The health pillar aims to provide accessible and affordable medical diagnosis and consultation through telemedicine.
Efforts in the area of health have been implemented to address the problem of inadequate access to quality healthcare and poor awareness of preventive healthcare measures at the village level. They also seek to encourage good health and hygiene practices, maintain medical histories and facilitate access to health-related information online.
Rural entrepreneurs will primarily work with community members, frontline health workers and staffers of primary health centres (PHC) and community health centres (CHC). Tie-ups will also be formed with local hospitals and doctors in neighbouring blocks.
Efforts under the health pillar will:
- Set up a telemedicine and diagnostic kit centre driven by a HealthPreneur (health-based entrepreneur)
- Establishment collaboration with government or private hospitals and doctors in the community
- Design awareness campaigns, using digital tools and applications, on the importance of early diagnosis, maintenance of medical history and records, preventive measures related to water, sanitation and hygiene
- Provide diagnostic tests and consultation to patients through online and offline aid
- Train community stakeholders in digitally accessing health-related information for better health-governance
Smartpur has collaborated with an online platform of 300 plus doctors called DocOnline. Via the means of tele-medicines the outreach is being made to Smartpur villages, providing medical health facilities and set of medical tests such as blood glucose, blood pressure, urine test, ECG, etc.
The education pillar aims to improve learning outcomes and academic performance of children through digital tools and resources
Efforts in the area of education have been implemented to address the problem of inadequate and unaffordable access to quality educational resources at the village level. They also seek to put in place digital interventions to tackle the poor quality of education in schools and the inability of the larger education system to incorporate need-of-the-hour skills in the curriculum in an effort to improve the learning levels among students.
Rural entrepreneurs will primarily work with schools and other educational institutes to expose students, especially girls and youth, to vocational courses, online educational resources, counselling sessions and digital literacy.
Efforts under the education pillar will:
- Set up a digital classroom equipped with computers, projector and internet connectivity
- Provide access to online education repository of learning and teaching aid
- Conduct counselling sessions for youth and students on career and job opportunities
- Provide training in digital literacy at the centre and government schools in the locality
- Facilitate tuition classes for students in subjects relevant to their curriculum
- Conduct awareness programmes in schools, aanganwaadi and communities on digital education and online resources
Smartpur offers a three months digital literacy course aiming to develop from basics to an advanced level of digital utility at the village level. The course is available for anyone who is willing to be a digital learner.
An in-house toolkit named – START has been launched by DEF. The START toolkit offers one to develop their ability to learn the know-how and usage of digital world via the means of simple yet interesting games. The tool kit is available in different vernacular languages.
The livelihood pillar aims to increase employability of youth through vocational training and entrepreneurship
Efforts in the area of livelihood have been implemented to address the reasons behind the lack of opportunity for women to learn vocational skills. They also seek to tackle poor knowledge of alternate professionals and opportunities. Initiatives under the pillar will provide a platform where men and women can learn new skills or hone their existing skills in an effort to encourage them to start their own enterprises or make themselves more employable for other jobs. Soft skills and life skills, too, will be inculcated among youth through workshops and counselling sessions.
Rural entrepreneurs will work towards building partnerships with organisations and skill development agencies to conduct trainings and workshops as per the needs of the community. They will also provide access to virtual counsellors and job portals for students seeking better livelihood options.
Efforts under the livelihood pillar will:
- Provide vocational training programmes at the hub centre for youth and women in the community
- Impart life skills through trainings and workshops
- Facilitate virtual career counselling and access to information regarding placements and job opportunities
- Create an online repository of jobs and scholarships
- Provide information about loans and organisational networks relevant to vocational interests
Livelihood the most challenging pillars of all, is trying through online portals to bring out local means of livelihood, handicrafts, artifacts, etc. and put them on the global front via means of digitization, in order to hand-over the complete cycle from designing, innovating, manufacturing, pricing, selling and thereby owning and making a global footprint of their own products which have a recognition only within the peripheries of the village and have an eventual tendency to fade away with a short-span of time.
The governance pillar aims to enable access to public schemes and entitlements through e-governance platforms
Efforts in the area of governance will help offer solutions for improved citizen-government engagement and efficient dissemination of government information. They will also create an online presence of government institutions within the community through exclusive websites or social media channels. The pillar seeks to bridge the information gap in the community by making information about and access to government schemes and entitlements available through awareness camps and workshops.
Rural entrepreneurs will work closely with citizens and government officials in the community to create a strong network of a well-informed and aware citizenry.
Efforts under the governance pillar will:
- Provide information and assistance to apply for government schemes and entitlements through online and offline portals
- Develop an app and Web-based repository of schemes relevant to the respective regions
- Build capacities of local panchayat representatives and block officers to facilitate faster delivery of services and entitlements
- Provide digital services like scanning, printing and photocopying services at affordable rates
- Carry out awareness camps and mobilisation drives to disseminate information about social security, education, health and agricultural schemes
The community under Smartpur has easier and affordable access to public schemes and entitlements through a specially-curated app called MeraApp. This app resolves two major concerns – provides detailed information on how to apply, filter relevant State and Central government schemes applicable for community members of concerned state and the app can also be used as an MIS of beneficiaries availing its facilities which helps in maintaining the record of the impact made.
The finance pillar aims to improve access to and use of digital financial and banking products and services
Efforts in the area of finance will seek to tackle the problems of lack of awareness about financial services and easy accessibility to the same. They also aim to improve access to financial services, both conventional and digital, including ATMs, for men and women in the village. To ensure this, rural entrepreneurs will not only focus on building awareness and skills to use digital financial services but also provide financial services at the centre.
Rural entrepreneurs will work closely with community members, especially those who have bank account and debit cards, to ensure improved utilisation of the same.
Efforts under the finance pillar will:
- Set up public payment infrastructure to improve digital access to banking and payment services
- Provide digital banking services at the centre
- Conduct awareness camps to disseminate information about financial services and schemes
Under the Finance pillar, Smartpur with its collaboration with IDFC enables transactions like deposition, withdrawal, opening new bank accounts, etc. with the help of a MicroATM which is made available at Smartpur centres.
The entertainment pillar aims to improve access to quality entertainment content and recreational activities for community members.
Efforts under the pillar aim at facilitating cultural and community gatherings frequently to build social cohesion. By making available digital recreational activities, community members will have varied access to quality entertainment options. Further, dedicated efforts will be made improve access to entertainment content and recreational activities for women.
Rural entrepreneurs will work closely with community members, especially women, to form cultural groups, make handmade products, watch audio-visual content, and create an enabling space to interact with each other.
Efforts under the entertainment pillar will:
- Create an online and offline repository of audio-visual content
- Screen educational and entertaining films in community spaces or at the centre
- Form separate groups for men and women to engage in recreational activities
An online repository which acts like an online library is a monitored bank of various links which are segmented class wise for the students who visits the centre. Subjects like Maths, Science, Social Science, English, etc. are being catered to under the repository.