Women empowerment

SHED believes that there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. We are working towards the social, economical and financial empowerment of slum and rural women. We have formed 657 SHGs covering approximately 6000 women members in those groups including marginalised women residing in the slum and rural areas. We encourage and assist them to earn their livelihoods through small scale initiatives and income generation activities. We also provide skill development trainings to young girls and women in the fields of tailoring, beautician, masala making, soap and perfume making etc. Till date 887 women of the SHGs have reaped the benefits of our skill development and income generation trainings.

Initiated in January 2014 with the sponsorship by UNDP (United Nations Development Program), SHED has set up the Sanitary Napkin Production Unit at Dharavi to provide employment opportunities to women from the poorer sections. This initiative aids poor women with income generation and makes them financially independent. It has employed 11 women in two shifts with a total production of 18628 napkins and sale of

14993 napkins. Production and sale is done by the same women employees.

Our initiatives are aligned to the Government schemes of financial inclusion. By educating women on financial matters, SHED will focus to empower marginalised women to make informed decisions about the financial well-being of their families. In the year 2017-2017, we have trained 1200 women on financial literacy and linked them various government schemes beneficial to their families. The trainings included module sessions on saving habits, information on government schemes, importance of documentation, budgeting, investment etc.