Strengthening Women's Social, Economic and Political Empowerment in Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Sant Ravidas Nagar of Uttar Pradesh - Swaayam

What is the Project About

In partnership with the IKEA Foundation, the project aims to empower women through an integrated approach that enhances the incomes of women and helps them contribute effectively to decision making in the domestic and public spheres by 2013.

What Have We Accomplished So Far

What Have We Accomplished So Far
PHOTO: Niklas Halle’n/UNDP India

Social Empowerment: 

  • Over 43,000 women are mobilized into 3,124 SHGs 

  • Greater enrollment of women in the National Health Insurance Scheme enabled through training of 4,000 women on the provisions of the Scheme

  • 60-70 percent increase in the involvement of women in households’ decision making, particularly on issues such as children’s education, health, etc compared to the 2009 baseline

Economic Empowerment: 

  • 36,000 women have become entrepreneurs in five trades – dairy, incense, papadum (Indian snacks), carpet weaving and handicrafts through skill development and greater financial literacy

  • Over 5, 000 women have opened savings bank accounts, and half of them many are now linked to insurance plans

  • Registration of the first woman’s dairy producer company with 9,000 women producers and signing of an MoU with the Cooperative Dairy Federation in the state 

Political Empowerment: 

  • From the baseline of five, the number of women elected in the 2010 local self -government or panchayati raj institutions’ elections has gone up to 278

  • Close to 20,000 women are more aware of their voting rights and political processes

  • 405 Women Vigilance Committees in project villages helped communities monitor the local elections 

  • 100 percent increase in voter registration in some project areas enabled by mass-scale pre-election voter awareness generation campaigns

Who Finances It



IKEA Foundation

Delivery in Previous Fiscal Year

US$ 1,794,478

Stories of Change

Transforming Poor Rural Women into Successful Business Managers

Transforming Poor Rural Women into Successful Business Managers
As a result of UNDP-IKEA Foundation partnership, women in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have learnt business skills through financial literacy training started in 2009. The training has helped build capacities of women, and supported them to set up viable businesses like the Swaayam Ksheer, a milk producing company, which has not only eliminated the role of middlemen, but has also doubled the profits of its members in the past year.

UNDP Chief Meets Indian Women Who Have Broken the Glass Ceiling

UNDP Chief Meets Indian Women Who Have Broken the Glass Ceiling
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark met a group of Indian women activists, local leaders and social entrepreneurs here today. The main message that emerged from the discussions was that women could become a force to transform society provided they are politically and economically empowered. While women must challenge long entrenched patriarchal systems to fight for space and voice in the public sphere and in their private lives it is equally important that they are able to earn a living and feed themselves and their children.

Power of Collectives: UNDP-IKEA Foundation Helps Women Change Rules

Power of Collectives: UNDP-IKEA Foundation Helps Women Change Rules
Thousands of women are setting an example by defining their own empowerment and creating exciting opportunities for social change as a result of a project launched by UNDP and the IKEA Foundation.


Press Releases

UNDP- IKEA Foundation Expand Partnership to Build Self-Reliance of 2.2 Million Women in India
New Delhi, 10 April 2012 - The IKEA Foundation has committed to a new grant of €30 million (approximately US$ 40 million) for a programme to empower poor rural women in India. The new grant will allow UNDP to reach an additional 2.2 million women in approximately 20,000 villages in some of India’s poorest districts, and help them improve their ability to become entrepreneurs and create and own assets.

Project Overview
Status:
Ongoing
Project Start Date:
2009
Estimated End Date:
2013
Geographic Coverage:
Eastern Uttar Pradesh (Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Sant Ravidas Nagar)
Focus Area:
Poverty Reduction
MDGs:
Goal 1- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, Goal 3- Promote gender equality and empower women
Project Officer:
Shefali Misra
Partners:
IKEA Foundation
Highlights
  • Nearly 59 million people in Uttar Pradesh live below the poverty line; state also ranks second lowest on Gender Empowerment Index
  • In partnership with the IKEA Foundation, the project aims to strengthen social, economic and political dimensions of women’s empowerment
  • 43,000 women mobilized into 3,124 SHGs
  • Greater enrollment of women in the National Health Insurance Plan through training of nearly 4,000 women
  • 60-70 percent increase in involvement of women in household decision-making
  • 36,000 women have become entrepreneurs in five trades; over 5,000 have opened savings bank accounts
  • Over 200 percent increase in the number of women elected to panchayati raj institutions
Related Documents
Posters
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