For many women belonging to Nomadic Communities, begging at temples and public gatherings
About Program
For many women belonging to Nomadic Communities, begging at temples and public gatherings has long been a way to survive — not only due to generational poverty, but also because it is perceived as a continuation of traditional practices such as soothsaying and accepting grains as offerings.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted their already fragile livelihoods. With public gatherings shut down, many women lost their only source of income. To address this urgent need, and to ensure food security for both children and adults, we partnered with the Ashwini Seetha Foundation to create a sustainable alternative.
Through this partnership, we established Self-Help Groups (SHGs) that offer interest-free loans to help women start their own micro-businesses. With their innate communication skills and resilience, many of these women are finding success as small vendors.
We’ve also provided milch cows to single women as a way to generate steady income, and offered tailoring training — including power machine operation — to help younger women gain employable skills and start independent careers.
