Anchor Institutions

IT for Change is an NGO based in Bengaluru, India. It aims for a society in which digital technologies contribute to human rights, social justice and equity. Most mainstream approaches to digital technologies for development are either techno-utopic or promote a market-fundamentalist approach, often both together. A digital makeover of economies and societies has become a convenient opportunity for wholesale corporatisation of social systems, displacing the cornerstone ethics of democratic participation, commons, social justice and gender equality from development discourse.

SEWA Federation envisions a business environment where women-run social businesses can compete with other traditional companies by being managed as efficiently as them. To achieve this goal, the Federation has developed the following multi-dimensional strategy:

• Enable women to gain ownership of their trade through co-operatives and collectives, and to bring them into the mainstream economy.
• Establish a direct relationship between the producers and consumers, thereby eliminating exploitative middle agents.
• Advocate for the rights and interests of workers at the State and institutional levels.
• Train women in management skills like accounting, auditing, marketing, planning techniques, etc.
• Build the capacity of co-operative and collective members to access useful knowledge and technologies.

Established in 2000, Industree Foundation holistically tackles the root causes of poverty by creating an ownership based, organised creative manufacturing ecosystem for women. The Foundation’s comprehensive approach helps communities assess their traditional skill base, organize them into production units, develop products that appeal to contemporary markets, and create consistent demand to create sustainable businesses at the lowest possible costs. Our approach has tripled the incomes of artisans in non-farm occupations by leveraging their artisanal skills and integrating them into the creative industries sector. Industree Foundation believes that if the poor have access to sustained and consistent demand for their products and services and are provided with an enabling ecosystem, they can integrate into the formal economy and lift themselves out of poverty.