Salzburg/ Mumbai/ Puebla – Khaana Chahiye Foundation, a non-profit working on hunger eradication has been selected as World Summit Award Winner for 2022 in the category of Inclusion & Empowerment. The World Summit Awards (WSA) is a United Nations based global award initiative selecting and promoting outstanding digital innovations with a positive impact on society. Experts from more than 180 UN member states nominate local solutions demonstrating global diversity and richness in the smart use of ICTs.

The award came to Khaana Chahiye for smart use of Chatbots for grocery support and outreach. Built in partnership with Gupshup and Whatsapp, the chatbot allowed beneficiaries to reach out directly to the Khaana Chahiye team on WhatsApp. The chatbot, available in English, Hindi and Marathi helped the non-profit reach out to thousands of people in need, also enabling its volunteers to engage with these people seamlessly.

Out of the 45 winning solutions, Khaanachahiye were also announced as a Global Champion along with 7 more initiatives at the WSA Award Ceremony in Puebla for being one of the 8 best initiatives working on the UN SDG goals among the 45 winning projects selected from submissions from 187 countries

The other winning Global Champion initiatives are BindiMaps (AUS), Stymie (AUS), Aloi (SGP),Skooqs (NGR), Teachers Lead Tech (LTU), Volunteer Circle (LBN) and Agricos (MEX):

“It is a huge honour for Khaana Chahiye to be selected as a WSA Global Champion 2022 on a global stage among high calibre and innovative digital solutions that are committed to solving the biggest challenges humanity faces, towards the achievement of UN SDGs. We are trying to use a mix of tech and community outreach to support vulnerable communities across Mumbai. We hope that as we develop this further, our dream of a hunger free Mumbai is realised. This is a key part,  in our endeavour to develop a replicable playbook to solve for urban hunger in India, starting with our city of Mumbai”, said Swaraj Shetty – Co-Founder and Director – Growth/ Marketing at Khaana Chahiye.

The Khaana Chahiye team represented Mumbai and India, sharing the story of Mumbai’s fight against hunger & advocating for the zero hunger cause to a multi-stakeholder audience with representatives from government, UN, UNDP, ICC, civil society, academia, private sector, and fellow entrepreneurs at the World Summit Awards in Puebla, Mexico.

“It’s wonderful to see Khaana Chahiye win a global award for their work on hunger eradication through digital means. We are honoured to have played a small role in their success by helping them leverage the power of conversational technology for rooting out urban hunger. We want to continue driving social transformation using the power of conversational technology and chatbots”, said Beerud Sheth, Co-founder and CEO, Gupshup.

Besides the chatbot, Khaana Chahiye also has a report hunger web form and uses its extensive network of 200+ grassroot community mobilisers and institutional partners like Centre for Study of Social Change (CSSC) & M-Power Study Center powered by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to identify and support needy families with short term grocery support.

Post their relief work during the lockdowns, the collective turned NGO gauged that hunger was not limited to the pandemic and the need was only amplified. They needed to devise other ways to reach the extremely needy. On realising that their short term food support wasn’t accessible to all, they worked on using technology for good, and  launched a  multi-lingual WhatsApp chatbot to provide round-the-clock assistance to citizens in need of food.

Note from WSA-

The WSA 2022 winners are evaluated based on seven fundamental criteria: Content, Functionality, Design, Technology, Innovation, Impact and Value. The WSA nominees are selected carefully and highly competitive by the WSA National Experts from more than 184 UN member states. The WSA National Experts nominate up to eight projects for each country – one for every WSA category.

The winners of 2022 demonstrate how digital solutions decisively support societal challenges and assist to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The global pandemic specifically demonstrated the importance of digital solutions and this year’s winners are an excellent example of how digital solutions and applications can help protect the environment, support healthcare, provide inclusive and high-quality education, connect people and share relevant information. The winning projects demonstrate the diversity and richness of digital content solutions globally.

To narrow worldwide divides, it needs smart solutions. The WSA top 40 of 2022 bridge worldwide gaps with delivering digital solutions to pressing global challenges, bringing us one step closer to reaching the UN SDG’s. From intelligent water distribution to a chatbot for food donations, from online mental health support to online STEM education, the WSA winners once more prove that smart use of digital means can make a positive impact for all.

“The WSA Winners combine two major focus points – the commitment to the UN SDGs and solving society’s issues with smart content application. Evaluated by an international expert Jury in 2 stages – a multi-stakeholder college unique in terms of diversity and background – the 45 WSA Winners of 2022 have been tried for sustainability, aim, technical and strategic finesse. This year’s challenges show more than ever how much digital means can offer progress and solutions. This year’s WSA Winners present a wonderful showcase of purpose-driven innovation and entrepreneurship.

“The WSA Global Congress is a catalyst platform to share learnings. It promotes an attitude of social awareness and how to look at the world, a global mechanism bringing together hidden champions and Nobel prize winners, international unicorns and neighbourhood solutions, national governments and global citizens,”

WSA Chairman Prof. Peter A. Bruck states.