W4C

Access to information is a basic right for every citizen and Digital Empowerment Foundation works towards providing this access by connecting remote communities to the Internet through its Wireless for Communities initiative across more than 150 villages in India. Wireless for Communities or W4C aims to connect rural and remote locations of India.

W4C involves line-of-sight and low-cost Wi-Fi equipment, which utilise the unlicensed spectrum bands — 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz — to create community owned and community-operated wireless networks in rural and remote locations of India to democratise access and make it available to all. These community networks are created for knowledge sharing, content creation and dissemination of other information and issues relevant to the local context of each location. Women are trained to become engineers who maintain and manage these networks.

Principal Partners

Success Stories

Community Networks

Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has been working on digital access, governance and information poverty by instrumentalising Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for decades now.

Know More

Four women make low-cost sanitary napkins

People usually start thinking of retirement when they’re about to touch 60 but not this woman. Sixty year- old Bodhi Devi has been working with Barefoot College in Tilonia for the last three years.

Know More

Women in Tilonia have found a new love

Twenty iPads are used at Barefoot College for women enrolled for the national and international solar training programme. Another 10 iMac systems are used for training schoolchildren in digital literacy.

Know More

Internet brings in a new era of fundraising

When it comes to the social media strategy of Barefoot College, it believes in ‘Gift-and-Ask’ in the ratio of 70:30. While ‘ask’ is any post or update that asks the public to click, donate, share or do something

Know More

Conserving drinking water, offline and online

One of the major solution areas under which Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan, works is Water. Each individual on the campus believes that every drop of fresh water that falls on the ground should be harnessed for use.

Evolution of communication on campus

Over the years, communication has moved from post and telegram to telephones and now to emails and social media. Ramkaranji, who looks after external communication, guest facilitation and lodging…

A young girls has big aspirations

Madiyash is a new recruit at Barefoot College who has been hired by Digital Empowerment Foundation as a coordinator. She is 18 years old and aims to be a journalist.

Know More

Supporting radio listeners, on air & on ground

Every morning at 7 am about 40,000-60,000 people in and around the village of Tilonia in Ajmer district of Rajasthan turn on their radio transistors and tune into 90.4 FM to listen to Norat Mal and Aarti Devi’s broadcast.

Know More

Visual Stories

W4C Impact Story Barefoot College

Visit to Barefoot College Tilonia

I Love to Study & Play

Chanderi Film

Chanderi

Baank-e-Loom

Last Mile Connectivity

Baran “residents of jungle go WIFI”

Training Courses

WIRELESS TRAINING MANUAL

This chapter aims to provide brief knowledge to the reader about wireless networks. This unit discusses not only the commonly used IEEE802.11 standards but also the new broadband standard IEEE802.16 (WiMAX).

Download Now

REFRESHER COURSE ON USING INTERNET

This short course on internet literacy is for anyone who knows the basics of the internet, has used a browser before for searching online content and has an active email account.

Download Now

CERTIFICATE COURSE ON FUNDAMENTAL OF INTERNET

The training manual comprises of detailed introduction to internet web browsing, search engine understanding, websites, on-line communication media like email, chatting, web conferencing and social media.

Download Now