BACKGROUND

“I firmly believe that the digital age can change our country for the good, if digital tools are used with a citizen-centric strategy. Information poverty is the most sustained and perennial misery that a vast majority of the population is still subjected to. Digital tools and applications can largely solve this problem through information empowerment and entitlement gains till the last mile. Technology can be a great boon in this game to serve citizens better.”- Osama Manzar, Founder Visionary, Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and the force behind CIRC movement.

The power to change lies in the hands of people. Access and Information are key contributors in the process of development. Together, they have the potential to lead the way for much needed empowerment.

It is this belief that became the foundation stone for starting Community Information Resource Centres (CIRCs) in villages across India to empower socially-marginalized communities by providing digital connectivity, information services, access and capacity building trainings thereby enabling sustainable growth of all.

Vision: Creating information-empowered, equitable communities by providing digital access to information, knowledge and online services.

Mission: Building connected public spaces through community participation to reach the unreached and ensure digital inclusion.

Values: Promoting diversity, inclusivity, sustainability and protecting environment, heritage and culture besides respect for natural resources are crosscutting ethos and values of all CIRCs.

The first CIRC was established in 2007 in Rajasthan’s Baran district with support received from Intel. The successful implementation and overwhelming response received from the community led way for the creation of two more centres from the existing one. Since then, we have grown from 3 to 140 CIRCs spread across 70 districts of India in 21 States, serving over 1, 50, 000 people through various community oriented ICT4D interventions.