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Empowering Women through Unlimited Potential Program
Although the Indian Computer
hardware market has registered a record sale of more than 5 million PC
units in the last financial year, a considerable part of the population
in rural India is still not involved in this process –
this has become a big hurdle in the
process of national development. The Microsoft Unlimited Potential
Program (MSUP) is a landmark initiative to bridge the gap in IT skills
across rural India, particularly amongst
women and the disadvantaged
icrosoft has
partnered with TARAhaat in the Development Alternatives group to
roll-out the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (MSUP) program in 2004-05 and
2006-07. TARAhaat’s ICT enabled network provides a scalable and
sustainable vehicle to deliver this program to women in dispersed
regions at affordable costs. The roll out of the programme in the
TARAhaat network has clearly demonstrated that it has the potential to
create a dramatic and substantial difference in the lives of young women
who have been so far denied access to quality education and training.
Their new found confidence and self-reliance is a source of inspiration
for many young women and girls in their local communities.
Success stories of empowerment and local role models have emerged as a
result of these programmes (see box) .
The ability to use ICT based services has the potential to liberate
women from their current constraints. They can apply this skill to
access critical information, communicate with families and their support
network and equip themselves with skills that enable them to get gainful
employment. This will be a source of immense self confidence and
financial independence for women who never believed their lives could
change. This new generation of women will also become inspiring role
models for other women, informed parents for their children and
responsible members of their communities. The project operates in a
social environment that historically imposes enormous socio-cultural
barriers and constraints on women against becoming self reliant.
The project has addressed these serious challenges and has delivered
positive results:
1. 1825
female students have been trained/are being trained under MSUP Programme
from January, 2005
2. 53 female
Master Trainers have been trained to deliver MSUP courses.
Activities
under MSUP Programme
Training: The
intensive instructor training programme developed and refined in 2005 is
being implemented in the current phase to train the Master Trainers so
that they can deliver the best education to their students. The quality
of curriculum delivery is being closely monitored and refresher training
are being provided periodically to ensure that the Master Trainers are
equipped to deliver the programme. Master Trainers are also being
trained to counsel women and young girls to ensure a consistent
and growing rate of programme registrations.
Mobile Master Trainer:
The highly innovative concept of Mobile Master Trainers (MMTs) has been
developed and piloted in the last two months. It is being rolled out on
a large scale to extend the reach of the programme to the disadvantaged
girls and women who, for a variety of social and economic reasons,
cannot travel to their nearest TARAkendras. Mobile Master Trainers
deliver a short term IT course with an efficient proportion of theory
and practical, available at the doorstep of the female students in
villages.
Capacity Building of
TARAhaat’s team:
TARAhaat is in a
big expansion mode. It has spread its TARAkendra network in Bihar,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Eastern UP. Territory Offices have been
set-up and potential franchisee partners have already been identified.
For the efficient roll-out and execution of the MSUP programme in new
areas, intensive capacity building of TARAhaat’s local operation team
was required. Field teams have been trained extensively on programme
implementation. Their progress and effectiveness is being tracked and
monitored regularly. The operations support team based in New Delhi
ensures that the field teams, specifically the new ones, have the
requisite support and capacity to meet the program deliverables.
Outreach and
Marketing initiatives:
These
initiatives are critical to the success of the programme. A school
contact programme Disha in the form of a contest was launched in
2006 to create awareness about the IT and TARAhaat’s IT courses. It was
run in more than 100 schools and generated huge awareness about TARAhaat
and it resulted in a large number of walk-ins at TARAkendras. An IT
Olympiad is going to be launched very soon at national level which is a
Rural IT talent hunt programme. It will create motivation among rural
youth to grasp IT education. Apart from these events, awareness about
MSUP is being created through road shows, free demos, wall paintings,
posters and leaflets containing a message targeting rural youth,
especially women. These outreach initiatives are innovative and
interactive to ensure that the message reaches out to the intended
target audience.
Identifying and
Supporting the MSUP Spokepersons:
Role models who can demonstrate the transformational power of IT
training will be key to breaking down the barriers faced by girls and
women in rural, conservative society.Such role models are being
appointed as MSUP spokepersons in TARAkendras . They disseminate the
benefits of IT training to large groups of girls and women. A
spokeperson may be an ex-TARAkendra student or a woman from the local
community with a respectable image in the society.
Hurdles
and Challenges
TARAhaat has recently expanded its network of TARAkendras in some of the
100 poorest districts situated in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,
Eastern Uttar Pradesh and South Madhya Pradesh. These districts rank
among the lowest in the country in terms of socio-economic indicators,
especially female literacy and gender ratio. In fact, the official
female literacy rates in most of these districts prevail around 40% or
even lower. Further the gender biased traditional beliefs in the society
do not allow girls in many places to go out of their homes and to visit
TARAkendras.
In many new places, especially Bihar, Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh and Eastern UP, where TARAhaat is setting up its CTLCs,
there has been no IT intervention, of any kind, so far. Youth, more
specifically girls and women, do not have any access to IT training.
This coupled with the low literacy rates that exist in these areas,
getting participants and qualified women Master Trainers is a big
challenge.
TARAhaat’s experience from the starting of the implementation of the
project indicates a high rate turnover amongst women master trainers as
compared to male trainers. Marriage and pressure from families to quit
after a few months of work are major factors.
Given the fact that the MSUP programme imparts basic IT skills,
establishing a strong linkage with job opportunities has been a
challenge. However, as TARAhaat is intending to up-scale the programme
in 2007, it will have to satisfactorily address the challenge. This will
require TARAhaat to innovate at the local level, and may require product
innovation as well.
MSUP
a Way Ahead
The programme’s vision is ambitious and must be backed by a commitment
to support it consistently over time. In a social environment that
imposes restrictions and constraints on women to become self reliant,
the MSUP programme has taken its first steps. The results of the
programme at TARAhaat demonstrates that while focused marketing and
outreach programmes can attract women on a large scale. To avail the
benefits of IT training, the conservative social environment in rural
areas requires a sustained and long term approach to convince them of
the widespread benefit to rural women. This project is based on
developing a long-term approach which over time will become self
sustaining and contribute positively to the development of this much
neglected and hard to reach, segment of the rural population.
q
Kunal Tyagi
ktyagi@tarahaat.com
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