SEWA Bharat
SEWA Bharat is a federation of women-led institutions providing economic and social support to women in the informal economy. SEWA Bharat is part of the national SEWA movement and was established in 1984. SEWA Bharat emerged out of the need to address the SEWA movement’s challenges with geographical expansion and coordination. SEWA Bharat is a family of SEWA organizations to further informal women workers’ rights, livelihoods, financial independence, education, health, and social security.
SEWA Bharat’s Role
Strengthening SEWA members
SEWA Bharat has continuously strengthened the activities of existing SEWAs by providing resources, linking with a diverse mix of organizations from multinationals, local governments, international development organizations and NGOs, and helping to strengthen the roles of the grassroots leaders. Collaborating across many different issues, functions, and needs, SEWA Bharat acts as a resource across the SEWA movement.
Develop new SEWAs
SEWA Bharat identifies, quantifies, and measures potential areas of intervention that impair women from achieving full economic, social, and societal participation. Typically, after approval from the SEWA Bharat Executive Committee, new chapters continue under the direct supervision of SEWA Bharat.
SEWA Bharat invests in the leadership and sustainability of local teams until the organisation can function independently.
Facilitate linkages
As the national face of SEWA, SEWA Bharat plays a crucial role in developing linkages internally between SEWAs and with external stakeholders for new services, government programmes, and expertise. SEWA Bharat also identifies growth opportunities for all SEWAs.
Build a national identity for SEWA
SEWA Bharat is the first national-level SEWA organisation. SEWA Bharat’s primary goal remains to build a national identity of the SEWA movement both externally and internally through a family of SEWA organisations comprising a common ideology, programming and value set. This is the most important and effective link across all SEWAs.
Developing innovative models for replication across SEWA
SEWA Bharat involves stakeholders in the public, social, and private sectors to catalyse sustainable change across the economic, social, health, and societal conditions of women in India. SEWA Bharat works, learns, and grows at a community level. SEWA Bharat’s approach to developing programmes at the community level and national level creates unique solutions at the systemic and extrinsic levels.
SEWA Bharat’s Goals
We at SEWA organize workers to achieve their goals of full employment and self-reliance through the strategy of struggle and development. The struggle is against many odds and limitations imposed on them by the society and the economy, while development activities strengthen women’s bargaining power and offer them new alternatives which further their self-reliance. Practically, the strategy is carried out through the joint action of unions and cooperatives.
Full employment refers to work that provides economic security, food security and social security.
Self-reliance aims to support women towards being autonomous and self-reliant both economically and in terms of their decision-making ability. Self-reliance is the basis of sustainability that is essential at the individual level and also for SEWA’s women’s collectives, organizations, and cooperatives.