Kaaji - an information commons for informal work

Information Commons for Informal Work

As the hindi translation of the name suggests, Kaaji is for people who do work (kaaj).

While all of us do some work or the other, for now, Kaaji keeps it's focus on informal workers.

Who consitutes the informal workforce is an question that has been interpreted in different ways.

For Kaaji, informal work is defined as work that is not formally documented i.e. workers do not get employment letters, salary slips, annual leave and generally fall under the tax radar.

A significant portion of the work force in most countries falls under the informal sector, in India, estimates vary from 60% to around 90% depending on the source quoted.

Kaaji is an effort to build an information commons for workers.

The idea of "commons" or community owned property has traditionally referred to land used for grazing, ponds and other similar physical property.

In the information world, the idea of commons is often reflected in open/free source software which is "owned" by an open community and is available for free,

open libraries, open data and so on also refers to the availability of documents and data.

Kaaji explores the idea of user owned digital assets in the informal sector space.

Our team is small and self-funded. We are open to the idea of receiving funding as long it is in limited amount from multiple sources.

We are building this app in collaboration with technologists, researchers and NGOs, so do get in touch with us at: [email protected] if you want to be part of this effort in any way.