Inspiration from India, Part III

SEWA Pride

The greatest inspiration I drew from my meetings with women entrepreneurs in India occurred during the “visioning” exercise. As new members join SEWA, they participate in facilitated training sessions to identify their means of self-employment (such as needlework, growing vegetables in small plots of land, paid childcare in their homes for other workers and other home-based businesses). The training sessions help them to build the skills required for the success of their businesses, such as budgeting, a challenge for many members who are illiterate. (The ATM’s of SEWA bank have graphic icons for illiterate users and are hugely popular with members, who are some of the most enthusiastic adopters of technology I have ever met.)

At the last of the training sessions, the group participates in a “visioning” exercise. Each member shares her vision for a better future. For women mired in extreme poverty, envisioning a better future is a challenge. Their lives are spent on tasks for basic survival. But with the encouragement of the other members of the group, each woman, often in a very shy, reluctant manner at first, begins to articulate her dream for the future: perhaps a new roof for her shanty, or a new well for fresh water or other amenities that her increased income can provide her household.

Almost as Beautiful as SEWA

And the dream always includes an education for her children, as her first priority is to pay the school fees to invest in a better future for the next generation. By the time the session is over, everyone is in tears as we each imagine what a better future would look like for the families of women entrepreneurs. I am sure that in these difficult economic times, that is what sustains each of us.