IndiaCSR News Network
NEW DELHI: The Vodafone Foundation today launched the second edition of the ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution’ (RRR 2), a unique digital campaign to celebrate the achievements of ordinary women accomplishing extraordinary feats across India. Beginning the virtual digital campaign, the young woman Sarpanch Anita Sankapale from Bhawan village near Aurangabad was recognized for her commitment towards community development work and addressing basic infrastructure issues like permanent roads, street lights, water supply and sewage system in the village.
The much anticipated ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution’ (RRR 2) campaign will virtually traverse 7 states and cover Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Alwar and Baran (Rajasthan), Mandvi (Gujarat), Raigarh (Chhattisgarh), Kolaras and Pohra (Madhya Pradesh), Keonjarh and Bhadrak (Orissa) , South 24 Parganas and Kolkata (West Bengal), identifying and acknowledging Women leaders/ farmers from remote areas in each of the locations .
An initiative of the Vodafone Foundation, ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution’ (RRR 2) replicates the spirit of RRR 1 in its vision of empowering women of India. As the Indian government mandates that 50% of all village heads or Sarpanches be women, and 80% of all farmers in India are women, the focus of ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution2’ (RRR2) is Women leaders/Farmers and Agriculture. The campaign celebrates achievements of 20 inspirational women leaders/farmers from various parts of the country.
Sharing insights on this unique initiative, Rohit Adya, Director, External Affairs, Vodafone India, said, “With the phenomenal response we received during the Red Rickshaw Revolution activity last year, we realized the fire was already burning, all we had to do was to channelize it well and provide direction to the women superheroes we have in the country. A woman is the soul of the society and if we empower her the entire society is empowered. Last year this campaign managed to generate Rs 3cr for women empowerment projects, this year we have infused the Red Rickshaw Revolution with new elements and energy. Finding convergence with the objectives of Digital India campaign, ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution’ (RRR 2) will felicitate these change makers who are a perfect ambassador to propagate the application of mobile technology for governance amongst the village community and beyond. ”
As part of the ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution 2’ (RRR 2) campaign, the Vodafone Foundation is also setting up physical infrastructure called ‘Digital Resource Centres’ in each village visited during the journey and empowering women leaders / farmers by making them digitally literate.
The Digital Resource Centre will be one stop centre for women to learn using a computer, work together on social issues like child marriage and gender equality. It will also enable them to access information about various beneficial government schemes, to connect with other regional developmental programmes through the internet. The centre will provide Digital Literacy Support to disseminate governance and agricultural information. It is enabled with internet connectivity, a printer, and 5 android tablets.
Osama Manzar, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation, said: “We want to make the establishment of digitally enabled Community Information Resource Centres a movement for each and every rural area which are disconnected. dCIRCs are going to be 21st century’s most basic infrastructure that we need for the masses living in remote areas of India and we all need to work together to make this happen”
The ‘Red Rickshaw Revolution’ is a collaborative work of key partners who have provided active support towards this cause. The Vodafone Foundation would like to wish all the indentified empowered women leaders success.
