DIGITAL LITERACY PROJECT

The pandemic has shown the importance of basic digital skills and access to the internet with the smartphone opening up opportunities. Women from low income households in Pakistan have smartphones but are unable to use them to improve their own and the wellbeing of their family. In Pakistan, only 51% of women have access to the internet according to GSMA 2020. These Women need to be supported particularly with access to technology. Furthermore, Pakistan is the least internet inclusive country in South Asia as per the Economist Intelligence Unit. There is a wide gender divide in Pakistan that leaves 38% of women without a mobile phone and 49% of women without  mobile internet. The project aims to bridge the digital gender divide by equipping 10,000 women with basic digital literacy over the course of a year.

When combined with basic digital literacy, access to smartphones and the internet can help women, including female home based workers, learn digital skills to leverage the power of social media and connect with potential buyers. Further, it can enhance wellbeing in the family by the ability to search on the internet, expand knowledge and connections.

Pakistan had a 60% literacy rate in 2019, of which 71% male and 49% females are educated. The factors that are contributing to the problem are illiteracy, a lack of opportunities, no motivation and guidance, and a lack awareness of rights.

Digital Literacy Project aims to empower women economically by making them digitally literate and enabling them to leverage the power of the internet to learn new skills, knowledge and establish their own digital businesses. 

We will be training 10,000 women locally as trainers over the course of one year who will then be encouraged to share their knowledge with 5 women from their families and/or communities, resulting in an overall impact on 50,000 women. This is modelled on our work with UN Women in 2020 and we will learn from Internet Saathi India to scale this effort in Pakistan. A clear criteria will be established to ensure that the women who join show the right attitude, believe in the vision behind Digital Bajis and are willing to put in the effort. Campaigns will be designed on this. 

The project will contribute to Pakistan’s economic prosperity and build women as leaders in their communities. 

Digital Literacy Project is a customized digital experience for female home based workers.  

The project will train women home based workers to teach them how to use smartphones and perform basic functions on it such as Google search or use Google Maps, YouTube, Whatsapp and digitize their business by having a Facebook and/or Instagram page. These women also do not have formal bank accounts and will be facilitated to open mobile wallets, thus promoting financial inclusion.

This is a 6-weeks program that  aims to empower women economically by making them digitally literate. Women will be divided into cohorts of 35. Each cohort will attend 15 hours of lessons. Classes will be held 3 times a week online using Google Meet (to enable scale & given pandemic). Each class will be for 2.5 hours. The curriculum will cover essential skills: (a) Basic digital literacy, (b) Mobile wallet, (financial inclusion) (c)Basic business and life skills Every month, 3 instructors will be training four cohorts each, impacting 5040 women in a year. 

The target population is the female home based workers, who have their own small businesses but do not have any digital presence. Our solution entails the digital education of Pakistani female home-based workers, and we are determined to provide them proper training sessions and resources that can help grow their businesses digitally. According to the World Bank, there are 10 million female home-based workers in Pakistan. The Digital Literacy Project helps them to be financially empowered.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it became evident that the digital gender divide is widening in Pakistan. Digital literacy is now a human right. 

The digital literacy project was introduced with support from UN Women in 2020. Women from marginalized communities will be guided on accessing the internet and running micro businesses despite connectivity issues and the responsibilities that weigh them down. Keeping all these constraints, a curriculum has been designed which will be delivered remotely using Google Meet combined with brief videos that will be shared online.

Based on the pilot where we trained 64 female home based workers in digital skills, we would like to expand the Digital Literacy Project combined with basic entrepreneurship and life skills to disadvantaged women in Pakistan.

Local content that was developed will be further enhanced and customized along with videos. A team of instructors will be onboarded and trained to conduct a training of trainers so the Internet Bajis (Disadvantaged women from the communities) can be trained on digital literacy, basics of entrepreneurship and core life skills over a month. The life skills module will build confidence, communication and problem solving skills, and develop community groups. The Internet Bajis will be provided with smartphones in case they don't have it. In this project, they will be given data packages and a moderate stipend for 6 months to assist them in training women and girls in the communities.

The results of the digital literacy project are very encouraging. Based on it, UN Women is collaborating again this year in 2021 where CIRCLE will provide digital literacy to 300 additional women from disadvantaged backgrounds. The training will also include a focus on promoting digital based livelihood opportunities. Post project implementation, a survey with the beneficiaries was conducted by the Karachi School of Business & leadership, one of the leading business schools in the country. The following results were seen:

• After the program, 62 women made Facebook profiles and 49 women Instagram profiles of their micro-businesses
• 56% women started using EasyPaisa (mobile wallets - project promoted financial inclusion)
• 49% women started earning
• 40% women started posting once a week, and 35% women started posting 2-3 times a week.

This shows the impact created by the project. Many beneficiaries shared that they had begun to train other women in their family and community as they felt technology had so many benefits. Hence we believe the scale up strategy is the need of the hour given the challenges women from disadvantaged backgrounds in particular are facing.

• Year 1: 10,000 women from low-income families (indirectly 50,000 - each woman will share her digital skills with 5-10 additional women in her family and close community)
• Year 5: 100,000 women (indirectly 500,000 - each woman will share her digital skills with 5-10 additional women in her family and close community)

• 20% of the women from underprivileged backgrounds have started micro/small business (2000 new businesses in the first year)
• 30% of the women will hire 1 new person in their micro/small business in a 12 month period creating 3000 jobs in the first year.
• 80% women have built confidence. 

Staff working under Digital Literacy Program:

Full-time Staff

3

Part-time Staff

7

Interns

10

The founder of CIRCLE, Sadaffe Abid is an INSEAD Social Entrepreneur in Residence, a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School and Mount Holyoke College and former COO and CEO of Kashf Foundation, a microfinance organization she helped scale from two rooms to serve 300,000 women clients. Her work at Kashf has been profiled in Nicholas Kristoff’s, Half the Sky. Sadaffe is committed to women’s advancement and inclusion. Pakistan has under 25% women in its formal labor force, one of the lowest in the region.

With the help of Solve, Digital Literacy Project can receive funding necessary to overcome the cost of operations within Pakistan. Additionally, we will also be able to access a larger community of individuals who can serve as inspirations for women within Pakistan and provide insight on successful scaling. Moreover, the media attention garnered will help Digital Literacy Project be recognizable to individuals wishing to invest in social impact projects within Pakistan and women who may be interested in growing their respective businesses or achieving digital literacy.

This project will involve the following actors: 

• The government and public sector 
• Multinational Organizations and the private sector, for instance L’OREAL, Jazz, and/or Telenor to provide women who do not have access to smartphones on their own to be able to buy them at affordable rates. They will also be approached to give concessions on data packages for these women.
• L’OREAL teams will be engaged on key international days such as international Women's Day to create synergies for the project.
• International organizations, for instance UN Women Pakistan, UNDP Pakistan
• NGOs and microfinance organizations for identifying the women, for instance Women Development Foundation, Aurat Foundation, RCDP, Safco, TRDP etc (microfinance organizations reach 4 million customers, majority are women from low income households)
• We will be working with UNWomen and UNDP for Panel discussions on digital literacy, bringing out success stories and amplifying the project impact 
• MIT faculty can assist us in gathering more relevant data on executing this project

Yes, through programs like and various women focused programs for technological literacy, we have advanced inclusion of women in the broader digital world.

Yes. We have been able to expand small home based businesses run by women through its digital and financial learning programs hence it has amplified women's voices in Pakistan.

Digital Literacy Project qualifies for this prize because it has been successful in expanding the digital economy of Pakistan by creating digital literacy programs for women and expanding their online businesses.