Digital Empowerment for women

WomenConnect Challenge India: Connecting Women, Transforming Communities

Women's inclusion in digital technology is a crucial catalyst for education, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and information access. The WomenConnect Challenge India was launched in 2020 by Reliance Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and aims to address the gender digital divide. This initiative is identifying and supporting innovative solutions to empower women in India, facilitating their access to and use of digital technology to drive positive health, education and livelihood outcomes for themselves and their families.

Through Round 1, Reliance Foundation provided Rs. 8.5 crore ($1.1 million USD) in grants for 10 not-for-profit organisations between Rs. 75 Lakh to 1 crore ($100,000 - $135,000) each. Projects kicked off in July 2021 and focused on building entrepreneurship skills, relevant digital literacy for low-literate users, edutainment-based courseware, mentoring and value-chain linkages and support for women working in agriculture. These projects have reached and created sustainable impact in the lives of over 320,000 women and girls directly and indirectly, spread over 19 states of India.

Building on the momentum from Round 1, Reliance Foundation and USAID launched Round 2 in October 2022 to continue to discover innovative ways to bring women online with the support of their families and communities, and create sustainable long-term programming that helps bridge the gender digital divide.

Under Round 2, Reliance Foundation is supporting 7 not-for-profit organisations implementing innovative projects focused on building digital literacy skills using applications and digital platforms for access to relevant information, promoting entrepreneurship and growing micro-enterprises, and financial inclusion.