Osama Manzar is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, editor, columnist, and new media specialist who aims to overcome the information barrier between India’s rural sector, and the so-called developed society, through Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), which was founded by Osama in December 2002.
PROJECT TEAM
Ritu Srivastava has over 10 years of professional experience in ICT development, managing programmes and projects. Her current area of interest, activity and research is in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) at the grassroots level, internet security, women empowerment, environmental issues, etc.
Eshita Mukherjee, (Officer – Research and Advocacy). She holds an M.Sc. degree in Environmental Economics from Madras School of Economics, Chennai. Eshita has worked earlier at IIT, Chennai and at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis. Her professional interests include climate change, poverty & inequality in India, energy security and economical analysis.
Bijo P Abraham works as Senior Associate – Research and Advocacy at Digital Empowerment Foundation. He has over 5 years of experience in Counselling and Public Health. He holds an MSW degree from MG University, Kerala. His interests lie in public health, disability, mental health, research and percussion instrumental music
Alumni
Rajat Kumar has worked as a Senior Officer – Research & Advocacy at the Digital Empowerment Foundation. He has over 6 years of experience in teaching, research and his interests lie in the intersection of psychology, environmental studies, design philosophy and data science.
Shivani Lal has worked as a Sr. Associate – Research & Advocacy at the Digital Empowerment Foundation. She has 3 years of experience in human rights advocacy. Her interest lies in exploring how effective communication strategies can be designed for rights-based campaigns.
PARTNERS
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has teamed up with members and partners in India, Pakistan and Malaysia to protect and promote human rights on the internet. Internet-related policies and the ways they are implemented contribute to strengthening human rights online and offline, and support democracy-building. But the gaps in understanding of internet rights by key actors in India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, negatively impacts how rights and freedoms in these countries are exercised.
APC is both a network and an organisation. APC’s mission is to empower and support organisations, social movements and individuals in and through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to build strategic communities and initiatives for the purpose of making meaningful contributions to equitable human development, social justice, participatory political processes and environmental sustainability.
EMPOWER is a non-governmental organisation that promotes and supports actions that advance justice and democracy, based on feminist and human rights principles. We work with women and youths to realise their potential in the areas of political participation, economic empowerment, and civil liberties. Empower is a Malaysian partner to implement the project in the country.
Bytes for All (B4A), Pakistan is a human rights organization and a research think tank with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). It experiments with and organizes debate on the relevance of ICTs for sustainable development and strengthening human rights movements in the country.
CONTACT US
EMAIL research@defindia.org
Tel: 011-26532786 / 26532787
Digital Empowerment Foundation
House No. 44, 3rd Floor,
Kaalu Sarai, (Near IIT Flyover)
New Delhi – 110016