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| Women Empowerment |
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| Empowering rural women leads to strengthening the entire family and strengthened families lead to empowered communities. The concept of initiating a project dedicated to the social and economic upliftment of the rural women was conceived by the Trust’s Chairman, Shri Aravind Mafatlal. The main objective of the project has been to improve the status of women in the village societies as well as provide employment to the wives of the staff working in the Trust. |
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| Edible Consumer Products: |
| The village women adept in making household goods are organized into Self Help Groups called Samitis, which collectively get together and prepare products like papad/ pickles/ masala/ khakra/ chawanprash and other household products. These products are outsourced to stores/outlets in neighbouring towns and cities. A retail store is run from the Trust’s campus itself that houses all the products the samitis make and is entirely run by women. This has given a strong sense of independence to the samiti women who now participate in taking decisions even in their village meetings. |
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| Each samiti woman earns approximately between Rs. 800/- and Rs. 1000/- per month and maintain their earnings in saving bank accounts. 50% of their earnings is used to manage their monthly expenses and the remaining 50% is saved towards their children’s education and marriage. |
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| Training and Employment in Health Care Services: |
| Village women in the age group of 18-25 years are given one-year free of cost primary health care training by the Trust along with free boarding and lodging. This project was launched to foster independence and self-reliance among the young village women. Following their training, many are absorbed in the Trust’s hospitals (Janikikund Chikitsalaya and Sadguru Netra Chikitsalaya) as Assistants in Wards, Operation Theatre and Community Health Programs as well as in local clinics and in community programs undertaken by local NGOs. |
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| Future Goals |
- To extend the Womens’ empowerment program to cover women in the Adiwasi (Tribal) villages in and around Chitrakoot.
- To coordinate for training of the women Self Help Groups (SHGs – “samitis”) in jute products and leaf plates.
- To coordinate networking among the SHGs for conducting health screening camps.
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