In times dominated by technology and gadgets, senior citizens often face unique challenges navigating the digital world. From combating cyber fraud to mastering the basics of smartphone use, their journey requires tailored support and guidance. HelpAge India, a pioneer in elder welfare, has been at the forefront of addressing these barriers through impactful awareness campaigns and digital literacy programs.
In this engaging conversation, Mr. Prateep Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer, HelpAge India, sheds light on the organization’s efforts to empower seniors, ensure their online safety, and foster independence. He also discusses collaborative strategies, challenges, and future initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide for India’s elderly population.
Read the full interview for deeper insights:
Q. How do HelpAge India’s awareness campaigns and digital literacy programs address the unique challenges faced by seniors in the digital space?
A. At HelpAge, we understand that many elders, especially urban elders, have smartphones but are unable to use them due to knowledge or usage barriers. The user interface of today’s smartphones is also not optimized for elders. HelpAge conducts Digital Literacy on-ground workshops to help senior citizens navigate the digital and online world. We have dedicated staff and young volunteers who spend time with elders and teach them mobile-based literacy and how to use the internet through their mobiles to access various online services. We address these usage and knowledge barriers by motivating them and enabling them to make life easier. For example, teaching them how to book a taxi or pay their utility bills online helps make their lives easier, promoting independence without relying on others.
Q. How does HelpAge India collaborate with local communities, law enforcement, and other organizations to combat cyber fraud targeting seniors?
A. HelpAge India works closely with Senior Citizens' Associations, community-based organizations, and law enforcement agencies while conducting these digital safety workshops, which have focused curriculums on online safety. These are taught to seniors to increase their awareness levels. Experts in cybercrime often attend and share their expertise at these meetings and help guide senior citizens who have succumbed to cyber fraud, by teaching them the process of how to register their complaints through the cyber-crime national helpline number (1930) as most elders are unaware.
Q. What methods or tools does HelpAge India use to engage senior citizens who might have limited access to technology?
A. HelpAge India recognizes the knowledge barriers seniors face when it comes to mobile phone use. To address this, HelpAge India conducts thousands of digital literacy sessions each year. These sessions emphasize a hands-on learning approach, where seniors actively learn how to optimize the use of their mobile phonesand the online world under the guidance of HelpAge staffand volunteers. These sessions are visually engaging, using animated short videos to facilitate learning. Additionally, HelpAge fosters intergenerational bonding at these workshops, by partnering with local schools, encouraging children to become digital gurus helping elders learn mobile skills, such as opening apps, clearing phone memory, booking cabs, and making video calls.
Q. What are the most common misconceptions among senior citizens regarding online safety, and how does your team address them?
A. One of the learnings from digital literacy sessions is that sometimes seniors think that there are no reporting mechanisms, which is not the case. In these cases, our staff, who plan these digital sessions with senior citizens,help create awarenessabout government reporting and redressal mechanisms, such as ‘Sanchar Saathi’ or the use of the cyber-crime helpline number 1930. There is also a belief among senior citizens that it is difficult to stop online fraud.Our teams train them to adopt key preventive measures,so they avoid succumbing to online fraud. For example, our digital safety sessions have focused training videos on- Creating a Strong Password, Staying Safe While Banking Online, Safely Paying Utility Bills Online, Protecting your Device, Spotting an Online Scam, Staying Safe on WhatsApp, etc.
Q. Are there particular scams or fraudulent tactics that you emphasize during awareness campaigns?
A. Yes, in our sessions, we specifically talk about misuse of passwords, OTP fraud, UPI-related fraud, investmentandlottery schemes scamming senior citizens bygiving them false hopes of quick and increased returns. We also discuss job-related frauds, courier service scams, and frauds where people claim that money has been wrongly transferred to them.We believe these frauds can be reduced, and senior citizens have a role to play. If a scheme seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Q. Are there policy changes or government interventions that you believe could further protect senior citizens from cybercrime?
A. One of the policy initiatives that any government can take is to establish a good, responsive grievance cell and a quick, respectful grievance mechanism that operates within a fixed timeframe. 1930 is the national helpline number in India for reporting cybercrime and financial fraud.One can file a formal complaint on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) using the helpline number.It falls under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is a centralized online platform for registering cybercrime complaints, which are automatically assigned to the relevant States or Union Territories (UTs). Additionally, a specialsenior citizen cell within the cyber department would be helpful, because we feel that many senior citizens in urban areas are falling prey to cybercrimes and frauds and a specialized cell with trained staff would help expedite cases sensitively and swiftly.
Q. How does HelpAge India measure the impact of its digital literacy and safety programs?
A. HelpAge India has a regular system of conducting small impact studies and interviews, where senior citizens are asked about the efficacy and effectiveness of the digital literacyand safety program. We also conduct regular focus group discussions with various groups to understand what has been understood in terms of mobile literacy. The impact is measured based on the knowledge gained and whether they canapply their newly attainted digital knowledge to spot a scam,perform daily life activities such as booking a cab, paying their utility bills safely, online banking, downloading relevant Apps, or simply making a video, etc. We conduct pre and post-workshop impact assessments amongst seniors to understand the impact of these training sessions.
Q. What are the biggest challenges your team faces in implementing digital safety initiatives, particularly in rural or underserved areas?
A. Most of the digital sessions have happened in urban areas. One of the biggest challenges we face is scaling up with limited Senior Citizen Associations (SCAs). Many elders are not part of any SCA, so we are unable to reach those who are at home, such as bedbound individuals or those who don’t attend SCA meetings. Also, we see less attendance of women at our training sessions and are working towards encouraging more participation. We are also looking around forsustaining funding for such a scale-up program, as funding is not easily available. Not all tier two or tier three cities have functional and active SCAs that can be tracked across India. We are finding other ways to stay in contact with elders, whether through informal groups or resident welfare associations.
In rural areas, one of the biggest challenges we face is the ownership of mobile phones, particularly among women. Elders also have less time because most of them contribute to agricultural activities, making them less willing to attend sessions focused on mobile literacy and cybercrime.
Q. How do you ensure the scalability and sustainability of your digital literacy programs?
A. One of the ways to scale up is to have continuous engagement with Senior Citizen Associations, especially where they are active. We also need to extend our reach to tier two and tier three cities and follow a saturation model in all states. For rural areas, we are exploring new ways to engage, such as integrating mobile literacy sessions with financial literacy or providing guidance on managing funds in a bank account. For example, teaching goal-based savings could be one approach. The question we consider is how to adapt to different states and districts, without limiting ourselves to metro cities, if we have the funding.For sustainability, there must be regular touch points as a program cannot be sustained based on a single session.To ensure that participants retain what they’ve learned, we need regular refresher sessions and to keep imparting knowledge about upcoming frauds to sustain their interest.
Q. Are there upcoming initiatives or programs in the pipeline aimed at expanding the reach or effectiveness of your digital literacy efforts?
A. Yes, we previously had a digital literacy and safety project in 16 states, and now we are expanding to 4 new states. Therefore, we will have a national-level digital literacy program across 20 states. We hope to extend our reach into districts, offering different kinds of refresher programs and additional touch points to ensure that both men and women senior citizens retain what we have taught them.
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