SIRI, empowering Women

LEADer Pallavi visited Dharmasthala during LEAD Prayana. She was inspired by the concept of Siri. Siri, a concept of women empowerment was first taken up under the guidance of Mrs. Hemavathi V. Heggade, wife of Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala and Chairman of SKDRDP. Under the Siri project, poor landless women are encouraged to take up various income-generation activities.

Pallavi, who had been brought up in rural India had witnessed the hardships of rural life and thus was inspired to implement SIRI project in her village too. She thought of beginning to work on her idea by training women in handicrafts and enabling them to earn their livelihood. She took up this as a LEAD project.

Initially, she visited villages Kodekal, Hunasagi, Hokrani and Talikoti and explained women about her intention of training them. She also approached women who were skilled in making handicrafts. She requested them to take classes for untrained women. Thus her training classes started. Basket weaving, embroidery, knitting, painting etc. were taught. Through this women exchanged their knowledge and gained hands on experience on variety of arts.

The success of her first initiative inspired Pallavi to go ahead and push her boundaries. Thus she thought of training women about food processing too. For this she visited Haveri and observed a food processing unit. LEADer Pallavi approached ‘VIHAR Group of Companies’ and asked them to train women of her village too. After 4 months of her repeated requests. They agreed to train her village women for 4 days. Shri Puttanagouda and his mother Shantamma, Shri S.F. Masuti are chief mentors of the organization. The first training program was conducted in Kodekal where 350 women participated. The 4 day training program was called ‘Food Production and Entrepreneurship’. In the training camp all the women were taught to prepare variety papad, Chakkuli, variety of sweets etc.Training for the other village women were also provided in their respective villages. Finally, 1500 women were beneficiated by the training program.

LEADer Pallavi’s project has enabled 252 women to start their business. They have started businesses like Bangle Store, animal husbandry, Basket weaving, embroidery, knitting, painting etc.

Chikodi LEADer Empowers 30 Women by Teaching Them Signatures

Sonali Desai, a LEADer of Women's College Chikodi, is from a village near Chikodi. She always appreciated the good education she had received, and she wanted to improve the education of other women in her village. So she came up with the idea to teach signatures to the women of her village. She started by visiting the homes of the women. At first, the women refused. But she didn't give up. She told them the importance of knowing one's signature. 30 women finally began to realize the importance of signatures and all agreed to let Sonali teach them how to write their signatures. Sonali additionally taught them some basics of writing. After the session, village women started signing for documents instead of using thumb impressions. This was a great empowerment initiative by Sonali in her village and by seeing the success of this project, more women are approaching Sonali and asking her to teach them also. Sonali is happy to teach to anyone who comes to her. She is a proud LEADer now, as she feels that she is the reason behind the change in the life of rural women. 

Project: Akshar Gyana

Chidanand (A.S.S. College, Gadag)

Literacy remains one of the most serious issues facing the world today.   Chidanand recognized his own potential to solve the literacy problem on a local level, and implemented a project for the illiterate women in his village.  He taught them how to read and write useful words, and how to sign their own signatures.  Through his initiative, these women can better manage their daily lives and exercise more independence.

Project: Teaching Illiterate People

Somshekar Nekar (SKSVMACET)

Many people in Laxmeshwar, especially women, do not know how to read, write, or even sign their own names. While these tasks may appear to be simple and basic, they form a crucial part of managing daily life.  Knowing this, Somshekar felt that it was important to help these women.  He held evening classes for 20 women every day.  Now, these 20 women know how to read, write, and sign their own names.  Additionally, these women now know how open savings bank accounts.  Because of Somshekar's initiative towards empowerment, these women will now lead brighter futures.

Project: Essay Competition for International Women's Day

Ramya (Chanukya First Grade College)

Women today still face many issues and challenges in society.  To educate people about women's issues, as well as their important roles in society,  Ramya conducted an essay competition in honor of International Women's Day.  She organized a team to help her plan for the event.  During the event, participants were given sheets of paper and were instructed to write an essay.  Ramya awarded two prizes for the best essays at her college Annual Day function.  First year students were the main beneficiaries of her project.  Ramya's project helped her feel proud to be woman. 

Project: Teaching Origami to Homemakers to Make Them Financially Independent

Kaveri (SGBIT)

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding and dates back to the 17th century.  The objective of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished, artistic sculpture through folding, without cutting the paper or using glue. Origami folds can be used in a variety of ways to make intricate designs.  

1st year LEADer Kaveri from SGBIT rides her bicycle to commute to college every day.  During her journey, she would regularly pass by poor housewives, who would spend most of the day inside the home.  Although Kaveri had already completed a previous project with LEAD helping school children, she thought to initiate another project with LEAD to financially empower the women she rode past on her bicycle every day.  After meeting and interacting with these women, Kaveri noticed that the women were very creative and talented.  She taught the women basic Origami, a skill that could help the women earn additional with limited resources.

Kaveri has future plans to become an entrepreneur through marketing and scaling this art form using local sources.

Women's Day at BIET College

Hanumanth (BIET College)

On March 8th, 2013, Hanumanth organized a Women's Day celebration.  The objective of the program was to highlight the meaning and importance behind why Women's Day is celebrated, as well as to honor the ways that women contribute to society.  

Several dignitaries were present at the event, including Smt Kiruvadi Girijamma (social worker), Mrs. Malati Kesari (woman engineer) and Dr. Rama Swamy (Principal).  

Hannumath says that this project gave him good exposure to the facets of event management.  He also says that he feels more confident after completing this project.  Additionally, this project inspired students to join LEAD.

LEAD would like to give a special thanks to Krishna Kumar (NSS Head) for coordinating with the students to make this event possible.  

Project: Tailoring Training for Women

Asha N E (GMIT College)

Asha wanted to give illiterate, unskilled women the chance to learn and earn a living for themselves.  With help from her mother, Asha organized an 8-day training camp for 10 women on basic tailoring skills at a tailoring center.  The training classes were conducted two hours each day, and the women learned important and useful skills such as stitching and artistic designs.  As a result of Asha's training camp, the women are now more self-confident.  They now manage and complete minor orders, and are satisfying their customers.  

The women who participated in Asha's classes wanted to give a special thanks to LEAD for enabling Asha to conduct this training camp.  

Project: Creative Sketch and Writing Competition

Deepa (Chankuya First Grade College, Davangere)

In honor of International Women's Day, Deepa conducted a creative sketch and writing competition.  The competition was unique in that it gave students a platform to express their thoughts on a compelling issue in an artistic manner.  Students' creations reflected the roles of women, and their importance, in our present society.  The best creations were awarded at the end of the competition.  

Project: Taking Initiative in Women's Day Celebrations

Anushree Kini

Anushree took initiative to handle technical aspects during various Women's Day celebrations.  Some examples of the initiative taken includes playing appropriate music throughout the celebrations to attract the attention of the audience and to keep the audience cheerful and enthusiastic.  In addition, Anushree oversaw the microphone arrangements and video playing.  Anushree says that this project increased her self confidence and improve her multi-tasking abilities. 

  

Project: Bharathi

Bhagyashree Kulkarni (A.S.S. College for Business Administration, Gadag)

Bhagyashree organized, coordinated, and executed Bharathi, and event aimed at creating awareness about women empowerment and safeguarding women's livelihoods.  At the event was a panel session that consisted of a women lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, NGO heads, police members, and heads of various women's organizations.  Among the panel members included several notable figures such as Dr. Shantbai Bhoomreddi, Vijayaklakshmi Angadi (lawyer), PSI Krishnaveni, Shravani Hagargi (CEO of Safe Hands 24x7), and Jayashri Hiremath (NGO worker).  The panel spoke about issues in women's safety, as well as the importance for women to empower themselves and improve their status in society.  In addition, plans were made to appeal to various administrative bodies in order to provide a 24x7 helpline to women in the city.  

Around 200 guests attended the event and benefitted from the inspiration, motivation, and guidance provided by the panel speakers.  Bhagyashree says that after the event, many women felt very empowered, and approached her with ideas of starting and managing their own businesses.  

Project: Helpline for Women in Navanagar

Manjunath K. Gogi 

Majunath, inspired by World Women's Day, organized an event to help the women in the city of Navanagar.  Majunath coordinated with the President of the Navanagar Ladies Club, as well as Mr. I.M. Dundasi, the Police sub-Inspector of Navanagar to plan the event.   Prior to the event, Majunath presented a plan to the Mr. I. M. Dundasi to create a separate women's helpline number for the city of Navanagar, and to post this number on every street in Navanagar. Mr. I. M. Dundasi agreed comply with Majunath's plan. 

The program organized by Majunath consisted of a dialogue between the women of Navanagar and with Mr. I. M. Dundasi.  During this dialogues, many women voiced their doubts about women's safety within the city.  Mr. I. M. Dundasi addressed the doubts of the women and even taught them some important guidelines for them to help maintain their safety.  As a result of the program, the women became more knowledgeable about safety, laws, and procedures, and significant progress has been made for the women of Navanagar. 

Project: Women's Day Celebration, Davangere

Rakesh and Chaitra (DRM Science College, Davangere). 

Rakesh and Chaitra successfully organized a Women's Day Celebration event at Mallanayakanahalli Davangere.  The event focused on women's health and women's rights, and showcased notable community members such as Dr. Shashikala (Vice Principal of JJM Medical College), Dr. Mallikarjun (HOD & ENT Specialist), Mr. Gururaj (Program Manager of the Durga Shakti Organization in Davangere), Mr. Ishwarappa (Principal of DRM Science College) as well as Gram Panchayat members and other SDM members.  Not only did the event create public awareness for the fight for women's equality, but the event also incorporated women from local villages by having them participate in different activities and giving them prizes.  

Project: Women Empowerment

LEADer: Shubada Hegde 
Team Member: Pooja

Location: Salkani

Shubada wanted to give opportunities to rural women. She first approached housewives and found that they were interested in learning about preparing gift articles and handicraft. She brought a resource person from another village to conduct a workshop on embroidery and making gift articles for a fixed entrance fee of  Rs. 40. 10 women benefited from attending and are now preparing such gift articles at home.    

One of the biggest challenges was time, since it was areca-nut harvest time and the women were often busy working in the field. 

Candle March to Promote Gender Equality for International Women's Day

On the occasion of one hundred years anniversary of “International Women’s Day," hundreds of LEADers from different colleges BVB, Global, JGCC, KLEIT, KLE Pharmacy, Sharma and Fatima colleges of Hubli, marched with the candle in the name of promoting gender equality. Under the Initiative of Deshpande Foundation’s LEAD, the march started from BVBCET with more than 200 students and local community people of different associations, like TiE, Hubli Champions, DFP, DSF, and BVB. Mr. Naveen Jha (CEO, Deshpande Foundation), Neelam, TiE, Madhuri, CS, Ajay Suman and Radhakrishna Nayak (Program Managers, LEAD) were present and participated in the march.

The message of the young students was to promote equality among men and women and secure rights of women in public places as well as at home. The march ended at Rani Chennamma circle with the lighting of the candles. Girls and boys were holding posters that conveyed messages like "make it afe and secure surroundings for women," "stop discrimination," "promoting gender equality," and "stop violence against women."  The march was coordinated by Shreya R., Akshay N., Deepak G., Saroja B., Shashank I., Shashi G., Divya and Amreen.

The march peacefully ended at the Chenamma Circle and was successful in passing the strong message of “Promoting Gender Equality."

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