COVID-19’s Impact on Grassroots Women’s Social Enterprises

Drawing from nearly 40 years of experience in the Women’s Economic Empowerment [WEE] domain, SEWA has been building a cohesive theory on how to develop sustainable women’s collective grassroots enterprises. After the outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency across the world, SEWA Bharat brought out a report on COVID-19’s impact on informal economy workers in India. Based on this impact report, SEWA Bharat has intensified its support in areas where it is currently working by distributing health and dry ration kits, linking women in the informal economy with relevant schemes and compensatory packages, besides arranging for working capital and cash assistance for the SEWA-supported women’s grassroots social enterprises. Recently on April 24th, 2020, in partnership with NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform [WEP], SEWA Bharat organised a webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on Grassroots Women’s Social Enterprises. The webinar brought together representatives from SEWA-supported women’s collective social enterprises viz. Karnbhoomi, Ruaab and Lok Swasthya Mandali. Raziya Shaikh, Founder of Bastar Foods was the moderator for the event.