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Riding on the 'Internet Saathi' -- a digital literacy initiative aimed at empowering women in rural India -Google India recently announced that it has now reached 100,000 villages in the country.
Launched as a pilot in Rajasthan in July 2015 along with Tata Trusts, Google announced plans to scale the programme to cover 300,000 villages across India in December the same year.
"From being afraid to touch a smartphone, worried that they will spoil it, to now demanding services that can help them get more from the Internet -- women in rural India have come a long way," Sapna Chadha, Director Marketing, South East Asia and India at Google, a statement said.
"We are delighted with the progress we have made with the 'Internet Saathi' model and it is remarkable to see the passion of these women learning about the Internet," she added.
In its two-year journey, the initiative has continued to gain momentum and is today live in 10 states in India.
Nearly 25,000 fully-trained 'Internet Saathis' are working everyday in these villages to help women and children learn about the internet.
Google also released the findings of a research conducted to understand the net impact of program amongst women in rural India.
IPSOS*, a leading market research company conducted the research to gauge the socio-economic impact of improving digital literacy amongst women in rural India and the results are very heartening.
Key findings of the research reveals:
Net Impact of the program on Internet awareness and usage amongst women in rural India
- Almost 90% of women who have attended the trainings with the Saathis have a better understanding of Internet
- On an average 25% of women who have learned to use the Internet continue to use the Internet
- At 35%, Gujarat has the highest percentage of women continuing to use the Internet after attending the program
- At 17%, Rajasthan ranks the lowest in continuing usage of Internet
- Primary use case for Internet is to learn new skills and find information
- Cost of the smartphones is the biggest barrier for usage after training - Over half of the women trained cannot afford to buy the phone
- Continued usage leads to better learning and more confidence in using more services on the internet
Impact on social standing of women in rural India:
- 7% of women trained under the program feel that their social standing has improved. They believe their social standing has improved at individual, household and community level - they feel more informed, more confident about themselves
Economic Impact of the Program:
- Overall, 33% trained women think that their economic condition have improved by learning new skills on the Internet
- Women feel that Internet has helped them to supplement their income in their existing occupation; income increased by an additional 1% in the villages where training was conducted; and those who continue to use internet in their daily lives believe they have upped their income additionally by another four percent
*IPSOS research was conducted in five states namely Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Jharkhand, where the training was conducted in 2015. 3239 respondents were covered in the survey, covering Internet Saathis (109), women who attended the training program (1057) and others who are still not familiar with the Internet (2073).