Lakshmamma’s Digital Leap at 66

Sixty-six-year-old Lakshmamma from Taruve Gram Panchayat in Moodigere Taluk, Chikkamagaluru, has learnt to use her mobile phone for banking transactions and digital payments. Owning a small provision store located in front of the Gram Panchayat Library (GPL), Lakshmamma would often visit the library during her free time to pick up digital skills. Noticing her keen interest in learning to use digital devices, librarian Shilpa guided and taught her the necessary skills. She is undergoing Digital Literacy training sessions (Level 2 in progress).

Today, Lakshmamma confidently and effectively uses her phone, a skill that has brought greater convenience to her daily life and business operations. She has a UPI payment gateway set up in her store, which she now effectively uses for digital transactions

This is one of the projects by Sikshana Foundation. Sikshana Foundation started in 2003 by a group of professionals to improve the quality of education delivered by the public school system has evolved over the years to be able to work with various government institutions to help improve the quality of services rendered. The foundation was set up to work in collaboration with the government and develop sustainable and scalable models which can be integrated with the existing government work flows.

The foundation’s flagship program is currently Grama Digi Vikasana, a program to convert Gram Panchayat Libraries into Digital Transformation Centers in collaboration with Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department and Dell Technologies.

With more and more social programs by the Govt. being delivered as e-service, it is imperative that the beneficiaries not only have devices to access it but also understand how to consume these services in a safe and secure manner. To address this Sikshana Foundation has developed a Digital Literacy program which has been running across 5000 GPs across the state..

For more information on Sikshana Foundation, check their website – https://sikshana.org/ or their Instagram handle https://www.instagram.com/sikshanafoundation?igsh=YzE2NnNncHg2bTd2