Shakthi is a SaaS platform for private social network, lifelong learning, and social action in a fun and playful environment. It is ideal for youth engagement, learning communities, and knowledge networks.
Blog Archives
Short Video on Janani, our Citizen Engagement Platform
Janani is Appropriate IT’s open source crowdsourcing and citizen engagement platform. Check out Janani’s product page for more information.
Payment Banks to Bring DFS & Financial Inclusion to Rural Poor in India
* DFS = Digital Financial Services
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced an ‘in principle’ approval for 11 payment banks this week. And I, with my exalted seat on the sidelines, would like to shout with all the excitement I can muster “don’t stop, keep going.” It is hard to believe that I can be that excited about something that sounds so out of …
Tags: digital financial services, financial inclusion, india, krishi janani
Categories: asia, innovation lab, solutions
Categories: asia, innovation lab, solutions
Finding Krishi Janani’s Social Value Proposition for Farmers
June was Krishi Janani’s “get out of the office” month. It was intense. We set out to meet as many individuals and institutions along the agriculture value chain as possible. As mentioned earlier, we are utilizing lean startup approaches to build Krishi Janani. Customer discovery and validation are THE opening steps of that approach. As Steve Blank outlines in his customer development model:
Almost …
Tags: ag field notes, ict4ag, krishi janani
Categories: asia, innovation lab, krishi janani, solutions
Categories: asia, innovation lab, krishi janani, solutions
Krishi Janani: Stepping Out Into the Great Unknown
So…Appropriate IT is working on a new sustainable agriculture technology platform – Krishi Janani. We have been at it for a while now, launching a partially working prototype earlier this year. Before I go into the ‘Great Unknown’ parts of the story, a quick summary:
Krishi Janani is an ag tech network (online platform + young women-led rural ag tech centers) enabling organic and sustainable …
Tags: ag field notes, ag tech, agriculture, india, krishi janani
Categories: appropriate it, asia, featured, innovation lab, krishi janani, project portfolio
Categories: appropriate it, asia, featured, innovation lab, krishi janani, project portfolio
கடைக்கோடி பெண்ணுக்கும் ஐடி : கனவை நனவாக்கும் அய்டா
(Guest blog by Geeta Ilangovan)
ஆஃப்கானிஸ்தான் விமானநிலையத்தில் இறங்கியபோது எனக்கு அதிர்ச்சி காத்திருந்தது. நான் செல்ல வேண்டிய நிறுவனத்திற்கு என்னை அழைத்துச் செல்ல வேண்டிய நபரைக் காணவில்லை. அவரின் தொலைபேசி எண்ணை அழைக்க வேண்டுமென்றால் விமானநிலையத்திற்கு வெளியே உள்ள பூத்திற்கு போக வேண்டும். தீவிரவாதமும், பெண் ஒடுக்குமுறை கொடுமைகளும் தலைவிரித்தாடும் மண்ணில் தனியே காலெடுத்து வைக்க தைரியம் வரவில்லை. என்ன செய்வதென்றே புரியவில்லை. பயத்தை மறைத்துக் கொண்டு விமான நிலையத்தின் உட்புறம் அலைந்து கொண்டிருந்தேன்.
என்னை கவனித்துக் கொண்டிருந்த ஒரு போலீஸ்காரர், `யார் நீங்கள் ?’ என்று உடைந்த ஆங்கிலத்தில் …
Tags: education, education for life, employability, empowerment, india, learning, training
Categories: appropriate it, asia, development academy, innovation lab
Categories: appropriate it, asia, development academy, innovation lab
Introducing Janani: A Crowdsourcing + Citizen Engagement Platform
Appropriate IT’s Innovation Lab is delighted to announce the release of our first product: Janani, an open source crowdsourcing + citizen engagement platform for social accountability.
Janani is a citizen engagement platform ideal for crowdsourced assessments of publicly funded projects, monitoring of service delivery to citizens, improving accountability in governance, or increasing participation for programs.
Key features of the platform include:
An easy-to-use text messaging …
Tags: citizen engagement, crowdsourcing, janani, social accountability
Categories: announcements, appropriate it, featured, innovation lab
Categories: announcements, appropriate it, featured, innovation lab
Unlocking Money Via Social Enterprise
At Appropriate IT, we’ve been calling ourselves a start up. While that’s true, it sometimes feels as though we’re not. For years now, AI has been a known entity through its project-based work, and concepts for our latest iteration have been piloted for the past couple of years. As we hit 2014 though, we’re shifting gears a bit – launching the hybrid model of Innovation …
Tags: impact investment, reflections
Categories: appropriate it, development academy, featured, innovation lab
Categories: appropriate it, development academy, featured, innovation lab
Fashioning The Right Lens
Shortly over a month ago, I joined the Appropriate IT team as a manager of business development. My role, generally-speaking, is to cultivate relationships with our potential and our active investors as AI goes from a seed stage entity to one in full bloom. I’m supposed to help others see the potential in our enterprise and decide to make a bet on our successful growth. …
A Four Step Plan For When Life Sends You On A Detour
When 2013 dawned, we had one mega plan for Appropriate IT (AI). We had successfully tested our curriculum and established demand for a radically different type of corporate training in India. All that was left was to launch the first physical center for Appropriate IT Development Academy in Coimbatore, India by the end of 2013.
The last quarter of 2013 did indeed witness a launch. …
Tags: anti-corruption, citizen engagement, crowdsourcing, reflections
Categories: africa, appropriate it, featured, innovation lab
Categories: africa, appropriate it, featured, innovation lab
Krishi Janani: Stepping Out Into the Great Unknown
So…Appropriate IT is working on a new sustainable agriculture technology platform – Krishi Janani. We have been at it for a while now, launching a partially working prototype earlier this year. Before I go into the ‘Great Unknown’ parts of the story, a quick summary:
Krishi Janani is an ag tech network (online platform + young women-led rural ag tech centers) enabling organic and sustainable …
Pay It Forward: A Training in Namakkal
A three day technology training in building websites with WordPress at PGP college in Namakkal, Tamil Nadu
By Alexandra de Vogel, Assistant Trainer
With a background in Industrial design and innovation management, being part of this training was a first experience for me. But now I know that it will definitely not be my last experience in this field. These three days in Namakkal …
Learning is a Mindset
(Guest blog by Heather A. Moore)
Usha recently invited me to share some words of advice with the inspiring young women that had recently graduated from the pilot program of AIDA, Appropriate IT’s Development Academy, and with those from the community. Having gathered some sage advice from a few wise and generous mentors throughout my career, as well as the hard earned wisdom that comes …