Women, especially poor women in rural areas, remain the invisible backbone of their households and communities. However, their many disadvantages - poor education, limited opportunities for skills training, few property rights, restrictive social norms - mean low-paying labour work is often their only option. Whatever they earn is almost always spent on improving the quality of life of their families
ITC's Women's Economic Empowerment Programme aims to provide these women with opportunities to earn independent incomes, helping to strengthen their position as decision-makers in their families and in their communities. There is a special focus on ultra poor women - those living in extreme poverty who are the only earning members of their families and have no assets or regular incomes.
With training and financial support, women can take-up self-employment activities, set up small businesses or join together to form self-help groups or micro-enterprises. Their earnings and savings mean better education, nutrition and health for their children - a vital investment in the future of their communities. Equally important, the confidence they gain along the way is helping to break gender inequalities and build a more equal society.
Self-help Groups /
Individual Women /
Collective Enterprises
Primary Beneficiaries, Decision-makers
NGOs
Project Implementation, Domain Expertise, Local Experience
Government /
Financial Institutions
Linkages to Government schemes, loans from banks, etc.
ITC
Facilitator, Programme Design, Funding, Monitoring & Evaluation
Starting with a grant from ITC, women build up a corpus fund with monthly contributions and use the fund to finance self-employment, small businesses and micro-enterprises. Other groups like sanitation SHGs, agarbatti producers, etc use seed money from ITC to set up and run income-generating enterprises.
Have the potential to become profitable, independent businesses
Enable women to earn regular, higher incomes
Give women confidence and a sense of solidarity from the experience of working together
Have the potential to become profitable, independent businesses
Enable women to earn regular, higher incomes
Give women confidence and a sense of solidarity from the experience of working together
Appropriate training for all programme participants, e.g. micro-credit SHG members learn to create and manage common funds, handle bank accounts, maintain documentation, etc, waste management SHG members learn to communicate the benefits of source segregation, reduce-reuse-recycle, etc.
Transferring knowledge and skills to women agriculturalists so that they can benefit from sustainable agricultural practices, earn higher incomes and move up the agricultural chain from being the lowest paid field labourers to farmers in their own right
Target: Women who are the only earning members of their families and have no assets or regular incomes
Provided with income generating asset / loan to start small business along with relevant training and assistance
Assisted to open bank accounts, develop saving habit/ put away savings / accumulate savings and access government schemes
Intensive handholding throughout entire programme which includes learning to sign name, keeping track of income and expenses
