T4G Labs
We bring together changemakers to solve complex problems faced by vulnerable communities by co-creating simple free open shared digital public infrastructures that focus on collaboration
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We live in a divided and unjust world, especially for vulnerable groups. And these already existing inequalities have been amplified with climate change, pandemics and rapidly shifting societal structures.
One can never forget the extraordinary hardships faced by millions of vulnerable communities during the covid-19 pandemic in India. Millions of migrant workers, small and marginal farmers, artisans, informal sector workers,etc struggled with loss of livelihoods, lack of access to food, shelter and covid care.
But, there is hope. The extraordinary public participation to help those in distress was heartwarming to witness. A large number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), small grassroots organisations, Hospitals, Researchers, Government agencies, Funders, Concerned citizens (even children), technologists, and think tanks came together to help those in distress. so many networks of care, love and hope.
T4G Labs’s journey started around that time. We gave technology support like Toll Free numbers connecting those in distress to remote volunteers.
Though such systems connected those in distress to share their needs easily to a network of distributed remote volunteers, it did not help frontline teams to track & close those requests. It was like we created thousands of efficient post boxes to collect grievances but didn't think of creating the postal infrastructure that will actually help the postal workers (frontline workers) solve the problems of the vulnerable groups efficiently and quickly.
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Why do we exist?
It is increasingly evident now that no single organisation, no matter how big, can solve such complex problems at scale. The challenges faced by them are not only complex but also come with multiple intersectionalities. E.g a poor migrant worker displaced because of climate change, and a single woman with a child. She not only has to deal with challenges of unpaid wages but also face sexual harassment at her worksite and needs access to healthcare, and quality education for her child.
There is an urgent and important need to work together as an ecosystem. And, As we look around us, we see that change makers are not able to easily collaborate with their partners, other CSOs, Government agencies while trying to serve the same vulnerable groups. They are good with their own internal collaborations but when it comes to collaborating with others, it was not easy. Think of these changemakers as messaging apps like Whatsapp and Telegram. These apps are great for communicating with other people or groups who are using the same app but you can't send a message from whatsapp to telegram. There is no interoperability! To solve complex problems at scale, the changemakers ecosystem needs to work with each other seamlessly. (Like email - one can send an email from gmail to hotmail and copy yahoo mail)
What do we do?
Isn't it important that we support the ecosystem of changemakers to work together effortlessly to solve problems of vulnerable groups efficiently and at scale? How can technology play a role?
Since 2020, We at T4G Labs have been doing just that.
We bring together thousands of changemakers to solve complex problems for millions of people from vulnerable communities by leveraging simple free open shared digital public infrastructures.
How? We do this by playing 3 key roles
1. Convening ecosystems, co-creating solutions with vulnerable groups & frontline workers at the core, seeding trust, understanding different perspectives, bringing together different people, organisations working on various intersectionalities through a collaborative, diverse and inclusive process.
2. Building the field of Digital Public Infrastructure - secure funding (Retail & Institutional), nurturing & networking tech partners in development of DPIs, curating free & open tech, adding tech & data capacity through fellowships, etc.
3. Product Design & Delivery - though actual product development will be done by others, we will be actively involved in the design, delivery, training and handholding.
Our impact so far
We helped our partners build and run a scalable digital infrastructure which helps connect a migrant worker in distress anywhere in India through a toll free number to a distributed team of counsellors who help them claim their unpaid wages, benefits. We achieved this by convening and working closely with 8-10 diverse stakeholders including funders, trade unions, CSOs working on livelihood, etc. We also field building for digital public infra by putting together free and open technologies & technologists like ERPNext, Frappe Framework, FOSS United, Akhilam Inc, Exotel cloud telephony and many more. As of 15th April, 2022, Labourline run by Working People’s Charter has reached 25,000 migrant workers across 5 cities in India, solved 788 cases of unpaid wages and helped recover INR 1.1 Crore in wages. Labourline is scaling to 16 more cities by Sep, 2022.
Note: Releasing a hosted, easily customizable digital infra so that anyone working on simple use cases of beneficiary, case management through field, calls or whatsapp can easily use the digital infra that labourline uses to collaborate with their partners, teams.
Who we are
Arunabha Bhattacharya
Arunabha is passionate about bridging worlds, connecting silos,diffusing ideas and human connections for greater good. He loves to talk about jobs in the development sector, grants, philanthropy, climate action now, and funding opportunities.
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Deepali Kulkarni
A software professional passionate about projects where technology is used for the greater good. Her skills include Project Management, Solution design in our initiatives. She is focused on helping T4G Labs stay close to our mission and guide us with her leardership.
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Shemeer Babu
Shemeer is a co-founder at T4G Labs. He is passionate about tech for social good. He has 12+ years of diverse experience with expertise in leadership, team building, entrepreneurship, design thinking and Impact technology. He has worked with organizations like Amnesty International, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, Mozilla Foundation.
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Credits: We are grateful for inputs, guidance, support from all of you
Migrant workers and their communities across India\ Migrant workers like Sapan Sahoo, Cook in Bangalore from Orissa\ Shruti Lamani , Home Nanny in Bangalore from Haveri, Karnataka\ Priya, Full time domestic help in Bangalore, from Assam\ Anil, Harshada (Tele-counsellors), Muniraju (Field Team), Santosh Poonia, Divya, Chandan at Laborline by Working People's Charter and Aajeevika Beaureu\ Pooja Thyagi\ Ramya Sundararajan, CEO, WeLive Foundation\ Sridhar Guduthur, CFO at HSTP by Tata Trusts\ Shivam & Raaj, Akhilam Inc\ Vishal Arya, FOSS United\ Karthikeyan Krishnamurthy, Exotel\ Mozilla Foundation\ Rakesh Narayanan, Azim Premji Foundation (Philanthropy)\ Kailash Nadh, FOSS United\ Rushabh, Frappe Ananya Das We are not Users - The Book Ananth P, Rajesh K from Socratus\ Tara Rao, Ourgroundworks\ Sashi Rajmani CS D Venkateswarlu\ 91Springboards Siddharth Desai, Nokia Anupriya Sinha, Infosys