Both State and Union governments have launched many social protection and welfare schemes for the poor. These schemes can save and change lives of millions of children from vulnerable and marginalized sections of the community. This can be a boon for such families especially in times of hardships and disasters like: floods, loss of a parent, cyclone, drought, fire, etc. However, the funds allocated for these schemes are invariably underutilized because the target audience are either not aware or are not educated enough to follow the process to access benefits of these schemes.

With the aim to build resilience of such children and their community and helping them apply for their rightful entitlements, Nokia and Save the Children have partnered together. Under this partnership, we have engaged Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Pvt. to develop a web and mobile-based Social Protection Application that would help citizens know about their eligibility to various government and private sector schemes through a simple one-time screening process.

How does the app work?
The app has a checklist for documents needed to apply for a particular scheme and a help line service for the customer seeking any kind of support. The model uses grass root entrepreneurs in the communities to reach out to the families. Using the mobile and desktop applications, they inform families about their eligibility for various schemes (Government and Corporate). The entrepreneur also helps them to submit the application, against a nominal fee.

“We aim to empower the vulnerable by providing easy access and information of all the schemes,” said Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children India.

This app will be used across five disaster-prone states of India –  Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. This app was recently launched at the District Magistrate’s Office in South-East Delhi, with an aims to connect 50 communities in slums across South-East Delhi. The initiative is also being executed in Dungarpur District in Rajasthan, Tiruvallur and Nagapattinam districts in Tamil Nadu.