Read how our beneficiary NGOs are using technology

Because Everyone Is WORTH It

Arjun was born partially blind. With doctors giving no hope that his eyesight would get any better, his parents were constantly worried about his education and ability to support himself. However, like many others from a low-income group, they were unable to afford treatment for their son.

India is home to 70 million persons with disabilities (PwDs). While challenges exist for all, these challenges assume more serious proportions for people from the low-income sections. Like Arjun, they are deprived of treatment and the chance to build a life of dignity for themselves.

It is this section of society that WORTH Trust aims to help. WORTH, which stands for Workshop for Rehabilitation and Training of the Handicapped, aims to create opportunities for vocational training and avenues for employment for handicapped individuals in India.

A Solution with Dignity

WORTH Trust uses a two-pronged model that addresses challenges faced by PwDs at various levels. Production
units run by the trust manufacture high-quality industrial components,
affordable mobility aids, and assistive devices. These units, located across four southern cities of Katpadi, Pondicherry, Tiruchirapalli, and Chennai, employ PwDs and provide them with honourable livelihood opportunities. Not only
does WORTH work towards creating a barrier-free world for the physically
challenged, it does this work with the help of persons with disabilities,
creating a circle of empowerment.

The surplus generated from the production units is ploughed back into the system and supports the second arm — the rehabilitation centres. Technical training centres provide free vocational training to boys and girls with orthopaedic and hearing challenges. Other programs include a school for the speech and hearing impaired and a day care centre for children with intellectual challenges.
With this unique cross-subsidy model, WORTH aims to mainstream children like Arjun by providing them with training and employment. Beginning as support for the Swedish Red Cross’ work to rehabilitate people with leprosy in 1963, WORTH has come a long way. Today it embraces the social responsibility of rehabilitating PwDs and demonstrating that every person has a useful role to play in society and the right to live a full life.

Expanding Through Technology

The road to achieving this impact was not free from obstacles. Getting enough work in the initial days was a challenge. As WORTH expanded, it encountered different trials. With a growing number of centres, managing daily processes such as accounts posed a big challenge. Each unit maintained separate physical records, which had to be manually collated. Simple tasks such as communication between centres would take up a large amount of time and bring down efficiency. The management was spending far too much time on manual processes.

To automate systems, a part of the funds was invested in buying computers. However, faced with high prices, the organization was not able to invest in genuine software, and low security caused their systems to crash. WORTH was desperate for a solution to this crisis.
Around this time, through a friendly IT consultant, WORTH Trust heard about NASSCOM Foundation’s software donation initiative, BigTech. WORTH Trust registered on the platform. Within a few days, WORTH was able to acquire genuine licenses for their computers and email servers. An efficient mechanism of data entry and collection was worked out, and all employees received email accounts through the organization to maintain safe and fast communication. This not only created efficient systems but also saved time that could be much better utilized.“

Being a self-sustaining organization, WORTH believes in putting every penny back into the cause they support.
The software donations freed up funds that would have been used for IT expenses. These funds were used in the education and training of children, creating empowered citizens for the future. 

Success through Collaboration

NASSCOM Foundation’s BigTech donations program, run in partnership with TechSoup Global, aims to support the work of NGOs such as WORTH. Through software donations, NASSCOM aims to bring in efficiency and other benefits that technology can provide to the Indian NGO sector. WORTH Trust received donations of Windows Remote Desktop Services, Windows 8, and Windows Server Datacenter Edition and has steadily integrated technology into its work. To streamline processes further, the management is now planning to install biometric attendance systems for the staff that work at their production units.
 
To learn more about the work of WORTH Trust visit: http://www.worthtrust.org.in/