Bookletpedia | Making Communication Easy For The Grassroots
In an increasingly digital world, accessing information is easier than ever. Whatever we wish to know, it is merely an internet search away. But what about those who do not have access to smartphone devices, the 1GB data packs, or the requisite knowledge to find their desired information in the English-dominated world wide web?
For them, it is not simply a matter of missing out on the latest trending news, but also of missing out on life-changing welfare schemes that the government has rolled out for their benefit. According to Ayush Poddar and Piyush Poddar, the founders of Bookletpedia, the problem of inaccessibility of welfare schemes stems from the lack of knowledge and lack of information about the schemes available. During the lockdown, when everything became more digital than ever, Bookletpedia was launched to empower people living at the grassroots by bridging this information gap through their contextual and interactive booklets and brochures.
1. Tell us a bit about the genesis of Bookletpedia? Why and how did you begin this initiative?
It all started during the lockdown period. The Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM), with whom I worked as an intern during my Master's in Social Work, requested us to make an educational booklet on two schemes being implemented in Rajasthan – the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and the Palanhaar yojana. We were asked to design the booklet based on the government provided information on the ways to avail the benefits under the schemes and make the knowledge as accessible to the grassroots population as possible. This project ultimately spawned what is now the Bookletpedia.
2. Why do you think there is a need for these booklets even when most of these information are already available on government websites?
Government websites have ample information on various schemes. But there is a huge gap between the information available and the information possessed by the rural populace. Government websites generally make the necessary details available in English language or Hindi language. And in a country with hundreds of different languages, this signals an inevitable knowledge gap. And when people are not even aware of the schemes available, they cannot access what is their entitlement. Our aim is to make the information accessible through booklets in easy-to- understand. Not only are we making these booklets, but we are working with organizations that have grassroot workers so that our booklets can reach the rural populace through them. For example, we worked with the Aajeevika mission or the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) to empower women and educate these women on the various government schemes.
3. India has the highest number of illiterate population in the world. Do posters, pamphlets, booklets work in taking your word forward? Would audio-visual content not work better in educating the rural population?
Firstly, the problem is not only of literacy but also about the accessibility of technology for information dissemination. Although audio-visual content is the most effective communication medium, the question is whether the target group (specifically marginalized communities) has access to and ownership of mobile phones to access the available content. According to NFHS-5, urban women (69.4 percent) have disproportionately higher access to mobile phones as compared to their rural counterparts (46.6 percent).
Secondly, we are not directly dealing with the grassroots population through our booklets. Rather, we reach out to organizations that are already working at the grassroots level. The content we create is for the Community Resource Persons (CRPs) who are educated and trained on using the booklets. These trained CRPs then help in carrying the information to the masses.
4. How do you approach these organization agencies? What is the process like?
We have been approaching these organizations through social media as of now, primarily through LinkedIn and Instagram. Social media allows us to reach out to different professionals working with people on the ground in a quick span of time and with the least cost.
The majority of our work so far has been in collaboration with an organisation called Kudumbashree National Resource Organization (NRO) which is an institution recognized by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India to provide technical and implementation assistance to the State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) across India. They saw our work on our Instagram page and reached out to us. Platforms like LinkedIn give us the advantage of reaching out to IAS officers and other administrators, which otherwise is a very tough and challenging task given their duty. However, the response rate to the advertisement or the reach out is low when it comes to social media, particularly on LinkedIn.
5. Which regional languages have you worked with so far?
English and Hindi are our strong suits. Since I am a Marwari, we have also developed a booklet in the language. When it comes to other languages, we ask the organizations we are collaborating with to provide the translation or we use Google Translator. Recently, we developed a booklet on entrepreneurship schemes in the Marathi language EdelGive Foundation and the translation was prepared by the organization itself.
6. Which regions or states are your booklets circulated in?
I would say it’s not region-specific because the content we are creating is being used all across India. We have worked with Kudumbashree- National Resource Organisation and those booklets are being used in well over 34 states across India. Beyond that, we have worked with organizations that work in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, etc. We have, unfortunately, not been able to reach out to the north-eastern states so far, but we would definitely like to start working in that region in the near future. Team Bookletpedia in collaboration with MVDA, provided training on Gender to
community members in the Tehri Gharwhal district of Uttarakhand.
7. Is there any particular problem that you face while working with different government bodies and organisations?
The difficulty that we face is that it is an excruciatingly slow process. Being able to get a project in the pipeline does not mean that it will ultimately come to fruition. This problem is worsened by the fact that administrators are frequently transferred. Oftentimes we would establish contact with one administrator and just when the project is about to be finalized, we would find out that he/she has been transferred. But we are still trying to reach out to these administrators and expand our work because we believe that our booklets can make government schemes in particular and information, in general, more accessible to the people who need these schemes.
8. Tell us something about your projects which are in motion right now?
Till now, most of our work has been around government schemes. We have developed a booklet on MGNREGA and the Palanhar yojana for RMKM, a booklet on entrepreneurship schemes for EdelGive Foundation, a booklet titled ‘Parivartan’ on the schemes of the Madhya Pradesh government, pamphlets for the Niramaya scheme, and a booklet for the Punjab State Rural Livelihood Mission among others. Currently, we have collaborated with Mount Valley Development Association (MVDA), an organization working in Uttarakhand, to develop a module on Gender and Menstrual hygiene that will be used to train the community resource persons, who will then train the rest of the community.
9. Is there any way the urban citizens can contribute to the work you do? In educating the rural population about the schemes made for them.
Urban citizens with greater access to information and technology can certainly volunteer their time and work with the local institution in villages for creating awareness of government schemes. And if you would like to collaborate with us, you can find us at https://www.bookletpedia.co.in/.