To honour the life and legacy of our founder, Elaben Bhatt, India International Centre (IIC) in collaboration with SEWA Bharat commemorated ‘Remembering Revolutionaries: The Legacy of Ela Bhatt’ on 3rd April 2023. This event also coincided with the birth date of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, who was a freedom fighter, social activist and champion of women’s rights. Long-time friends and associates of Elaben Bhatt, such as Devaki Jain, Renana Jhabvala, Indira Jaising, Vijay Mahajan, Savitaben, Kantaben and Martha Chen shared their personal experiences of learnings and light-hearted moments with Elaben during this event.

Think20 (T20) Side-event | 22nd March 2023 | New Delhi India

On 22nd March, SEWA Bharat, along with Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), United Nations in India and Asian Development Bank Institute held a T20 side event titled ‘Women as Active Participants and Propellers of Economic Growth: Focusing on Livelihoods and Care Infrastructure.’ The event was graced by the presence of dignitaries from T20, G20, United Nations in India, RIS, think tanks and various experts from the development sector.

Anasuya Sarabhai remains one of the lesser-known champions of women’s rights in India. She dedicated her entire life to improve the working conditions of mill workers. Having worked closely with Anasuya ben at the Textile Labour Association, our founder Elaben Bhatt was inspired to take up the cause of working with informal women workers. This eventually led to the beginning of the SEWA movement in 1972.

SEWA Rajasthan came into being in mid-2001. The organization began its work in organizing informal women workers in Jaipur and Bikaner across the trade groups of beedi rollers, papad workers, construction workers, and lac makers. On 16 June, 2022, SEWA Rajasthan celebrated International Domestic Workers’ Day in Jaipur. June 16, which marks the anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention 189 stipulating decent work for domestic workers, is observed by domestic workers around the world as International Domestic Workers’ Day.

Mamta ben and Afsana ben (field mobilizers for domestic workers) represented SEWA Rajasthan by sharing SEWA’s work and the purpose of carrying out a rally on this important date.

News Clip Credits: NEWS 19

The Women’s Enterprise Support System (WESS) at SEWA Bharat recently conducted a live session to answer back queries, talk about life at SEWA and much more. If you have been thinking of switching to the development sector, this video might be of use to you.

As we mark the 50th anniversary of SEWA, an organisation whose history is deeply rooted in the stories of struggle and development. Inspired by the women of Gujarat’s Textile Labour Association and the need for a widespread movement to assist women in the informal economy, SEWA was born on this day in 1972. Throughout its journey, SEWA has remained committed to enabling and empowering our sisters in the informal workforce to grow into self-reliant women workers. This poem by our grassroots researcher, Neha ben is an ode to this incredible journey!

Women Microentrepreneurs in the informal economy are often excluded from a range of government schemes leaving them without basic social protection and access to the financial environment crucial for entrepreneurship growth. Mamta ben, Basumati ben and Mira ben are symbolic to resilience and growth in the face of adversity and this film is our homage to their determination.

This video “Voices from the ground” is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this video are the sole responsibility of SEWA Bharat and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

An aagewan is a woman who comes forward to represent and lead her community. These women leaders have built up pioneer community leadership models within SEWA to ensure that the State is able to reach every citizen. This film documents the journey and impact of SEWA’s Aagewan Vikas Program. It does so through the experiences of Nagina ben, Balwinder ben, Nozuvolu ben and Sunita ben who come from diverse socio-cultural-geographic-trade background and were part of it. Aagewan Vikas Program touched upon the scope of such modules in building last mile leadership. This film is a SEWA Bharat production and was made possible with the support of FORD FOUNDATION for Aagewan Vikas.

Full recording of a webinar that was organized by SEWA Bharat in partnership with MSME, discussing the current realities of Women Microentrepreneurs in the Informal Economy. These women microentrepreneurs haven’t been able to tap into a supportive policy and financial environment for entrepreneurship, and thus are increasingly vulnerable to external shocks, with low levels of resources to cope with such disruptions or crises, and of course the pandemic has been adequately evident of that. This webinar is third in the series, ‘SEWA Samvaad’ that aims to bring together grassroots leaders, gender practitioners, and thematic area specialists to deliberate on pertinent questions facing us today.

This webinar is second in the series, ‘SEWA Samvaad’ that aims to bring together grassroots leaders, gender practitioners, and thematic area specialists to deliberate on pertinent questions facing us today.

#Mahilamicropreneurs ?????? ????? (Tant weaver, Phulia, West Bengal), ????? ????? (E-rickshaw driver, Jahangirpur, Delhi), ?????? ????? (Patchwork artisan, Kadi, Gujarat) & ?????? ????? (Lac artisan, Jaipur, Rajasthan) talk about their entrepreneurial journeys and experiences of a COVID-stricken economy.

Youth, especially young girls, from rural communities remain cut off from social forums due to lack of awareness, exposure to public platforms, and low mobility. The aim of Navniti program is to work with young girls under a dual approach – increasing their engagement in social issues within and outside their communities, and skill-building that can help them improve access to services, such as healthcare, nutrition, and education.

A home is not only a woman’s center of life and physical security, but also a vital economic asset. Home-based workers, construction laborers, street vendors, domestic workers, agricultural laborers living in informal settlements, who have to bear the brunt of poor infrastructure services, constitute 45% of India. Awareness about land rights and access to better infrastructure as well as housing finance is crucial for their economic empowerment. Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW); an FCDO supported pilot project by SEWA Bharat’s Land Rights Programme aims to increase awareness & access to land tenure, infrastructure services, and housing finance for informal women workers living in six informal settlements of Delhi and Patna. The larger outcome of the project is to enhance women’s economic empowerment and is implemented collaboratively with The Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT).

CSW65 Virtual Parallel Event – Coming Together, Forming Enterprises and Entering The Economy. Visit www.sewaess.carrd.co for more information on the Enterprise Support System of SEWA. SEWA Bharat is part of the national SEWA movement. Established in 1984, it is a national federation of SEWA organizations of women working in the informal economy. SEWA Bharat emerged out of the need to address the SEWA movement’s challenges with geographical expansion and coordination. SEWA Bharat is comprised of a family of SEWA organizations to further informal women workers’ rights, livelihoods, financial independence, education, health, and social security.

SEWA Bharat, in partnership with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & UN Women, organized a virtual parallel event at the 65th Commission on the Status of Women titled ‘?????? ????????, ??????? ???????????, ???????? ??? ???????’ initiating a conversation about the current realities of women entrepreneurs of the informal economy and the role of women-run collective social enterprises. The event took place on March 24th, 6:30 PM IST at the NGO CSW NY forum.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the work and livelihoods of the informal economy hard. Women bore the major brunt of the resulting economic and social fallout. Under such circumstances, Collective Social Enterprises (CSEs) emerged as a financially viable model to collectivize these informal women workers and offer sustainable means of earning livelihoods that would go even beyond COVID-19.

Home-based workers, construction laborers, street vendors, domestic workers, agricultural laborers living in informal settlements, who have to bear the brunt of poor infrastructure services, constitute 45% of India. Awareness about land rights and access to better infrastructure as well as housing finance is crucial for their economic empowerment. SEWA Bharat’s Land Rights Programme aims to increase awareness & access to land tenure, infrastructure services, and housing finance for informal women workers living in six informal settlements of Delhi and Patna.

The SEWA Delhi Credit-Cooperative is an entirely women-owned, governed, and managed cooperative and has over 7000 members – all female workers in the informal sector, distributed across 8 urban clusters in Delhi. It supports healthy financial practices by organizing financial literacy training workshops within communities to enhance their financial decision-making skills and to encourage a habit of savings. They also receive doorstep banking services and loans at 1.5% interest per month as opposed to 5-10% charged by private moneylenders.

SEWA Atithi is a women’s collective in the tourism sector. It consists of homestays and is a community based tourism enterprise from SEWA.

Priya from SEWA Ruaab breaks down the process of making masks at home in easy and simple ways.

The fear surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has also sparked in common people, a fear of its vaccine. Various kinds of myths and rumors around vaccination have led people to view it with a high degree of skepticism. Scientific studies and medical reports have shown that these vaccines are absolutely safe, in fact, necessary to fight the virus in the long run. This video captures informal workers’ experience of getting vaccinated and overcoming their hesitancy to brave the pandemic.

ASHAs, Auxillary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), SEWA Aagewans, and other community leaders have supported COVID-19 mitigation relentlessly by enabling awareness and access to healthcare for workers in informal communities at the grassroots. The following video features motivational, health, and safety guidelines for SEWA aagewans and community leaders.

The following video addresses identifying and monitoring COVID-19 symptoms at home, getting tested for the virus, practising home isolation and reaching out to the doctor.
Source: MoHFW. Find all the COVID-19 related resources here

Handloom Tant weavers Amrita ben and Rupali ben talk about the hardships of running a micro-enterprise that was first hit hard by a cyclone and then by the pandemic.Weaving, in Phulia, is a family-based trade and women’s roles are often limited to the production process with occasional visits to the local markets, particularly during festive seasons. While the local economy remains attuned to these arrangements, the woman weaver’s autonomy and bargaining power remain untapped.SEWA has been working closely with around 4000 weavers and allied-auxiliary workers in Phulia, Nadia District, of West Bengal for the last four years.

Among the several trades and grassroots enterprises supported by SEWA in Uttarakhand – SEWA Sarthak stands out and has shown significant impact, particularly during the lockdown period. SEWA bens in the region chose to become Sarthak members because of the enormous potential and promise that it holds as opposed to traditional farming. Women agents and their own households show dynamic changes in terms of information seeking, optimum utilization of resources, and their quality of life. This is also observed in the community at large.

The socio-economic structure and long-standing modes of production restrict women home-based workers from participating in fair trade, affecting mobility and outlook towards their work and self-worth. SEWA undertook entrepreneurship development activities to help women manage their resources better, leverage digital technologies, become familiar with the English language and generate fair value for their products.

The SEWA movement has been mobilising women in the informal sector since 1972 to achieve income, meaningful employment and self-reliance.