Women empowerment

Rural women have been the hardest hit victims of inequalities and vulnerable to economic, social and political exploitations.

A staff member from SCAN-INDIA teaching women how to maintain accounts.

A vast majority of these women belong to 'Dalit' community who are considered as the most backward caste in the social hierarchy. These people lack basic education and social awareness and face various problems like poverty, unemployment, underemployment, landlessness and drought. Women are totally denied their basic rights and are marginalized in their own community.

To empower these women, SCAN-INDIA initiated programmes like self-help groups (SHGs) where women are involved in savings and credit activities among themselves as a group for income generation. The group members are eligible for availing micro-loans within their group for small business activities or for personal reasons. There is a need to provide job-oriented vocational skill training for these unemployed women to create job opportunities for them to improve their socio-economic condition.

Women participating in their weekly meetings.
A leader of the women's group presenting the weekly reports and minutes of the meeting.