So what is Sahayak?

In a nutshell, Sahayak is an organised digital system built to smoothen and make efficient the dispensation of critical information, for and within the disability sector in India. It also, very importantly acts a job portal, exclusively for people with disabilities.

This application has been targeted towards the 'National Disability Helplines' in India, who in turn play a crucial role in acting as primary sources of collated information for people with disablities.

The categorized information, listings and easy application process would impactfully lessen the time and effort generally taken for career applications and disseminating critcal info (specially in light of Covid times).

Sahayak or सहायक in Hindi language means 'helper' or ' assistant'

A quick background

The idea was to use design thinking methodologies to solve for problems in the social sector. The social sector in India is vast, complex and has many areas which would need ‘out of the box’ problem solving using the said methodologies. Within the social sector the disability sector is especially significant.

Problems faced

The disabled population faces numerous challenges on a daily basis which would need help from government policies, societal education, general empathy and out of the box problem solving. Some problem areas are:-

• Lack of employment
• Accessibility
• Access to healthcare
• Education
• Myths and stereotypes
• Teased and abused

Influence of Covid19

Interestingly one of the main problems arising out of the current covid and near future post covid scenarios is lack of employment opportunities. Employment being an already big hurdle, has dropped further because of small business and work setups being affected. The employment rate of disabled people has actually fallen from 42.7% in 1991 down to 37.6 % in 2002.

The gap between the rate of employment of people with and without disabilities in the country has also further widened during the pandemic. A sizeable portion of the population with disabilities are educated and skilled and some were working regularly before Covid.

How do people with disabilities access work opportunities?

Although the government has worked a lot on creating various schemes but it has done little to spread awareness about it. The lack of information about the schemes and disabled human rights is prevalent in rural areas. Apart from direct contact with possible employers a large chunk of the population relies in organizations, government schemes, NGOs and their disability helplines.

Disability helplines are popular amongst people as they provide a human touch and a very necessary handheld approach.

However efficient dispensing of information on these schemes may get complex because of population, language and other barriers.

Helplines in India

It becomes difficult for "PwDs” (people with disabilities) who have mobility issues and high support needs to step out. For blind people in particular, tactile communication and navigation is inevitable, so many people tend to rely on another’s support. The helplines receive calls for issues with jobs/vacancies, aids and appliances, e-passes for caregivers, medicines and some seeking help for regular check-ups at hospitals

How do helplines work?

Once a call is received on the helpline, a team reaches out to the persons concerned through their partners across the country or the government agencies, whatever works in the area.

Need of Helplines

PwDs are present in all 29 states, not just the few that are taking proactive steps. The fundamental right to life and dignity cannot be dispensed with. PwDs are not a homogeneous, distinct group, they are to be found in every strata of society and in every aspect of life and they need to be enabled during this pandemic.

Helplines are one of the most important and popular mediums of dispensing critical information. We wanted to dig deeper into the minds, processes and systems of the very people operating and manning these helplines.

Various NGO’s around the country have helplines that dispense information, one of the most influential being A.S.T.H.A (Alternative Strategies for The Handicapped) as well other organizations like Healthcare India and Disability Affairs India. Our research and product kept A.S.T.H.A in the center to understand the scenario further

Volunteers and employees who operate these helplines play a very crucial part in the scheme of things. They are the ones who disseminate information for questions raised by ‘Persons with Disabilities’ or ‘PwDs’. As mentioned before, the covid crises has brought forward major problems in accessing opportunities for jobs and the entire career ecosystem in general. The volunteers man several calls asking for career help and schemes. The volunteers and employees also have access to extensive databases for possible opportunities and openings. They act as the bridge between PwD’s and corporates/companies with possible opportunities.

We felt, streamlining this feedback loop would greatly benefit the entire process.

Helpline operators gather information from various scattered sources. The existing feedback loop may be broken at times because it takes time gathering information, disseminating it and then the PwD using that info to further his/her career cause.

As the above sketches illustrate, disability helpline volunteers like “Binod” often get multiple calls for PwDs for info mostly on job availability or various schemes. Volunteers mostly have to field answers to queries from multiple sources (like physical pamphlets, websites, WhatsApp groups etc. The process and eventual feedback loop is often daunting and long.

A consolidated digital dashboard with regular job listings and scheme listings would sufficiently cut time and effort for this very feedback loop. We visualize a linear flow where, as a query is received, the volunteer can search similar jobs in real time through our dashboard as well as generate a professional CV that would be sent to prospective employers instantly.

Below is the flow and form of the application that also shows the process in detail

Sahayak aims to make the current feedback loop between PwD’s calling and helpline employees very efficient.  We aim to make it a one stop solution for this sector, increasing job hit ratios, dispensing critical information and make it a platform where NGO’s can connect, to build databases and increase information.

The tech behind it is very simple. It may be made through HTML. We would choose to go ahead with WordPress also building a custom WordPress CMS (content management system) where employees with access can update, add, edit or remove information.  Email integration is powered by Sendgrid.

Initial testing for the application has started at ASTHA and has garnered positive reviews so far. The efficiency in the feedback loop has been greatly appreciated.