Economic Growth India Project #3907

Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

by Seva Mandir

Make Women in Rural India Financially Secure

Project Report | Jun 4, 2019
Empowering Women and Building their Confidence

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Friend,

As is the case with all of the villages we work with, the daily income per-capita in these communities is just INR 35 (USD$0.50), and families tend to support themselves through subsistence agriculture. Many young people would travel daily to Udaipur to seek work, finding labour jobs with dangerous conditions. For women especially, this situation is particularly bleak; most are unable to have any control over their household finances and are unable to work due to traditional gender roles dictating that they perform household chores and look after children.

Through our Self-help Groups (SHGs), we have been challenging this situation to give women more independence so that they can empower themselves and their communities. In 2012, Seva Mandir started an income generating project in the remote and rural Shishvi village, over 40km away from Udaipur. Through the local SHG, women were trained on how to prepare high-quality natural soaps and detergents to sell at market. The women took relatively small loans from their SHG to purchase the materials needed and started working. By 2015/16, the annual production of detergent was more than 1,200 kgs, earning the women more than INR 60,000 (USD$677) in total. 30% of this total was put into the reserves to ensure that the women could grow their fledgling business. The women of Shishvi village were so successful in this venture that other communities approached them to learn their methods.

More recently, SHGs in another rural area have been linking women with income generating activities. Ratani lives with her 2 sons and her husband in a small remote hamlet in a tribal community. Ratani’s husband was the primary earner of the household, working irregularly as a mason, but the family were struggling on his meagre wage. Ratani joined a SHG in her local area and was connected with a Seva Mandir project which was giving chickens and roosters to selected beneficiaries. Ratani was able to sell some of her roosters, hens and eggs for more than INR 6,200 (USD$90) in just one month. Ratani was determined to do more to increase her income and improve her family’s lives; she invested in a tent-hire business. “Purchasing the tents has brought in extra money to our household” Ratani proudly claims.

Thanks to your support, Seva Mandir’s SHGs are able to give women, such as those from Shishvi village and Ratani, the ability to become financially independent and improve their families living. Thanks to you, you are giving women the opportunities to become entrepreneurs, to take control of their own lives, and, overall, break the devastating cycle of poverty.

Regards,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Mar 5, 2019
Woman who is determined to rise

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Friend,

Hemlata is 19 years old. She lives in Tasol village in Udaipur district, in one of the poorest regions in India. Whilst it is not legal to be married before the age of 18, as is sadly still the tradition in these areas, she was married in her mid-teens before finishing her education. But Hemlata is a strong and motivated girl and managed to complete school after she was married.

Later she came to hear about Seva Mandir’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Hemlata was interested enough to attend meetings regularly.

She also took part in Sadhna, which is an enterprise jointly owned by 700 women artisans who produce high-quality clothing and soft furnishings. This initiative empowers women, providing them with a secure livelihood and a stronger voice at home and in the community.

Soon after completing her training, Hemlata was also producing beautiful hand needlework on Sadhna’s clothes.

Later, she heard that Seva Mandir was recruiting women as para-workers (field workers) to carry out work on the SHGs project. She was accepted and started as a para-worker in her village area. Now, Hemlata conducts meetings on her own and this recent boost in her self-confidence is helping her to take a leading role in her village. Her work productivity has increased and she is extremely motivated by her responsibilities in the future.

Initially, she faced many challenges. She had never been outside her home to work or gone to the fields alone to gather the villagers to go to meetings. She gained more confidence and even travelled to her parents-in-law’s house on her own, where traditionally she would have had to have been accompanied by a male family member.

The house that, she lived in consisted of just one room and it was difficult to have relatives to visit. But recently she has finished making her house larger with the help of the honorarium received from Seva Mandir.

In her words, “I was never so happy and confident in my life before. I am helping my husband in the construction of my house, all thanks to Seva Mandir. In the future, I will also be able to take out a loan from the Self-Help Group to do more construction work on my house. Our economic situation doesn’t allow us to take a loan from the bank at their high rates of interest.”

This is just one of the examples of how the SHGs help women during their time of need. Without your support none of this would be possible, so a heartfelt thank you goes out to you for supporting our efforts in empowering women. Helping women run well governed and self-governed- Self-Help Groups also develops solidarity, governance and management capacities among women.

I am also happy to share with you that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s 2019 Girl Fund Campaign. Vote with your donation today! The top four projects with the most unique donors at the end of the campaign will earn a spot in the Girl Fund for the next full year and will help select two additional winners.

Thank you so much.

Warm wishes,

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Nov 26, 2018
Creating New Opportunities for Women through SHGs

By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization

Dear Friend,

In Seva Mandir's work area, women play a major role in sustaining families and communities, in addition to their domestic responsibilities. They are engaged in agriculture and allied activities, and also seek casual labour near their homes. Since most women are illiterate, they can only undertake unskilled and semiskilled work, which reduces their chances of earning a reasonable income. Traditionally, women have not been involved in many entrepreneurial activities, which further restricts their opportunities. As sources of income are limited, there is considerable need for credit in these areas, but very few means of securing it. As a result women mostly borrow money from traditional moneylenders, usually at exorbitant rates of interest (typically between 60 and 120% per annum), and most of their income goes towards repaying their loans.

Seva Mandir works to create 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 are called Self Help Groups (SHGs) 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.

Sunita (name changed) is the member of one such SHG in her village and has recently taken a 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 the loan to give good education to my daughter. Unlike me, I want her to study”.

Sunita 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 a small amount but not enough to send her daughter to school. Then she got to know about the SHG being formed in her village. She immediately became a member of the group and started saving. She also learnt about the embroidery training being offered to the SHG group members. It was a blessing in disguise for her. Without wasting any time, she enrolled herself for 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, she not only started saving money through the SHG but also took a step ahead to become financially self-sufficient and take her decisions independently. This is just a story of one Sunita, we are sure, there will be many more Sunitas with your support.

Sunita 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. Currently, 677 such SHGs are running across 198 villages of southern Rajasthan that Seva Mandir works in and 11,238 women are associated with these groups giving them the chance to stand firm against any financial adversity.

Thank you so much

Regards

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

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