CSC, Vodafone Idea Foundation Join Hands For COVID-19 Vaccination Of Vulnerable Sections

* Target to register a million on CoWin Portal for driving vaccination for the elderly, people with disabilities, slum dwellers and daily wage workers

The Common Services Centers, under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, has partnered with Vodafone Idea Foundation, the CSR arm of Vi, for registration of citizens to receive vaccination against the deadly COVID-19 virus. The initiative will focus on vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.

The CSC Academy, the CSR & Education wing of CSC, will facilitate registration and scheduling of one million beneficiaries for vaccination across the country through the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). The VLEs will act as a focal point for identifying and reaching out to ageing population, slum dwellers, daily wage workers, etc.

Elaborating on the partnership, Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC SPV, said: “CSC has always stepped in to support social initiatives undertaken for the benefit of citizens. Registration of citizens on CoWin App is one such activity that CSC has undertaken as part of our commitment to provide inclusive healthcare to all. Our partnership with Vodafone Idea Foundation will help us reach out to the most marginalized and disadvantaged communities across the country and get them registered for vaccination under CoWin App and strengthen the Government’s fight against COVID-19.”

Speaking on the initiative, P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “At VIL, we believe in leveraging technology and innovation to find solutions to the pressing problems in the society. Our joint effort with CSC will provide scale to reach 10 Lakh rural population who are in the need to be vaccinated. Our aim is to create a one-stop service solution for the disadvantaged village citizens, vulnerable population and slum dwellers by providing them with services on Covid-19 vaccine registration on a unified digital backbone - CoWin App for an impactful vaccination drive in the country.” 

This initiative will give preference to citizens who are underprivileged, who do not have access to Internet/Smartphone or do not know how to operate digital devices. The VLEs will register the citizens directly on CoWin App, map them to local vaccination providers as per the existing process on the App, and schedule their vaccination.

CSC has been identified by National Health Authority and Ministry of Health & Welfare to mobilise and help the citizens for CoWin platform registration. A dedicated team has been setup for regular monitoring of the project wherein all the tracking will be done through a central dashboard made on the CSC Digital Seva Portal. This will include the report generation, grievance handling and daily status tracking. Through the link, beneficiary can download and get the certificate of COVID-19 vaccination from CSC by providing Aadhaar number.

Vodafone Idea Foundation has a long-standing partnership with CSC Academy and has supported deployment of over 30 mobile vans that are taking financial and digital literacy to grassroots level. Since last year, these vans have been also used extensively for promoting COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, dry ration distribution, etc.

About Common Services Centers

The Common Services Centers (CSCs) is one of the flagship programs under the Digital India Programme. CSCs offer assisted access to essential government and public utility services, social welfare schemes, financial services, education and skill development courses, apart from a host of B2C services. There are 3.90 lakh CSCs functioning across the country as delivery points of government and public services for the rural population in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.

About CSC Academy

CSC Academy, set up in 2017, is a not-for-profit society that provides access to professional learning for learners of diverse backgrounds and educational needs. CSC SPV has planned to set up 7,000 CSC Academy centres (one in every block) across the country, out of which more than 5000 are in place. Education and skills are the foundation of these centres. These academies offer various courses on future skills as per the requirements of leading industries.

About Vodafone Idea Foundation:

Vodafone Idea Foundation believes that our mobile communications technologies can address some of the most pressing humanitarian challenges and our responsibility is to utilize our innovative mobile technology in mobilizing social change and improving people’s lives. The Foundation focusses on addressing challenges relating to agriculture, education, health, equality and access. We are committed to enable people and technology to drive innovation, disseminate knowledge, and create shared value to improve lives. We work in partnership with key charities, development agencies and the community to drive social change on a large scale in India.