Community Leaders and Agents of Change
Since its founding, SEWA has relied on a decentralized model to bring together women workers and address their needs. The cornerstones of this decentralized model are grassroots leaders called Aagewans.The term aagewan is derived from Gujarati, and is a portmanteau of the phrase “aage aane waali ben” (the sister who came forward), and essentially describes women who volunteer to represent and lead their communities. A leader among their peers, aagewans share the same precarious conditions as the women they represent. These women however take on the mantle of leadership and self-select into positions of responsibility for their communities, stepping forward to carry on the work that their communities need, and become advocates and grassroots champions for the women around them, and by extension the entire community.
Our Approach
- Leadership Training: Identifying women who will become leaders is critical to the work SEWA does. Community organisers and mobilisers work within communities to identify women with leadership qualities unique to their economic situations, and actively invest in helping these women become agents of change within their communities. Aagewans are encouraged to build bridges and networks within their local contexts, and lead their communities.
- Capacity Building: SEWA builds the capacity of leaders through continuous training and handholding support.
Ongoing programs
Research
Case Studies
Resilience-Building, One Mask at a Time
Community members in the village of Kampara in Odisha were facing shortage of masks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. SEWA’s digital sakhi, Jyotirmayee Dash, whose livelihood had been badly affected due to the lockdown, saw this as an opportunity of alternate income.
Shamshad Bano; A Voice of Reason
Shamshad Bano, a resident of Khwaja Colony in Bikaner, has been associated with SEWA Rajasthan since 2008. She has been instrumental in spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene and distributing sanitary napkins to the women of her community, who never had access to them.
FEEDING MIGRANT WORKERS
The lockdown imposed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus adversely affected the migrant workers who lost accessibility to basic services. In Uttar Mainpura, Patna, SEWA aagewans brought attention to the hunger-stricken conditions of migrant workers, who feared dying of hunger due to the pandemic.