3 weeks ago
Tech Must Work in Remote Regions: Swades Foundation CEO
A man named Mangesh Wange leads a big helper group in India called the Swades Foundation.
The group helps people in villages get clean water, health care, education, and ways to earn money.
Villages use a special phone app to tell the group what they need, like water pipes, buffaloes, or goats.
The app works even where there is no internet, and it can be used in the local language, Marathi.
People can also see how their village is doing on the app, shown as red, yellow, or green.
The group uses video calls so villagers far away can talk to doctors, and drones to check that soil and water projects are working.
It only wants to use technology that is tested and safe, so villagers are not used to test new inventions.
Its big goal is to help lift one million people out of poverty every five years and then step back once a village is doing well on its own.
Mangesh Wange, CEO of the Swades Foundation, says technology must work even in remote regions to create impact in rural India.
The foundation, founded by Zarina and Ronnie Screwvala, has reached around 3,400 villages in Maharashtra and currently operates in more than 1,000 villages, impacting about a million people.
The Swades app, used across 1,237 villages, works both online and offline and is available in Marathi, letting community members submit local development demands.
Last year, the foundation tracked six government schemes across 1,000 villages, converging around Rs 150 crore in government funding alongside its own direct spend of roughly Rs 100 crore.
Wange said pilots of non-invasive anemia testing and a thermal breast cancer scanner produced false positives and negatives, so only proven, reliable technology will be deployed to communities.
- Who
- Mangesh Wange, CEO of the Swades Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Zarina and Ronnie Screwvala.
- What
- An interview about how the Swades Foundation uses technology, including the Swades app, telemedicine, drones, and satellite imagery, to run anti-poverty programmes in rural Maharashtra.
- Where
- Rural Maharashtra, India — specifically the districts of Raigad, Nashik, Palghar, Thane, and Nandurbar.
- When
- The interview was published recently; the foundation has existed in its current form since 2012, and the Swades app was extended to community members over the last 18 months.
- Why
- To lift one million people out of poverty every five years by digitising village planning, delivery, monitoring, and verification so development work is faster, more accurate, and more accountable.
Key facts
- Organisation
- Swades Foundation (non-profit, founded 2012 in current form)
- CEO
- Mangesh Wange
- Founders
- Zarina and Ronnie Screwvala
- Districts in Maharashtra
- Raigad, Nashik, Palghar, Thane, Nandurbar
- Villages
- Reached ~3,400; currently present in 1,000+ (Swades app active in 1,237)
- People impacted
- ~1 million across programmes
- Government funds converged (last year)
- ~Rs 150 crore from six tracked schemes
- Direct spend (last year)
- ~Rs 100 crore
Sources
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