Equip Rural Indian Women to Build Livelihoods

Jagrutiben, a 33-year-old woman living in Dharshana, Gujarat, India, benefitted immensely from the Asani program. She is married with two children (girls) and is currently working as a distribution specialist in the program, earning Rs.2000 (approximately $30) per month. Prior to joining the program, her role was limited to a homemaker who couldn’t travel to the city for the job due to unavailability of transport facilities and familial responsibilities - taking care of her husband, in-laws and children.

Asani gave her a platform to learn new skills, grow professionally and become an earning member of her family. Her monthly family income is in the range of Rs.10,000-15,000 ($120-$130), which is on the higher end for a family living in rural India.

Today, Jagruti is an independent and confident woman who is performing two roles- financially supporting her family, and helping women and girls learn about the importance of menstrual hygiene and management. As a mother, she ensures that her daughters are aware of what is a period and have access to safe sanitary napkins, unlike her.

Asani has helped many like Jagruti to learn about menstrual hygiene and the health benefits of using safe sanitary napkins. It has cultivated dignity in them by making them financially independent. It has not only resulted in enhanced knowledge on MHM but has also provided livelihood opportunities to women who are restricted to their household chores due to traditional norms or scarce options. We have reached out to 3,000 women alone in Gujarat and are planning to scale the same model to other Indian states by end of 2019. 

We are excited to announce that with your help and support our Asani Sanitary Napkin program is doing great! It currently employs 11 women in the production unit who with their dedication and commitment have managed to produce 150,000 + sanitary napkins so far, out of which 20k sanitary napkins have been sold by our sales team of 20 will-powered women.

Apart from making a living for themselves, these women also contribute to the greater good of the society. They contributed 65k sanitary napkins in collaboration with Saral Designs to provide relief to the hundreds of women and girls affected by the Kerala floods.

Our Asani Sanitary Napkin Program has been successful in creating awareness and more women are keen on learning about the program. As part of our expansion plan we are creating awareness about the Sanitary Napkin Program and during one such awareness campaigns at the Gram Vikas Trust in Bharuch we were able to successfully enroll 2 women who travelled from different villages just to learn more about the program. They are now independent women who have been selling Asani sanitary napkins since the last 15 days.

We are gearing up to expand the Asani program to two more regions by the end of the year - expanding our impact by thousands.

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We're happy to share Zahida’s story with you. She is a 39 year old married woman and a mother of 4 children. She belongs to the Khergam village and is currently employed in the sales department.

She lost her father at a young age and had to give up her education due to financial issues. After her marriage, Zahida and her husband, who is a truck driver worked hard so that they could make ends meet.

Zahida did not want to compromise on her children’s education and wanted them to receive the education she never did and so she and her husband admitted their children, three girls and a boy in a good school. In 2017, Zahida and her husband faced a financial crisis when her husband left his job as a truck driver. It was then, that Zahida learnt about the vocational sewing program and the Sanitary Napkin Program. She enrolled herself in these programs and dedicated her time to learning.

With her commitment and hard work she is now independent and runs her own business from home by tailoring custom-made clothes. She is also part of the sales team where she sells Asani Sanitary Napkins.

She is happy and has a sense of pride in her achievements while being able to contribute her bit for this social cause. She is grateful that through the Asani Sanitary Napkin Program she is able to make extra income, provide better education for her children and dream beyond her circumstances.

Your support makes many such dreams come true.

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