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E14 - Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA)
38 Plays3 days ago
In this episode, Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), shares the incredible power of joining forces to improve lives. Under Reema’s leadership, SEWA has grown into the largest union of informal women workers in India, now uniting more than 3.2 million members. Together, they are transforming finance into a tool for dignity and self-reliance. In our conversation, Reema shares how women workers, once excluded from banks and the financial system, built their own cooperative bank, designed financial products for their daily realities, and pioneered innovations like doorstep banking, micro-pensions, and even climate insurance for extreme heat. She describes SEWA as a banyan tree: its trunk the union, its branches the women-owned enterprises, and its leaves the millions of women who stand strong together against poverty. We explore what the world can learn from SEWA’s model: that the poor are creditworthy, that women’s collective power can build resilient communities, and that finance must nurture people, not just profits. Reema’s vision is bold, hopeful, and deeply practical. This is an episode for anyone seeking to understand how finance can truly serve humanity.
Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast!
You can also:
- Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org
- Read Reema's full bio
To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode:
- "We are poor but we are so many", Ela R. Bhatt
- "Anubandh - Building Hundred-Mile Communities", Ela R. Bhatt
- "Women Work and Peace", Ela R. Bhatt
All on https://www.sewa.org/publications/books/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Women Changing Finance
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance, where you will discover amazing women from all around the world who are making finance become a force for good.
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast Women Changing Finance.
Meet Rima Nanavati of SEVA
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Krisztina Tora and I'm welcoming today Reema Nanavaty, who is an Indian social worker and the director of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India, called SEWA.
00:00:36
Speaker
Under her leadership, SEWA has grown to become the single largest union of informal sector workers in India. She focuses on women's economic empowerment by building women-owned enterprises and women-led supply chains in energy, agribusiness, food processing, waste recycling, and textiles.
00:00:55
Speaker
Reema, it is an absolute honor to have you on the show today. Thank you for joining. So as a starting point, can you tell us about SEWA? What it is? How does it work?
00:01:06
Speaker
How many people are part of SEWA? Thank you so much. And it is my privilege to be invited to this podcast. SEWA, the Self-Employed Women's Association is a central trade union in India.
00:01:21
Speaker
We organize the women workers in the informal economy. 93% of the workforce in our country is in the informal sector. Today, founded in 1972 by our founder, Ila Bhatt, our goals are full employment and self-reliance of our members.
00:01:41
Speaker
Today, we have around close to 3.2 million women workers as our members of SEWA. And we try to achieve our goals of full employment and self-reliance through a very holistic and an integrated approach.
00:01:58
Speaker
you
SEVA's Mission and Impact
00:01:59
Speaker
So we organize the women workers to build their collective strength. We organize as poor as women and as workers, no matter what caste, community or religion we belong to.
00:02:12
Speaker
We organize to build our collective strength in our fight against poverty to earn a life of dignity and self-respect. At SEWA, we also believe that our members just don't remain workers or producers.
00:02:27
Speaker
But they also become the owners and managers of their own trades and enterprises. And therefore, it's a joint action of union and collectives.
00:02:38
Speaker
They may be cooperatives, producer collectives, associations, federations, companies for profit and not for profit as well.
00:02:48
Speaker
And a very ah holistic integrated approach. So with organizing, we also work on asset creation, within the form of small savings in the name of women, access to licenses that they can do their trades, access to tools and equipments.
00:03:07
Speaker
As we also believe that asset creation is one of the surest ways to fight poverty along with organizing. The third aspect is on building the capacity of our members, both leadership capabilities as well as managerial capabilities, and then access to basic support services, which is healthcare, childcare, nutrition, and shelter.
00:03:33
Speaker
And when all these things come together, but at the pace at which the women can take it, it becomes an em empowering process for the women. So she now has identity of her work. She's no longer seen as somebody's wife or somebody's daughter-in-law or somebody's daughter, but she has an identity as a worker.
00:03:55
Speaker
She's able to speak up. She's able to speak up in front of the trader, in front of the government officials, And she's also therefore able to participate in the decision making processes in her home.
00:04:11
Speaker
So today, Seva is like a banyan tree. The trunk is SEWA the union, the parent organization. The leaves are our 3.2 million members.
00:04:21
Speaker
And the branches of the bunion tree are over 142 different member-owned economic organizations. So we supplement and complement each other no matter how strong
Empowering Women Through Asset Creation
00:04:36
Speaker
the wind current is. The banyan tree has been able to stand firm for almost 50 years.
00:04:43
Speaker
Wow, that's a really beautiful image. And I know how important banyan trees are in many cultures. So thank you for inspiring us with this image.
00:04:55
Speaker
Thank you also for sharing the different pillars of your work. I would like to to maybe zoom in to what you described in terms of asset creation. Access to finance has been a key pillar of your work at SEWA.
00:05:10
Speaker
Maybe can you explore a little bit What are the biggest financial barriers for women in the informal economy or the women that you are working with? How are you
Challenges in the Informal Economy
00:05:20
Speaker
tackling those different barriers?
00:05:22
Speaker
I know that as an organization, you have been doing a lot of financial innovation to help address those barriers. It would be really great if you can tell us more about that.
00:05:33
Speaker
Sure. I think, you know, there are four categories of workers, if you put them, if you categorize. So these are home-based workers, women who work from their homes. So they may be artisans, garment workers.
00:05:48
Speaker
kite makers, incense stick rollers, or bidi the Indian cigar makers. The second category is of vendors and hawkers, women who sell old clothes on the streets or women who sell fruits, vegetables, cutleries, or other eatables.
00:06:05
Speaker
The third category is of manual workers and service providers. So these are waste collectors and recyclers, construction workers, agriculture workers, forest produced collectors and saltpan workers.
00:06:20
Speaker
and a fourth category which has emerged in the last decade or so is that of producers. So women who not only invest their own labor, but small capital produce and then try to sell. So you may call them as tiny micro or nano entrepreneurs.
00:06:37
Speaker
And when we started organizing these informal workers in 1972,
00:06:43
Speaker
You know, majority of these women were working in cloth market in the city of Antebud as head loaders, you know, transferring bales of cloth from one shop to another.
00:06:57
Speaker
Or they were working as vendors or old cloth sellers on the streets or vegetable vendors. And their need for credit is very small. They may need 100 or 200 rupees a day, but no financial institution or no bank considers them as credit worthy.
00:07:17
Speaker
A, they are very poor, they are illiterate, you know, there's no employment security that they see because they're not in a formal setup.
00:07:28
Speaker
And therefore, I think they are compelled to go to private money lenders. And the terms are very, very exploitative. So in one of our annual meetings, other members of SEWA demanded that, why can't we have a bank of our own?
00:07:45
Speaker
And our founder felt that a bank of our own bank. And our members said that, yeah, you know, why can't we have a bank? We are poor, but we are so many.
00:07:59
Speaker
And that really inspired our founder to register a cooperative bank of these very informal sector women workers who are vendors or home-based workers, construction workers, waste collectors. So each member started paying a small amount of 10 rupees towards the share capital.
00:08:23
Speaker
And then we went to register a register of cooperatives to get it registered. And The cooperatives said that these are illiterate women. They cannot even sign their names. And how can they have a registered cooperative bank?
00:08:40
Speaker
So the women were trained to sign their name overnight. And it was a big struggle for us. But, you know, finally, we were able to register our cooperative bank.
00:08:52
Speaker
And that was the first innovation that poor informal sector women workers registering their own cooperative bank.
00:09:04
Speaker
So today our bank is also 50 years old. It has over 300,000 shareholders and a paid up share capital of almost 200 crores.
00:09:15
Speaker
lord And the second innovation was that we, as we are at SEWA, believe that our members become the owners and managers. So in the very bylaws of the SEWA Cooperative Bank, it was it has been written down that we will not take any outside capital.
00:09:35
Speaker
So it is our board is also elected from our members. So a construction worker is the president of the board. There are other board members who are waste recyclers, who are artisans, small farmers, agriculture workers.
00:09:52
Speaker
So that's, and our bank has shown, has absolutely very nominal NPA, less than even 1%. Our repayment rate is almost 98%. And, know, are rated as an,
00:10:05
Speaker
percent and you know we are the ten and plus bank by the Reserve Bank of India. And therefore, I think there's no looking back and there are innovations after innovations.
00:10:20
Speaker
What is actually needed for the informal sector women workers is a doorstep banking. You know, for a vegetable vendor, her peak vending time a clashes with the banking hours. And therefore, when she has cash in hand, she's not able to come and deposit in her account.
00:10:40
Speaker
So we provide doorstep banking services. So we have ah what we call them as our spearhead team leaders. We call them as bank satis.
00:10:52
Speaker
So they go from different slum areas, to different trade groups, and they
Financial Products for Women's Support
00:10:58
Speaker
collect small, small savings, even if she has five rupees or 10 rupees to save.
00:11:04
Speaker
And i think our our approach has shown us that in order to bring financial discipline for these informal sector workers, you have to have savings first.
00:11:18
Speaker
So the every member or a shareholder of the bank has to save for one year, And then she becomes eligible to get credit, which is three times more than her savings.
00:11:31
Speaker
Very often what happens is that, you know, the banks and the financial institutions want to give out credit. And whether the borrower has the capacity or not, you know, they are flushed with that credit. And therefore,
00:11:48
Speaker
they end up not being able to repay back. and But here, it's a whole journey of her creditworthiness. So we start with three times more.
00:12:02
Speaker
So she may ah borrow 5,000 rupees. Once she repays it back, then she may borrow 15,000. and So she may have seven such things when she borrows 200,000 rupees 500,000 rupees.
00:12:18
Speaker
And I think the the other principle we follow is that we do not give loans for consumption. The loans that we give are only for livelihood and entrepreneurial purposes.
00:12:31
Speaker
The third thing we also realized or the lesson is that for a lot of informal sector workers, her home is her workplace. And therefore, housing is also productive asset.
00:12:45
Speaker
And therefore, we design different savings products and loan products depending on the needs of our neighbors. So once we had loans, then we start a housing accreditation loan.
00:12:58
Speaker
Then we give them loans for education of the children. Then we have loans ah for the education of the girl child as well. So that way we design loan products.
00:13:11
Speaker
And then the last is capitalization at the grassroots, which is how do you lead to asset creation so that, you know once she has her savings in her name and then she's able to create multiple assets so that if there is a market failure or if there's any other economic shock, she has other means of assets to diversify for work and income.
00:13:40
Speaker
And that's how she's able to sustain her work and income. ah Do I go on or do you have a further question? Yeah, no, that's great. Can you explain what those assets might be? Because, you know, I imagine that COVID hit really hard these women, that, you know, there's many different kind of maybe climate related shocks.
00:14:01
Speaker
What are those assets that she can create? So I think to give an example, you know, she may be a vendor or she may be an agriculture worker. and once she has a proper roof of her own so that, you know, she her houses yeah has a security of her home, then she may have redeemed her mortgage land so that, you know, she's now able to have another secured asset.
00:14:27
Speaker
She may then be able to buy a pump set. She may be then able to buy a cattle. She may be able to then have a tractor of her own. So there are these multiple assets which will then secure and provide her with economic security.
00:14:45
Speaker
But we also realized that, as you rightly said, that when there are climate shocks, we also go back and see very carefully if there's a default by a member, that why she's not able to default.
00:15:01
Speaker
And we realized three things from that, that when a young woman is pregnant and she delivers a child, either she's compelled to go back to work without taking enough of rest or proper nutrition.
00:15:17
Speaker
And therefore, you know, she's weak and malnourished and so she falls sick. So we designed a whole maternity benefit program for the women that you knows she gets a tin of ghee and she gets a compensation for her loss of wages for at least 10 days so that she has that much of rest and she's not compelled to go back to work.
00:15:45
Speaker
The second reason we saw that there were default was illnesses. And the third was accidents. And therefore, we designed a whole micro insurance program for our members, which provides them health cover as well as accidental and ah life insurance.
00:16:06
Speaker
But we then also realized that, you know, ah for a lot of our members, their body is also their own asset. As long as she's able to work, she can earn.
00:16:18
Speaker
But how do you also secure for your old age? And therefore, we designed a micro-pension program for our members as well. That till she reaches the age of 50 years, if she starts saving a certain amount regularly,
00:16:34
Speaker
Then she gets a pension when she reaches 65 years and beyond when she's not able to work. And in this last seven years or so, we see that the members also face a lot of climate shocks, which pushes them back into the vicious circle of poverty and indebtedness.
00:16:57
Speaker
And therefore, we designed a whole parametric heat insurance program The reason we designed a parametric program is that, you know, these women are all, do not have a fixed place of work. If I'm a construction worker, today I'm working on a site which is here. Tomorrow I may be working on a site which is 50 kilometers away.
00:17:20
Speaker
How do I produce documents that prove that the temperature was 42 degrees where I was working? The same applies to an agriculture worker or a migrant worker or a waste collector.
00:17:36
Speaker
And therefore, we wanted a product which is parametric. So it depends on the satellite data and the members do not have to move.
00:17:47
Speaker
And we started in 2023. And this year, we had about fifty thousand members subscribe for parametric heat insurance program.
00:18:02
Speaker
But we also realized that, you know, insurance alone doesn't lead to building resilience of your members towards the climate shocks.
Climate Resilience Initiatives
00:18:12
Speaker
And therefore, we have set up a whole climate facility, which provides them insurance cover, which provides them access to contingency loans, which provides access to climate and health related support.
00:18:27
Speaker
and finance for adaptation. And that's the kind of, and it's a blended finance facility. Because I think everybody thinks that microfinance is the solution.
00:18:40
Speaker
But if microfinance was the solution, there would be no poor left. But what is really needed for the poor is a whole blended finance facility.
00:18:52
Speaker
So it's a combination of a grant, occupation capital and affordable debt. And that's what is our climate facility that we have set Yeah, thanks. That's amazing because it's really telling the story from the perspective of the women that you work with and what their needs are of how climate is actually affecting women and marginalized communities more than other people.
00:19:23
Speaker
Who did you work with to create that facility? Was it easy? Was it difficult? Yeah. I think it took us a long time. Ever since, you know, we had the worst ever earthquake.
00:19:37
Speaker
And when we reached our members on the very second day, not a single member asked relief. The first thing they asked was that, oh, did you bring work?
00:19:48
Speaker
And that made us realize that poor do not want charities. But they want an enabling environment that equips and enables them, you know, to bounce back and to fight out the different kinds of shocks and challenges that they have to face.
00:20:07
Speaker
And from there on, we started thinking that if their work and income are stabilized, then women are able to rebuild their own lives.
00:20:18
Speaker
And so we started calling it as a livelihood recovery and resilience fund. And initially, i don't think any of the banks were...
00:20:29
Speaker
really convinced with that idea. But then we also sought help from the International Finance Corporation and worked out an architecture that, you know, using your livelihood recovery and resilience fund. So the members started contributing one day's wage every month to this fund.
00:20:51
Speaker
And from the corpus that was built, IFC helped us design a financial architecture that we put a first loss default guarantee. And therefore, the bank was willing to lend to these women.
00:21:07
Speaker
But you know at the end of um three years, the entire amount was repaid back. And FLDG was not at all revoked. And therefore, the next time the public sector bank, the Bank of Baroda came forward,
00:21:23
Speaker
to lend to, you know, 15,000 members. And I think once we had the proof of concept that, you know, women are able to have assets in their own name, their incomes not only become stable, but also increase.
00:21:40
Speaker
And there's 100% repayment that really built the confidence. So today we have several partners who support in this Blended Finance facility.
00:21:52
Speaker
That's brilliant. Thank you. And you also talked about different financial support mechanisms that you're creating. In a way, you're creating a social safety net because it doesn't exist for them as such.
00:22:06
Speaker
Can you tell us how other countries or other organizations can get inspiration, what they can learn from your organization? Because in so many countries today, the situation is very similar.
00:22:20
Speaker
I think the first and the foremost one has to learn is that it is all in the mainstream. So we did not create an MFI, but we had our own cooperative bank registered under the Reserve Bank of India.
00:22:35
Speaker
And i think if you are a mainstream financial institution and you know you follow the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India and still innovate,
00:22:48
Speaker
the financial products as per the needs of your members. That's the big lesson that the financial institutions and the community-based organizations need to learn.
00:23:00
Speaker
Right now, if you look, I don't think there exists very many financial products that cater to the need of the informal sector, whether urban or rural.
00:23:12
Speaker
The second is that we have to really believe that poor are credited. because their track record has shown that you know our repayment rates have never gone below 95%.
00:23:26
Speaker
but sense And the third is that poor do not want charity at all. And I think ah these are the three big lessons. And if we look at these lessons and try to
Rima's Journey and Gandhian Influence
00:23:40
Speaker
build the credit worthiness, build the capacity,
00:23:44
Speaker
borrowing capacity of the poor and the women, then I think, you know, there's no looking back. Thank you. Great lessons to take away. What are your challenges today at SEWA?
00:23:56
Speaker
How do you feel that other organizations can help what you are doing to scale it up, to support it, to replicate it maybe in in other countries?
00:24:07
Speaker
I think the challenges are that These are the ah lessons that show that there is definitely a need for an alternative economic pathway.
00:24:20
Speaker
And what we call it as SEWA is building an economy of nurturance. So finance has to be just a tool, but right now finance has become the mainstream.
00:24:33
Speaker
So you use money to build more money. You build money to build more money. But finance has to result into building of a community capital, a social capital.
00:24:46
Speaker
And that's a big challenge that that's none of the financial institutions look at that. So how can finance become an enabling factor that leads that also supports caring and sharing?
00:25:02
Speaker
It also supports... ah cooperation rather than competition. It also supports environmental food regeneration. So I think that's the kind of an economic pathway that we are trying to work on. And I think it's like swimming against the tide.
00:25:22
Speaker
And that I see is a major challenge right It is, but we have to keep trying. we have to keep trying. Thank you. Rima, maybe just moving to to you as a leader, you have been, if I'm correct, working and supporting SEVA and its mission and its impact for a few decades kids now.
00:25:46
Speaker
What were some milestones from your perspective in in this journey? You know, yeah, I have been with SEVA now for four decades. So it's like my life's own journey because like most of the young girls who are born and brought up in a city, you know that your country has a lot of poverty.
00:26:08
Speaker
You may not have experienced it to yourself. And when you experience poverty, when you face the challenges and struggles with your members, it's a big life-changing experience.
00:26:22
Speaker
And I think that that is what is my biggest milestone, that just straight out of college, having been able to take up a government job, but when I went to work on the drought relief sites, and when I saw that, you know, working on a drought relief site without water, without food, under the sun, when the government drought relief work stopped, the women did not go home.
00:26:49
Speaker
They went to another... area on where that site and by digging something. And when I went to these women and asked that, why don't you go home having work?
00:26:59
Speaker
They just showed me some brass tubers and that was their only need. And that kept me thinking that in spite of so much of hard work, why such deprivation?
00:27:12
Speaker
And I think that taught me some good biggest lessons of my life. that if you really wanted to work and make a difference, because you were privileged to have the opportunity to get educated, you know to live in a city, this is the kind of work that needs to be done.
00:27:32
Speaker
And then when you see that you know women from the most fragile of the areas, from conflict-affected areas, when they come And when they see that, oh, you know, women living in such poverty have also changed their lives, they go back like a 21-year-old girl from Kashmir who had lost her father in the turmoil. And, you know, her mother was the sole breadwinner. She wanted to study but could not go continue her education.
00:28:02
Speaker
And when she saw that, oh, women can also be solar technicians, Her self-confidence grew and she is now running her own little solar enterprise because, you know, Kashmir is a cold area.
00:28:16
Speaker
Electricity supply is very erratic and she wanted to reduce the drudgery of her mother to go to the forest and collect firewood. And when she was challenged, you know, and they were said that, can you repair this light which was not working in the mosque for two years?
00:28:35
Speaker
In a flash, She repaired it. And when the village headman felicitated her, there was no looking back. She's now running an enterprise, solar enterprise.
00:28:47
Speaker
mean, the kind of satisfaction you get, I think no money can bring that satisfaction. but think these are some of the milestones that I consider as milestones for me.
00:29:00
Speaker
Thank you. This podcast is also an occasion to look back or look forward, perhaps. What are you most proud of? What, or maybe what are big goals that you still want to achieve? Either of those.
00:29:15
Speaker
I'm really very, very proud and fortunate of to be having such great members who put so much of trust and faith in you, who love you so much.
00:29:27
Speaker
So that's my big fortune and I'm so happy about it. But I think India still has 93% in the informal sector and therefore the big goal is that how do you achieve 10 million in the next three to five years of membership?
00:29:46
Speaker
Yes, well, that's a great, great goal to have. Reema, I'm asking this question of all my guests. How does it feel to be a woman doing this job?
00:29:57
Speaker
You know, we were five sisters at home and coming to SEWA, I was meeting all women and women and women. And I think I really feel that I'm really fortunate to be a woman trying to work for other women.
00:30:16
Speaker
I think that has been my big fortune. Had it been other sex, I may not have been able to establish the kind of rapport, the kind of bond that I have been able to establish with our members.
00:30:32
Speaker
And therefore, I'm so lucky that
SEVA in Global Movements
00:30:34
Speaker
I'm a woman who is able to help 3.2 million other women. And together we are in this journey. Yes, I really like the togetherness approach. And perhaps if you wish, you it would be interesting to tell us about some of the philosophical underlyings as well. You have been, I think, very inspired at Seva by some of the teachings from Gandhi, feme if I'm right.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think we were born out of the Textile Labour Association, which was founded by Mahatma Gandhi. And so we follow the Gandhian values and principles in organising.
00:31:11
Speaker
So we come together as poor, as women and as workers, no matter what caste, community or religion we belong to. And we come together to build our collective strength in our fight against poverty.
00:31:25
Speaker
The other values we follow are simplicity, truth and nonviolence and give equal respect to all religions. So that's also been there.
00:31:36
Speaker
And i think we believe in sisterhood and solidarity. Because the issues of poor and women are the same, no matter in whichever community or state or a country you are.
00:31:51
Speaker
So that those values we have been able to maintain up to now. And that's building the movement of the SEVA membership, right?
00:32:03
Speaker
How does that movement movement connect to other self-organized other kinds of so likeity solidarity movements around the world? Yeah, so I think today we are a confluence of three movements. so labor movement, cooperative movement, and women's movement.
00:32:22
Speaker
And that's how we become a part of, you know, other organizations which work on the same ideology and philosophy as well. And so therefore, we are affiliates of the IDUC or the International Union of Food, Agriculture and Allied Workers, or you are a member of the International Cooperative Alliance.
00:32:45
Speaker
So, you know, that's how you will become part of these different movements, labor movement. cooperative movements. Fantastic. Thank you.
00:32:56
Speaker
It must be a at times challenging to do what you do. What helps you be your best self? I think when you are in the midst of your members and when you see that, you know, in spite of so many challenges and struggles, how they are hopeful and always willing to take on newer challenges,
00:33:20
Speaker
That gives you the needed strength and courage to continue the work that you are doing. no matter whatever obstacles or you know whatever challenges may be in store.
00:33:34
Speaker
Yes. Being surrounded by the people that you're here for. As we're kind of nearing the end of this podcast episode, I have three questions for you.
00:33:46
Speaker
What's keeping you optimistic? I think our members. ah as Today we have 40% of our members who are young and Those young women, if they feel that SEVA is still relevant to them, that gives me the hope.
00:34:03
Speaker
and So we are 53 years old, but we are still a young organization. And that gives me hope. That's so interesting. do you Maybe can you give an example or some ideas of how those young women are seeing the world differently and how they relate to what you are doing at SEVA, perhaps in different ways than others?
00:34:25
Speaker
Sure, I think the aspirations of our younger women are different from our first-generation members. It's because, you know, they are more educated than the first-generation members.
00:34:37
Speaker
And therefore, what kind of work would make them feel more excited and feel that this is a dignified and a decent work? So if I'm a daughter of a salt pan worker,
00:34:50
Speaker
I still work in the salt pans, but can I get access to green spilling so that, you know, she can help the salt pan workers switch over from diesel engines to solar engines. And then she's able to do the installation, the operation, the maintenance.
00:35:08
Speaker
And for her, that's a dignified work. And during the off season, she can also help with installing rooftop solar in the villages, in the homes, and she can do the repairs and maintenance as well.
00:35:23
Speaker
So those are the kinds of newer opportunities and areas. How do you bring technology closer to those informal sector workers and their communities? How do you use digital technology to reduce the drudgery of your members as well?
00:35:41
Speaker
Are you using AI? Is AI one of the solutions you're working with? We've just thought of. And I think our aim is that, you know, we have digitized our membership.
00:35:53
Speaker
And so how do you then work on data analysis and creating are your own algorithms so that it's a bottom of AI and the women have control over it and not the other way around Brilliant.
00:36:09
Speaker
Who or what is inspiring you? Although I might have a guess at what you're going to say. Exactly. and oh Why don't you guess? Your members. You're very right.
00:36:20
Speaker
Yes. And one last question. What are you reading that you would recommend to the audience? Oh, I read a lot about what our members speak and write.
00:36:32
Speaker
And I think that is what, I think the best is that you listen to your members. And that is my food for content. Wonderful. Is there any book or something like that, that Seva has published about the what your members are?
00:36:52
Speaker
Yeah, so we have several of our publications. One is about we Are Poor But So Many, and that's a whole SEWA's biography. The second is called Anuban, the 100 miles approach.
00:37:06
Speaker
The third is women work and peace. And then we have our members own testimonies, which is, you know, how do you practice Gandhi's principles in your life?
00:37:19
Speaker
And I think those are definitely worth reading for everyone who works, who wants to work at Seva or with SEWA. Great. Can I ask, what is the 100 Miles Approach?
00:37:33
Speaker
So basically, I think our five decades of experience has shown that if every household needs access to six basic services, such as food, clothing and shelter and access to education, health care and financial services.
00:37:51
Speaker
And if you produce it using whatever skills, materials which are available in the vicinity of 100 miles radius, it generates ample of employment opportunities.
00:38:07
Speaker
So if I'm a farmer, I grow what I don't eat and what I eat, I don't grow. And that itself is, you know, not generating employment opportunities. So how do you generate employment opportunities using your local resources, your local skills?
00:38:28
Speaker
And that's how also provide access to the six basic services. And that is what we call the 100 miles. That's fascinating. Thank you so
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:38:38
Speaker
much.
00:38:38
Speaker
Well, Reema, this is the end of this episode. Do you have any final thoughts or final advice for fellow changemakers or even perhaps a specific ask of the listeners?
00:38:51
Speaker
i only would like to convey a message from our members and it will be one verse in the form of a song, which is we shall overcome, we shall overcome.
00:39:06
Speaker
we shall overcome someday. Oh, deep
00:39:21
Speaker
Thank you so much. And I hope it was meaningful. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Rima.
00:39:36
Speaker
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00:39:47
Speaker
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00:39:59
Speaker
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