We funded a five-year women’s empowerment project run by charity Karuna Trust and non-governmental organisation Jan Sahas. Both support basic education and access to humane and dignified work for everyone, especially women.
Manual scavenging is a demeaning and poorly paid job in India. It involves cleaning latrines and carrying the excrement to disposal centres. According to Jan Sahas in 2016, 90 percent of the country’s estimated 1.3 million manual scavengers were women. As well as huge risks to their health, it carries the stigma of untouchability. This is when someone who is considered to be low caste faces social exclusion and limited access to basic services such as education and employment. Not only do these women face discrimination, their children do too.
New skills
Between 2017 and 2022, we funded a project that retrained 2,560 women in Madhya Pradesh who used to work as manual scavengers. It provided training programmes that taught them skills such as garment and incense-making, and supported the women to form co-operatives. These new skills have given them the knowledge and confidence to build their own businesses and, by selling their produce to local and national markets, make a tenfold increase in their monthly earnings.
Many of the women now work in collective sewing centres or on machines at home. Despite challenges such as Covid-19 lockdowns and rising government taxes, their businesses have flourished and they’ve earned a reputation for reliability and quality. Many also train other women, and 15 have put themselves forward as candidates in local elections. In 2022, the enterprise was formally handed over to a committee of 11 women, with some ongoing support from Jan Sahas.
Better futures
The project has not only created financial security for these women and their families, it has also given them a sense of dignity and acceptance. Karuna reported that the women’s improved status within their communities has reduced caste-based practices and exclusion, bringing transformative change for the next generation.
“We were manual scavengers. This project gave us hope to get out of the work we were doing. Jan Sahas weaved a dream into each one of us that if we try, we can get out of untouchability and build a different world of our own.” (Chamanbi – Project Participant and Steering Committee Member)
“I am so proud of the change, now the higher caste people come home, sit with us and we have tea together and we are free from the pain of untouchability and have earned respect. Families have a dream for their children and want them to continue their education for a better future.” (Avantha Nagori – Project Participant and Steering Committee Member)
Photo credits: Karuna Trust and Jan Sahas
