“I am a SEWA Member for the past two years. I am currently a Master Trainer. Initially, I used to feel shy to stand up and speak even in a group of 15. Then I recently underwent the 6-day training delivered by SEWA Manager Ni School; of all the modules I found the Communication Training to be the most useful for me as thanks to it I am able to stand up and speak confidently in front of however large an audience! Until now I used to simply provide training in my district but henceforth I will go to other States also and deliver training,” says Mittalben Prajapati of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
‘Realizing women’s rights’, the theme of International Women’s Day 2020 is SEWA’s ethos.
Today, women and girls around the world continue to be undervalued, work more and earn less and have fewer choices, and experience multiple forms of violence. At SEWA, it is the women who are the owners and managers of their enterprises; hence they are able to negotiate and create a safe environment for themselves and earn on their terms and conditions.
Capacity-building enables SEWA sisters to excel at multiple livelihood activities such as farming, running a community radio and video-making units, repairing hand-pumps, selling traditional products at SEWA Bazaar, cooking nutritious delicacies, contributing to the construction sector, preparing environment-friendly stationery, operating solar pumps, capturing real-time membership data on their tablets, selling RUDI products, running their own federations, associations and companies, stitching, weaving, and embroidery, and offering rural homestay facilities, among others.
“I come from a very small village of Gamda Bamaniya and was afraid to even step out of my house. Today, not only me, but my other sisters at Dungarpur are becoming field experts. Thanks to the capacity building programs conducted by SEWA Manager Ni School, now we deliver training activities on group formation, farming, animal husbandry, personality development, etc. I have also set up government linkages and I am providing my underprivileged rural sisters with multiple benefits including seed subsidy, insurance information, and government schemes,” shares Kailashben Chauhan of Dungarpur, Rajasthan, India.
On International Women’s Day 2020, SEWA Manager Ni School (SMS) is proud of playing a pivotal role in helping these members realize their rights by strengthening their management, technical and soft skills!
“Although I am a Humanities Graduate (BA) yet I did not know how to speak, write or even understand English. But thanks to this initiative by our SEWA, today just within a short span of two months, I am able to confidently understand and speak English. This has built my confidence level remarkably,” says Seemaben Padhiyar (Shree Kheda Jilla Swashrayi Mahila SEWA Bachat Mandal), an English Class Participant in Anand, India. (SEWA)
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