Rural Women-Collective Wealth Creators

What problems are you committed to solve

Rural women are not recognised and given their due in family and society because they are victims of a patriarchal system and their contributions are intangible. 

2. What solution are you proposing? 

GRAMA will develop user-friendly, easy to handle Tech Solutions to manage production by thousands of  rural poor  women, and market the final product.

3. How could your solution positively change lives if it was scaled globally?

The following are some anticipated positive changes:

Millions of women would become productive forces.
Their health, particularly of children, would improve.
They can assert themselves in their families and society.
They would get returns commensurate with their hard work.
They can lead dignified lives with improved living conditions.
Empowerment of women and gender parity.

The problem faced by women seen in GRAMAs exposure in the project area is common to millions of women in Developing countries. Women generally suffer due to poverty; the poor and backward community and poor women in rural areas are the worst sufferers

https://www.female-rights.com/india/

About 60% of women in Self-help Groups (SHG’s) / Joint Liability Groups (JLG’s) that GRAMA has organised know tailoring. Their skill is used only in a limited way.  However, they have the potential to upskill and produce readymade garments and their products marketed by GRAMA.
            

An analysis (sample size ~10,000 women in the project area covering about 145o villages) shows that members of SHG’s and JLG’s work either as agricultural labourers or use their tailoring skills to earn a paltry extra income. Several times this number of women should get gainful employment.

GRAMA can play a pivotal role in imparting training to improve tailoring skills, supply of raw materials, and financial linkages.
 
Important factor is marketing the products of rural artisans and women, and farm produce. GRAMA intends to develop mobile apps to capture data from the field and help gaining access to local, national and transnational export markets and also integrate with e-commerce platforms.
 

GRAMA can play a pivotal role in imparting training to improve tailoring skills, supply of raw materials, and financial linkages. GRAMA can also make available up-to-date knowledge and research in farm practices, new products, availability of farm input, weather prediction etc.

The most important factor is marketing the products of rural artisans and women, and farm produce. GRAMA intends to develop mobile apps to capture data from the field and help gaining access to local, national and transnational export markets and also integrate with e-commerce platforms.

Women entrepreneurs from villages can use the technology to:

1. Place indent for raw materials, 

   Plan the delivery schedule of finished goods, 

   Communicate regarding requirement of training in new skills, 

   Handle inventory management, 

   Track payment receipts, 

   Familiarise themselves with new designs, and

   Enlist themselves in competitions

   Knowledge of Government schemes

2. Access social security schemes

3. Participating in Democratic processes

A large number of services can be added; the data can be used to provide need-based solutions. It helps to develop local and international export market and to create a dedicated e-commerce platform to improve the lives of poor women and farmers in rural areas.

Poor women in rural areas kept under subjugation over centuries, will get an opportunity to gain respect in society as they will be one of the earning members. Though they contributed largely to family, community and nation building process, their contribution was not recognised as they were not seen as the earning members and cheated from participating in the decision taking process, particularly in land rights, control over  their body, children education, girl child marriage etc.,

Economic and social backwardness, poor exposure to democratic systems, domestic violence, dowry harassment, female infanticide, female genital mutilation, child marriage, prostitution due to poverty, susceptibility to contagious diseases, and early dropout of girls from schools are only some examples of gender discriminatory practices; the list would be endless in rural areas. These can be overcome by: a) ushering in socio-economic changes in their lives; b) engaging them in income-generation activities by producing marketable goods; c) creating a proper market and offering timely support in managing their affairs to overcome the aforesaid issues by tech-driven solutions. We hope that our solutions would pull the womenfolk out of their slumber.

Creating proper market and timely support will help overcome aforesaid issue by tech driven solutions

Rural women are perceived as non-contributors to family income; they also suffer due to inappropriate working conditions. They need user-friendly and cost-effective tech-driven solutions. By acquiring and using skills, they can earn additional and uninterrupted income. They have the potential to become entrepreneurs with support from GRAMA. 

Women, with their hard labour, can become productive assets in nation-building. This can be achieved by channelising their efforts in a structured way and managing the different dimensions of activities like production and marketing in a tech-driven environment, which will provide a sustainable and replicable solution.

Every home - A tech driven, small scale industry: A Replicable and Sustainable Model 

Rural women are profoundly contributing to nation-building. They are the only workforce, which toils at home and for the family without any salary. GRAMA has trained over 35,000 people in Entrepreneurship Awareness Programs and Entrepreneurship Development Programs. These trained women are not in a position to use their skills to the optimum; they cannot go out of their villages to work in the organised sector. Further, no organisation can absorb such a large workforce. GRAMA has identified products, which women can produce at the comfort of their homes. GRAMA has made a beginning by engaging trained women in stitching petticoats (innerwear that women use along with saris). Production of petticoats requires minimal operations, which women can handle. Other similar products are nighties and hospital gowns. They can be easily marketed in local areas and small towns. This type of a venture offers a mega opportunity to engage a large number of women in productive activities. Branding and managing large scale production and marketing requires a tech-driven solution. Managing huge volumes with established simple-to-use tech is facilitated by mobile based apps as they are user-friendly. Besides, there are less connectivity issues in remote areas.

Cloud Management and Mobile-based Technology – Why?

GRAMA is working in remote areas with severe connectivity issues. Women in rural areas cannot easily handle hardware items like desktops and laptops. However, they are already familiar with using mobiles with android applications. Internet connectivity is feasible; apps and web access is available round the clock. With cloud management, there will not be storage issues and data loss. 

Presently, GRAMA is using a mobile app to manage microfinance activity with leading financial institutions along with NABFINS and ICICI Bank. A structured, hands-on training for women entrepreneurs can be imparted with little effort and time and at their place of living (OR STAY). This model ensures cost effective, large scale training without loss of time in transportation of trainees and the associated cost.

Training programs and refresher courses on using apps, for production, standardisation, maintaining delivery schedules, quality management, familiarisation with new products and processes will be conducted on a scale of thousands and millions of trainees, significantly reducing the cost and bringing on board a large workforce and mini entrepreneurs without loss of time.

At an advanced stage, they can be familiarised with (the versions being available  in local languages), and children in their families catching up quickly with technology, can use app for online courses. Web applications include online forms, shopping carts, word processors, spreadsheets, video and photo editing, file conversion, file scanning, and use of email.

• Technology is a small but crucial component in providing gainful employment to poor women in rural areas (DELETED FARMERS). A simple, user-friendly technology is the key to get them on board and to bring them into the mainstream. Some examples of what crores of people are using are given below: 

  Rural women extensively use Android based smartphones. 
  The Government of India gainfully uses mobile phone technology for financial inclusion of needy and underprivileged people under the Jan Dhan Yojana Scheme. 
  Aadhar, a national unique identity number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India, can be associated with one's mobile number for security and for easily accessing services.
  GRAMA uses mobile apps to manage microfinance activity in association with financial institutions such as NABFINS and ICICI Bank.

  
  - This URL link shows Prime Minister of India explaining the use of mobile technology for Financial Inclusion.

Theory of Change

Women - Capable | Dynamic | Future Promise |   But “Victims of Circumstances”

GRAMA intends not just to increase women's income but has a long-term vision of women empowerment.

Women are a vital and productive workforce. Their economic productivity helps poorer families the most. There is a concentration of women in the less visible, non-monetary subsistence production and domestic work. Women's status is influenced by economic conditions, caste, and ethnic background.

One can reckon that over a period of time, women have developed the capacity to articulate, thanks to GRAMA’s intervention. Although illiterate or less literate, they are capable of managing the group's finances. They are effectively involved in Panchayath Raj Institutions (PRI:- Local Self-Government System). Their negotiating skills will be further harnessed to become the precursor of entrepreneurs.

Initially, women will produce simple readymade garments that will be marketed locally; however, with experience their products would cater to urban niche market.

The change GRAMA intends to bring about starts from empowering women economically. From being an invisible contributor to family and society's growth, her network expands by active participation in Self Help Groups, an opportunity to understand financial management, exposure to women’s rights, and participation in local self governance etc. – all a precursor to far-reaching results of gender equality. Initially, a woman will start working as a single entrepreneur and then as an employer of more women in her village as the requirement grows. Thus, it is the beginning of a new kind of emerging businesses and entrepreneurs.

Women already use mobile phones. They can be easily trained to use Mobile apps for managing their business activities. Further, they play a key role in bringing up children; GRAMA can develop simple-to-use apps for children to assist them in their studies.

Empowering women economically will have an immediate impact on their families in terms of nutrition intake, general health, children’s education etc. All these would lay a strong foundation for a bright future. 

With a gradual change in her social status and capability to assert her rights would hopefully lead to changing the patriarchal system.

GRAMA currently supports about 10000 women by facilitating credit access in association with NABFINS and ICICI Bank. It has so for disbursed Rs 55/- crores. However, research studies with SPJIMR Institute show that there is a huge demand to the tune of Rs 120/- crores per annum. This is in an area with 1450 villages where GRAMA is working.  

GRAMA has developed a model to provide gainful employment to poor rural women. This will be a model which NGOs and other non-profits can emulate as a social entrepreneurship; it can make them sustainable and equip them to reach out to more vulnerable people.

Fourth year onwards, GRAMA will be the aggregator and will enlist all the players. Following the GRAMA model the number of beneficiaries will increase exponentially. Then, GRAMA will be able to transform millions of families into production houses of readymade garments, handicraft, processed foods etc.

The link below provides a moderate estimate of the number of beneficiaries.
         
https://docs.google.com/spread...

The link below provides the future plan of action prepared in association with SPJIMR to establish a Production Hub in the project area with 2450 villages.
_____
https://drive.google.com/file/...

GRAMA is part of state- as well as national-level network of NGO's. This platform will be used to engage women and farmers in productive as well as marketing activities. It will also work with Farmers Producers Organisation to have a wider outreach. GRAMA is already working with CDV Global, a UK based organisation for market research, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), NABARD Financial Services Ltd. (NABFINS) and ICICI Bank to provide financial assistance to women SHG members and farmers.

Projections for five years are considered for basic products. However, with the new product range of readymade garments there will be an exponential growth in volume. Further, women will also be trained in food processing and handicrafts to cater to the export market, school uniforms for which government will be the mega purchaser. Processing of commercial crops will be added.

GRAMA Business Plan

The information given below is confined to petticoats, nighties and hospital gowns - items that women can easily be trained to produce from their homes.

GRAMA Business Plan (k = 1000)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2020-21 – Market: 24k petticoats locally. 
                                                                                                                                                   2021-22 – Market: 72k petticoats and 24k nighties in southern India                                                                 
2022-23 – Market: 100k petticoats, 50k nighties every month and 2k hospital gowns in India. 

2023-24 – Market: 250k petticoats, 100k nighties every month and 5k hospital gowns in India and abroad, particularly hospital gowns. 

2024-25 – Market: 5000k petticoats, 2500k nighties every month and 10k hospital gowns in India and abroad, particularly hospital gowns. 
         

https://docs.google.com/spread...

Broadly, the following are the constraints in accomplishing the set goals:

Mobility

Although women know tailoring, they need to improve their skills to maintain quality and ensure standardisation. Ferrying women to GRAMA Training Centre (for upskilling) and back home in remote villages is an issue, which needs to be addressed.

Delivering raw materials to their door step
Delivery of fabric and other materials necessary to stitch the goods to their doorsteps and getting back finished goods is time-consuming and expensive. This will certainly reflect on the profit margin.

Quality Control
All women involved in producing goods such as readymade garments, processed food items, handicrafts etc. work manually; therefore, quality is at stake. GRAMA will have to make special efforts to ensure quality. 

Geographic spread
A large number of women reside in, not a handful but, thousands of far-flung villages. Transporting raw materials and finished goods on time is a huge management issue.

Competition with poor quality products
GRAMA’s quality products will have to compete with poor quality goods which are sold at throw away prices. Villagers often readily buy the latter.

Women Entrepreneurs

Technology will play an important role in monitoring various activities and providing solutions.

1. Mobility issue - GRAMA has network of staff upto village level for implementing Microfinance program. The same staff will ensure delivery, quality, standardisation issues. This is a major advantage and NGOs are better placed to engage women to be more productive in remote villages.

2. Delivering raw materials to their door steps

Intensive Training for quality maintenance - GRAMA will train women upping their skills With well defined curriculum prepared by GRAMA. Training arrangements will be at village level to cover more people.

Dealing with reduction of cost - Negotiating with manufacturers for good quality material and getting them transported to the GRAMA Training Centre and onward transportation to villages was a challenge and the cost involved would impact on the cost of the end product. Transporters have agreed to reduce the cost if the regular indents of bulk orders are placed.

Standardisation - Women physically stitch and produce the finished ready made garments. Initially, cutting of the fabric will be done at GRAMA Training Centres to ensure standardisation and to maintain quality. Gradually in a staggered manner women will be allowed to do the complete work.

Along with earlier stated issues regular follow up by GRAMA Last Mile Partners(Staff) will take care of these issues.

Maintaining quality and branding will take out unhealthy competition. USP of providing employment for women, by experience, shows is a good marketing strategy particularly in urban areas.

NA

Eight people at the Management level will work on the solution part. 

Mr D M Chandan, Lead Solutions Engineer at Salesforce, will advise and guide the implementing team.

Mr A Ramana Rao, a Management Consultant with vast experience, and former CEO, Marketing at WIPRO

Mr D M Sridhar, Retd. Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Govt. Of Karnataka

Mrs Saroj Rao, Educationist and Administrator

Mrs Indira Sridhar, Legal Advisor

Dr Mrs Majan Mulla, Prof of German Language

Mrs Viraja Shankar, Educationist and Social worker

Dr R Shankar, Earth Scientist and formerly Head, Marine Geology Faculty, Mangalore University

GRAMA was conceptualised and started by a lady who is a nonagenarian and is ably supported by qualified and experienced volunteers and staff. Mr D M Chandan, a software Engineer working in Salesforce will provide technology support and Mr Ramana former CEO of WIPRO along with CDV Global, a UK based organisation will help in marketing and Branding.

Big industries are unable to employ a large number of people. GRAMA is supporting about 10,000 women with micro finance. Given the support of technology to manage procurement, production and marketing, GRAMA can establish a Production Hub in the area. This will be a Replicable and Sustainable Model of Development.

Our model does not involve huge investment in machinery and production infrastructure. Every rural home will be a small scale industry! Financial Institutions are ready to support women to procure the required machinery. GRAMA, with the backing of appropriate technology, has to manage supply chain, procurement and marketing.

Having been associated with the people of this area for over a decade, GRAMA can feel their pulse and their difficulties. Women, although capable of being more productive, are in a catch--22 situation due to the social environment; besides, they are not able to take advantage of political systems, though laws are in their favour.

Additional problems are exploitation by middlemen to do any profitable business, lack of financial support and government welfare measures on time, droughts, lack of alternative avenues of income etc. All these affect people in general, but women particular.

GRAMA has tied up with the following institutions:

1. SPJIMR, Mumbai, a premier Management Institute, for undertaking studies to improve the lives of rural and poor people, particularly women, as part of their Development of Corporate Citizenship (DOCC) program. The latest study and recommendation to establish a Production Hub in the project area is provided below. The report gives various possibilities/ products that women can be engaged in. 

https://drive.google.com/file/... 

2. Christ University, Bangalore for Community interaction and analysis of ground reality.

https://docs.google.com/file/d...

Soon GRAMA will work with SPJIMR and Christ University to develop an appropriate mobile-based app to address the issue of providing tech-based solutions.

3. GRAMA has been working with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) since 2002. It promotes sustainable and equitable agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology and institutional development for securing prosperity. GRAMA was awarded/ recognised as the BEST SOCIAL IMPACT NGO. GRAMA has recently concluded the implementation of its Climate Change Adaptation project supported by KFW, Germany. Earlier, it implemented Watershed and Sustainable Development Project.

4. NABARD Financial Services (NABFINS) is a sister concern of NABARD. GRAMA is one of its major partners in their Microfinance Program. The total disbursement up to March 2019 was Rs 56.50 crores, total repayment Rs 34 crores and outstanding amount Rs 22.50 crores.

Proposed Business models 

• a) To engage trained rural women to tailor ready made garments, in the comfort of their homes, to initially cater to the local market and gradually to expand to other markets, including export markets under the GRAMA Brand name. 

• b) In advanced stage procure agri produce from farmers right from their fields and get the value addition done by  women groups and market goods under the GRAMA Brand name."   

Operational Overview                                                                           

1) GRAMA will procure and provide raw materials (fabric as per design and cut) as per specifications. The ready garments will be packaged and marketed under the brand name of GRAMA.

 2) Once the GRAMA brand is established, SHG members will be given training in food processing, preparing standardised rural artisan products and handicrafts. These products too will be marketed under the brand name of GRAMA.

3) Considering the distress faced by farmers, GRAMA will purchase the produce directly from them. Women folk will process them in villages. After suitable packaging, the value added products will be marketed under the brand name of GRAMA. This initiative will be a big relief to the distressed farmers.

4) Women will be encouraged to grow organic produce, using organic manure, organic pesticides and quality seeds that will be made available to them. GRAMA will purchase the agri produce at a predetermined remunerative price and market it. 

GRAMA will be a social enterprise with commitment to provide employment to a large number (about 10000) of women members of SHG’s, including those who are covered under Micro-finance Program, by creating a Production Hub in the project area and mitigate the woes of farmers (FARMERS OK HERE??) along with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), NABARD Financial Services (NABFINS) and NGO’s working for s similar cause. 

GRAMA is a not-for-profit NGO but still requires funds to meet its objectives and goals. In terms of investment, GRAMA has the necessary infrastructure (two Training Centres with board and lodge for 100 trainees) (100 TRAINEES EACH? PLEASE SPECIFY) to start the business activity. It has highly qualified people at the Management Level besides 15 experienced staff and about 65 field level workers who perform based on incentives.       

The proposal is to make the project self sustaining from the second year itself; the requirement or working capital, capital investment and staff salary will be for the First year only.

The Funding requirements of GRAMA  are provided in the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spread... 

Rural women are under subjugation due to patriarchal social system. They are confined to doing household work or toiling as labourers in agricultural fields, with either no or discriminatory wages compared to men.

To begin with, women will start earning money by producing readymade goods under the proposed project. This will add to their family income, which would primarily improve family health as they can spend money on providing nutritious food to family members and particularly to children. Not just this, they will be placed on a higher pedestal by the family after being recognised as an earning member. This will herald the dawn of addressing other gender discriminatory issues as the women gain confidence. Being part of people’s institutions like SHG’s and JLG’s facilitated by GRAMA, a sense of solidarity would develop among women.

GRAMA is basically a non-profit. It has realised the necessity of putting in place a sustainable business model to perpetually support and promote the cause of economic independence of women and kick start achieving the long-term objective of women empowerment. So far, GRAMA has done its best; the results have been excellent in terms of women’s articulation capabilities, participation in local self government activities etc.

However, a more sustained and focused effort is required to make a lasting impact as the pathetic situation of women today has a history of thousands of years of subjugation under the aegis of patriarchal-system of society. 

Commanding respect within the family and in the community, improving the health of the family, promoting children’s education, leveraging the newly earned status and sense of solidarity gained by being part of people's institutions promoted by GRAMA, helps  to be assertive in demanding the rights. 

GRAMA has already signed an MOU with CDV Global, a UK-based organisation, to support GRAMA in market research and brand building.

It needs support to identify and get advantage of appropriate technology. It does not have any preference; any organisation that is willing to partner is welcome. Also, it immediately requires funds towards recurring expenditure and working capital for the first year of project. Subsequently, the project will run on its own.

Upgrading the skills of women and their being productive is more relevant today than ever before in light of the onslaught of corona virus. It has caused a major economic disruption, leading to loss of jobs. Migrants, particularly women and children, are the worst hit.

This project not only will provide gainful employment to women, but would also create  the necessary environment, human resources and infrastructure to train women in new skills – something that is urgently needed.

Here, the principal aim is to help rural women collectively create wealth in a big way. The modern industry may achieve this easily as it is mechanised and equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies. However, it will not provide employment to many. This is where GRAMA, with a large constituency, can step in and make a profound impact with a different business model – enable a large number of rural women to become productive. 

It is not known how social security nets will help, as the providers will be under stress. Supporting the traditionally underserved with access to capital, market networks, and in-demand skills is essential in the present situation. In this scenario, GRAMA and GM can be partners to serve humanity in a positive way.