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RURAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS

RURAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS

Self Help Groups in the country have an untapped potential for empowering women and communities in the rural areas. By leveraging the potential of women self-help groups, scalable programs to eliminate rural poverty can be designed with targeted interventions for the vulnerable sections. As per Government’s reply on 07/12/2021 in Lok Sabha, a total of 30,118 Self Help Groups exist in the state of Himachal which has mobilized about 2,42,550 households to be self-reliant.

In Self Help Groups, women generally from similar socio-economic backgrounds pool in their resources to access credit facilities which empowers them to be enterprising and take risks. This not only boosts up their family income but also raises their social status in the society and increases their decision taking abilities. Surveys and Research papers point to the fact that formation of SHGs have helped many families to cross poverty line and access basic lifestyle amenities. But there exists certain gaps which have limited the SHGs from transforming into big-scale entrepreneurs

Starting from an outreach cum assessment of the on ground challenges, we onboarded SHGs engaged in different activities in the lower belt of Himachal. A profile of each SHG was created detailing the particulars of their members, group history, products, customers, challenges and support required. The SHGs primarily face 3 overarching challenges; first, procurement of quality raw material; second, updated skills; third, marketing & sales. For addressing these issues we have been working with SHGs working in different areas like stitching, dairy farming, bamboo work, pickle & sweet items, medicinal farming etc.

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WORKSHOPS FOR RURAL ARTISANS AND SELF HELP GROUPS

WORKSHOPS FOR RURAL ARTISANS AND SELF HELP GROUPS

A notable aspect about rural artisans is that they belong to the unorganized sector. These artisans on one hand are regarded as custodians of the heritage of India and on the other hand are deprived of all the modern facilities and financial assistance. This sector can contribute a lot by providing employment opportunities and generation of rural income. The handcraft sector forms the second largest unorganized employment sector in India, second only to agriculture. In India craft can be described not merely an industry but a creation symbolizing the inner desire and fulfilment of the community. At present there are nearly 23 million handcraft people in India.

Art-craft serves as an alternate source of income for the agricultural workers. The handicrafts provide a major source of livelihood throughout rural India. In nonagricultural or lean seasons, handicrafts become an alternative means of subsistence for the rural population and safeguards them from food insecurity.

Each art form too has its own cultural significance and history. But gradually, these crafts are dying out with increased modernization. In this fast technology run world, interest of consumers has shifted from the traditional handicrafts and handloom to new innovations. The artisans also face various financial and logistic challenges to find buyers and get the right price for their products. Their education level is low and their linkages with rural developmental institutions are nonexistent. Most of the technologies remain confined to R&D institutions. Their weak communication power and tendency to remain “small” and “satisfied” are some of the other problems.

The traditional arts of Himachal too are slowly disappearing. Artisans face challenges like finance, upskilling, marketing, social barriers and even domestic issues.

It becomes imperative that our ancient arts are not allowed to die and the skilled hands are made self –sufficient. We organized a session for the Artisans and Self Help Groups of Hamirpur, Himachal in Purli Gram Panchayat. The session was piloted by Ms. Neeta Jadav, chief coordinator, Gramshree; organization providing livelihood to more than 500 women. Encouraging the women, she gave a vision to the artisans and SHG members to build their own brand and get recognized for their skills. Moving ahead, we would handhold these artisans and pledge to make their stories and their products known.

We also organized a session on financial literacy, inviting Mr. Pratik Suthar from IIM Ahmedabad for guiding the artisan and women groups. He inspired them to explore innovative and modern means to operate. Case studies of successful women entrepreneur groups from Gujarat were also discussed and they were motivated to upskill themselves as per the interest of modern day customer. Usually, the artisans have little market intelligence relating to their products. The workshop involved a sincere discussion about effectively placing the products to the right customer in the right manner with a customer centric approach. The attendees showed keen interest and raised questions with regards to Government schemes, banking system, marketing channels etc. The resource-poor artisans cannot afford skill up gradation at the cost of their livelihood earning. Through interactions with these artisans, their felt-needs and insights have been recorded.

MICRO-ENTERPRISE: SANITARY PAD PRODUCTION

MICRO-ENTERPRISE: SANITARY PAD PRODUCTION

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Menstruation is a big taboo especially in the rural pockets of the country. Women health rarely gets the attention it deserves, especially menstrual health. For ages, women have been discriminated and made to believe that menstruation is impure. They are often excluded from social and religious events, denied entry into temples and shrines and even kept out of kitchens. This is also one of the primary reasons for less proportion of women in the workforce.

To kill both the birds with one stone, we have established a women Empowerment center in a panchayat of district Hamirpur. At this center, a micro-enterprise for sanitary pad production has been set-up and a group of 5 women have been trained to manufacture the pads. The group has been provided with free raw material 38 and free packaging along with the machine. Overheads like space-rent, electricity, water, marketing & sales will be borne by ‘Act to Transform Foundation’.

As of now, the unit is in testing phase. Soon, we would begin with the free distribution of packets to identify the right market and create awareness around our oxobiodegradable sanitary napkin. It is environment friendly and can be easily disposed by dissolving in water or burying in sand. In terms of quality, it matches the specification of the top commercial brands and offers alternative to plastic pads at the same time. While we will begin with free distribution, the price of the packet would otherwise also be economical, so that we provide a cheaper and better alternative to branded napkins

IMPACT

IMPACT

SOCIAL

  • Access to Sanitary Pads in rural areas.
  • Boost up education, self-esteem, mental & physical health of rural women.
  • Break the taboo surrounding women health within communities.
  • Opens up possibilities & opportunities for interventions oriented towards women health.
  • ECONOMIC

    • Affordability of Sanitary Pads.
    • Livelihood support for the women at local level (Monthly Assured Income of 6,000 per women).
    • Additional income generation over and above farming & other traditional chores.
    • Builds up the scope for employment and profit through direct/in-direct linkages.

    ENVIRONMENT

    • Availability of environment friendly wellness product.
    • Convenient for the women to utilize their natural surroundings to dispose used
      products.

    ADVANCED TRAINING FOR CROCHET ARTISANS

    Craft sector plays a major role in socio-economic empowerment of women. A 5 day advanced course was offered to a group of crochet artisans in district Hamirpur with the objective of utilizing the potential of craft and craftsmen of Himachal Pradesh. For this, we invited expert trainers from, ‘Step by Step’, a nonprofit working to uplift rural artisans.

    The training was divided into three modules:

    1. Product creation – Design innovation & Cost Management
    2. Product Marketing – Marketing & Sales, Personality Development,
    Law & Entrepreneurship
    3. Product Branding – Photography & Packaging

    Post the training, the artisans are being provided free raw material and are being supported to obtain work orders. Some of the pictures of their products post training:

    To publicize their work within the region, we self-procured some of their products like soft toys and distributed it as prizes to the students of our EK Se Sreshtha Program.

    Most Importantly, this artisan group got the attention of Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister Sh. Anurag Singh Thakur and received his appreciation when we helped the group make crochet gift boxes and present it to the dignitaries in Hamirpur on the occasion of International Women’s Day. We are now guiding this group to create products for corporate gifting!