( Tentative )Delivery of Tea
Vending Machines and few food
products
• Unilever (Tentative )Delivery of
Tea Vending Machines and few
food & personal care products.
• Local Grocery & Clothing
establishments
FUTURE GOALS & TARGETS
• Involve large number of food & clothing
companies to sell food items/clothing at
concessional rates
• Get Govt. at the state & central level to
implement widow pension programs
• Involve local self-help group of woman
volunteers to deliver food, clothing to
the widows
• Install database at key point in the
Region – District Hospital, Primary
health care centers for widow
identification and delivery of health
services
Initiative # 4
Datamation Foundation Mobile
Phones/Pagers To Assist Leprosy Health
Workers
CHALLENGE:
• India contributes 400,000 new leprosy
cases every year
• Most Leprosy patients are from very poor
background and cannot afford treatment
• Deformed Leprosy patients need disability
service at their door step. The community
volunteers are required to provide
domiciliary medical treatment, monitor
the progress of the nerve damage and
offer field based disability care
• The Leprosy patients are mostly in
thickly populated slums having very poor
road and sanitary conditions
Intervention
• Way back in 1998, we delivered few
hand sets and beepers ( pagers ) to
the community volunteers &
paramedical workers
• The Para-Medical workers have also
been given few mobile phones and
beepers
• This has helped prevent the
occurrence of consequences such
as reactions/neuritis and
development of new disabilities
PARTNER:
Bombay Leprosy Project
Cellular Companies(Tentative)
FUTURE TARGET/GOALS:
• Enhance coverage of the
program by providing more
mobile equipment
• Implement other ICT
initiatives such as smart
cards or other easily operable
devices for the disabled
leprosy patients so that they
get better access to basic
necessities.
Initiative # 5
DATAMATION FOUNDATION: RANGE OF
GRASS ROOT ICT INITIATIVES TO HELP
WOMEN’S VOLUNTARY GROUPS
CHALLENGE:
• Incidents of family violence & violence
against women have increased manifold
rapidly
• Incidence of dowry death cases reported an
increase of 15.2% over the previous year
• Torture cases increased by 12.9% &
incidence of molestation reported an
increase of 0.9% over the previous year
• Trafficking increased 4.5%
• With the downturn in the Indian economy,
violence against women has been
increasing significantly
INTERVENTIONS
• Women empowerment is key to all round
well being of the women consequently we
work actively to create, sustainable
employment opportunities for the
women in the IT industry
• Students trained by the women’s group
are actively placed in commercial
organizations
• Lobbying with the private sector to
employ, large number of women
• Design & set up of web-sites for the
women’s group
• Technical support in IT education,
evaluation & performance
appraisal of students
• Small quantum of donations
• Intelligent voice recording system
(IVRS) to help log & analyze large
number of complaints against
female atrocities has been
delivered to a woman’s group
PARTNERS:
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Nari Raksha Samiti
Udayan
Prayas
Deepalaya
Future Goals/Targets
• Deliver fully enabled
enterprise wide computing
models to help train young
trainees in all facets of the
corporate world
• Deliver evaluation &
performance appraisal in
the local languages
• Get at least 100 large
corporate to reserve
minimum 25-30% jobs for
deserving and qualifying
women
Initiative # 6
Datamation – Rural ICT Initiatives & Rural
Connectivity
• We are in the process of setting up two multi-purpose
internet centers in the outskirts of Jaipur Rajasthan.
• Pilot projects have been entirely self funded & would
be operated by our staff.
• Services delivered – Computer Services & Job Work,
E-Mail & Net-Surfing, Computer Servicing
• Access to www.gaonsherhr.com (a site dedicated to
small villages & towns of Rajasthan to start with)
being developed by Datamation.
• Dial-Up connectivity with an ISP hub 30-40 miles
away from these tele-centers
• Connectivity has been robust
• Spearheading local language content development in
Hindi – Databases on Agricultural Practices, Arts &
Culture of Rajasthan.
• Self-Sustaining business model due to high degree of
interest among the local community for agriculture &
arts content.
• Hand over to local community for operation only after
2 – 3 years of profitability.
• Scale to adjoining villages & towns after six months.
Advantages of the Private Sector, Voluntary
groups &
Community working together.
• Sustainable & Replicable elsewhere
• Wider participation ensures continued involvement of
all stakeholders in growth & prosperity
• Lesser conflict, lower manpower attrition & greater
stability at the work place
• Wider perspective of work & business makes business
model highly endurable & profitable
THANK YOU