Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) is initiating a global consortium for last-mile connectivity in India. Focusing on providing context-specific connectivity solutions to the indigenous and mountain communities in India, this initiative aims to tackle the critical issues of unconnectedness, lack of meaningful access, lack of economic opportunities due to the digital divide, and lack of information in local languages.
The consortium has a clear mission of:
- Establishing digital connectivity in the unconnected regions of India
- Provide economic opportunities to the unconnected communities based on their unique local products through digital training.
- Build resilience in the indigenous and mountain communities against online fraud and misinformation trends.
- Enable social inclusion of unconnected communities through programs and advocacy.
The planned activities of the consortium include conducting need assessment and feasibility studies in the unconnected regions, deliberating on context-specific intervention and usage of appropriate technology, establishing access points in the unconnected areas, providing training on leveraging digital technology, building resilience against the harms of it, mobilise resources for the establishment of access points and exploring partnerships to ensure the sustainability of these access points.
A steering committee will review the submissions and select members based on the following criteria:
- Expertise in the area of providing connectivity solutions and resources
- Recognised standing in the digital rights community
- Active involvement and experience in the field of providing training to the community related to digital access and rights
- Prior experience working on digital divide-related issues