Economic Growth India Project #3907

Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

by Seva Mandir

Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

Project Report | Mar 7, 2017
Meena Finds Her Wings

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Online Donor Communication

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your interest in changing the world!

Belief is the key that opens doors. We all know that women are powerful souls. All they need is little belief in them and a few opportunities. They know how to open doors for themselves.

Seva Mandir works to create such opportunities for women in rural areas so that they can become financially independent by creating inter-loaning groups and inculcate a habit of savings.

These inter-loaning groups called Self help groups not only give women a facility to save and take loans whenever required, but also give them the platform to discuss socio cultural issues in their village and families.

One such recently empowered girl is Meena. She is the member of newly formed Self Help Group in her village. She has recently taken loan. On asking about the reason behind taking the loan, she said- “I live in an orthodox joint family in Bagdunda village. I have three children; two sons and a daughter. I have taken loan to give good education to my daughter. Unlike me, I want her to study”.

Meena never got the opportunity to study and hence she never wanted her daughter to go through the same condition. But her husband and in-laws were not in favor of sending the girl to school and always gave financial constraint as an excuse. She knew basic stitching and was earning but not enough to send her daughter to school. Then she got to know about the Self help group being formed in her village. She immediately became the member of the group and started saving. Also she got to know about the embroidery training being offered to the SHG group members. It was the blessing in disguise for her. Without wasting any time, she enrolled herself for the training as well. After clearing the certain lending criteria, she took a loan and finally enrolled her daughter to a good private school.

Through her sheer determination, not only she started saving money through SHG but also took a step ahead to become financially self sufficient and take her decisions independently. This is just a story of one Meena, we are sure, there will be many more Meenas in formation with your support.

Meena could not be more thankful to you. It is because of you, we at Seva Mandir were able to bring all these women together, make them aware of becoming self sufficient and form these loan groups that can empower them. Thank you for being a great support. Currently, 655 such Self help groups are running across 700 villages of southern Rajasthan that Seva Mandir works in and around 10,000 women are associated with these groups giving them the chance to stand firm against any financial adversity.

We would also like to share that our project "Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure" has been chosen for the 2017 GlobalGiving Girl Fund Campaign! Please do contribute in your capacity and help us win the contest.

Please do feel free to reach out to us with your feedback and comments at atul.lekhra@sevamandir.org

Thank you

Regards

Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

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Jan 9, 2017
Thank You for Bringing Hopes to Women in New Year

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Online Donor Communication

Oct 28, 2016
We could, We can and We will be able to!

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Online Donor Communication

Today I want to share with you a wonderful story about Shishvi village that just completed self-dependency project; a place forty kilometers away from Udaipur in Rajasthan. The earning source for them was agriculture, animal husbandry and natural resources and youth looked up to Udaipur for making a living. We at Sevamandir walked hand in hand with the village families and seen it evolve in 15 years. In December 2012 a project on ‘A step towards empowerment of girls and women of Shishvi village’ was started. The target group was 1500 people. In January 2014 about 70 women participated in training module to learn how to prepare good quality soaps and detergents as an income-generating activity and the entire technical and safety training was provided by Seva Mandir. Seva Mandir Self Help Groups (SHGs) were formed in the village and we through Women Economic Empowerment brought women together in saving and credit activities, eventually providing them with an opportunity to access external finances. In FY 2015-16, the annual production of detergent was 1200 Kgs yielding an annual turnover of Rs.60,000 ($900 approx.). Each woman involved with the activity, was paid Rs.1,500 ($23 approx.) out of the profits accrued after keeping 30% of the surplus in reserves and ploughing back the amount for the next business cycle. With projects like these, they could support a variety of productive activities and fulfill the immediate needs of their families and also start a small venture based on skill and thus being self dependant.

The entire process gave them a feeling of accomplishment and hopeful of at least earning some money and also in the process learning a new skill. The sample was sent for quality audits to SIMA Labs India and the happiness of villagers knew no bounds to hear that the detergent is of good texture and mild and thus will not harm clothesor hands and soil. Shishvi village is now being approached by nearby villages to learn the state of art so as to implement it in their village. The next challenge is to form a brand.It all happened because you made it happen and are an integral part of this beautiful journey. The entire group is now highly motivated. Since there is a high daily demand for detergent, it would also cover a good market.

Our capacity to create happiness is infinite. The challenges lie in bringing forth our greatest possible selves in the face of daily reality. This continual progression on self-renewal and transformation is the journey of Shishvi villagers. Thank you for your dedicated efforts to support. Please accept our deepest appreciation for all that you do. The program clearly aims to bring about social as well as economic self-reliance for both individuals and communities at the grassroots and ensure that the effects achieved through the program are long-term and sustainable.That is what we call empowerment through co-creation.

We would also like to wish you and your family a very HAPPY DIWALI.

Thank you

Regards

Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team

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