This Gandhi Jayanti, introducing ‘DigiKushal’ - Aiming to digitally empower 2000 NPOs

2024-10-29 05:46:45 News & Society

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Mumbai, 2nd October 2020 ? On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, Credibility Alliance, Rise Against Hunger India, and Kaizzen are launching ?DigiKushal?, an initiative that aims at training NPOs (Non-profit organizations) for digital transformation. This move will contribute towards the larger mandate of digital governance and transformation of the Government of India. The target is to train 2000 NPOs by the end of the second year of the project.

This project aims to encourage Indian non-profit organizations spread across the country to embrace technology and use digital tools to enhance their governance, management, program delivery and community impact. This will be done through series of training and immersion programs; and will bring together NGO leaders, board members, IT and communication teams, CSR foundation communication teams, Individuals interested in India?s social impact sector and IT leaders interested in NPO digitization.

Speaking on the initiative, Dr. Harish Vasishth, Executive Director, Credibility Alliance said, ?NPOs have been actively involved in various interventions to provide relief, build awareness and building community resilience to cope and overcome the situation created by the pandemic. The increased use of technology has been at the forefront for NPOs, be Income Tax, FCRA registration or quarterly disclosure or tax compliance. But the need for digital connectivity has never been more critical than during the coronavirus pandemic. Treading on these lines, we are focusing on the empowerment of grassroots NPOs for digital inclusion, development impact, and sustainability.?

The key aspects of this initiative are:

? To identify at least 2000 grassroots NPOs and developing their understanding, skills, and systems for digital transformation

? Build, develop and test tools and communication platforms for NPOs based on need-assessment

? Region-wise orientation and training

Adding on to this, Mr. Dola Mohapatra, Executive Director, Rise Against Hunger India said, ?NPOs are now forced to rethink on how they communicate about their work to the outside world. The donor and fundraising world is also changing at both institutional and individual levels, which can be harnessed effectively through digital engagement. NPOs must learn to capture and convey their impact in a reporting framework which is rapidly going digital. Digital literacy is now required for regulatory and compliance purposes. Empowering the NPOs digitally would mean that they will be able to harness technology to find innovative solutions for their everyday work; be it agriculture, livelihoods restoration, gender empowerment, climate change adaptation or any other stream of work they are doing. For Rise Against Hunger India, this is an important area of its work and we have entered into a partnership with a technology start-up Sync Energy to enhance technology for food security.?

Quoting the immortal lines of Mahatma Gandhi ? ?You must be the change you want to see in the world,? Mr. Vineet Handa, Founder, and CEO, Kaizzen PR Services said, ?This initiative is aimed at bringing about a change in the social sector and to bridge this digital divide. Kaizzen is proud to partner with Credibility Alliance and RAHI and to provide their technical prowess in this initiative. Empowering NPOs digitally will not just make them future-ready but will also provide them a unique identity that will help them to effectively communicate with the world and increase their outreach. DigiKushal will sensitize the NPOs on various dimensions of digital communication and marketing, the importance and urgency of learning the digital way.?

The initiative will begin with workshops and interactive training in the batches of 30-40 participants. A highly competent team of experts will facilitate the workshops comprising of NPO experience and digital expertise. Credibility Alliance will develop mechanisms and linkages for follow-up support and assistance to help in digital engagement and transformation.