On October 19, 2023, a heart-warming event changed the course of financial aid distribution in the country. The story is about how an open digital ecosystem ensured that a student in need was able to receive a scholarship to continue her schooling.
The transaction bridged the connection between Vidhyashree, the daughter of Mr. N P Nagesh, an auto driver in Bangalore and EkStep Foundation. Mr. Nagesh used the Namma Yatri driver app to connect to ONEST, an open network dedicated to education and skill development, which further connected to the EkStep scholarship hosted on the Protean Vidyasaarathi platform.
Protean played a pivotal role in this landmark transaction, addressing India's inclusion challenges, showcasing the power of open networks as they strive to enable lifelong learning and livelihoods for Indians. As ONEST’s trusted Knowledge Partner and Technology Service Provider (TSP), we enable organizations to join this open network by offering multi-domain and multi-purpose Connectors.
What challenges does ONEST help to resolve in the scholarship segment?
Despite talent, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds often face difficulty in obtaining the financial resources needed for quality education and specialized skill development. This further leads to unemployment and poverty within their families. While the demand side faces its own set of challenges, scholarship providers, too, have limited outreach to potential beneficiaries due to the following reasons:
- Inability to effectively target the right audience.
- High costs associated with hosting scholarships within a fragmented ecosystem.
- A deficit of trust in the scholarship distribution process.
Enter - Open Network for Education and Skilling Transactions (ONEST)
A decentralized network with a mission to make education accessible to all. Its core objective is to facilitate collaboration among various stakeholders, including learners, education providers, learning facilitators, financial supporters, job seekers, and job providers.
The ONEST Network emerges as a solution to bridge the existing gap in the scholarship landscape. Its primary function is to provide a seamless and dependable access to the financial support ecosystem. Through ONEST's Network, scholarship providers and institutions can achieve the following objectives:
- Discover and support deserving candidates for sponsorship and welfare programs at reduced operational costs.
- Foster trust and transparency in the scholarship application and distribution processes.
- Contribute to building the national human resource capacity.
Closely collaborating with multilateral and not-for-profit donor organizations, ONEST aims to assist students and young professionals discover and seek financial aid. The provision of financial aid is envisioned to facilitate the completion of primary and professional education, thereby reducing education drop-outs and increasing youth employability.
ONEST ensures that scholarship providers benefit from accessing a broader beneficiary base, resulting in faster conversions, reduced resource expenditure, and streamlined candidate selection.
Protean is committed to working with ONEST to streamline the scholarship application and disbursement process. We invite collaboration to empower students from all regions of the country with access to a diverse range of educational scholarships, enabling them to enhance their capabilities, secure livelihood prospects, and contribute to the nation's socio-economic advancement.
#OpenNetworks, #ONDC, #Transformation, #Interoperability, #Decentralization, #Scholarship
-Authored by Kakoli Laha
