Mobile Connection to Promote Women’s Economic Development (MPowered)” by Trickle Up India Foundation brought opportunity for 32 rural women in Muribahal block of Balangir district in the year 2020 

It is daily chores of women from dawn to late night to serve all the family members including both elders and youngers. But hardly their labour is recognized in our society. Instead, the women are exploited and harassed by their in-laws. No one counted the countless work of women. It is totally different in case of rural women compared to their urban counterpart. In rural areas the women toiled very hard from family to farm to feed two squares of meal to their family members. Neither they got opportunity for education nor time to explore themselves in digital world. Their life ended in the surrounding of kitchen house.

The project to empower the women member of the ultra poor family titled “Mobile Connection to Promote Women’s Economic Development (MPowered)” by Trickle Up India Foundation brought opportunity for 32 rural women in Muribahal block of Balangir district in the year 2020. The project aimed to enhance the skill and income of women members of 650 ultra poor household through use of mobile technology. Initially it was a great challenge to teach illiterate and functional literate rural women, recalls Mr. Prasant Muduli, the Secretary of NYDHEE (Network for Youth Development and Healthy Environment). When we started implementation of MPowered project in 40 villages of 7 gram panchayats under Muribahal Block, it was an owners task to select 32 Smart Sakhi who can teach and coach to the women of vulnerable households. The idea was good to teach the community by the community people. But who can bell the cat, was a billion dollar question. When we organized the meeting at village level to select Smart Sakhi, initially no one was agreed to be a Smart Sakhi. The criteria for selection of Smart Sakhi were too difficult in the context of Balangir district. By the way we selected 32 women members who had met the following criteria.

1. Willing to work as Smart Sakhi
2. Should be female aged between 18 and 30
3. Should passed minimum 10th examination or above
4. Self confidence
5. Good communication skill
6. Good knowledge of local language, local area and local people
7. First learner to convey the message in the community
8. No migration in last one year
9. Support from family to travel frequently in the community
10. Belong to the Scheduled Tribe and Schedule Caste
11. Knowledge of various government schemes and entitlements
12. Knowledge of basic smart phone use
13. Knowledge of internet use in smart phone

The selected community members for Smart Sakhi gone several training, exposure and capacity building programme on community mobilization, organize meeting, mobile technology, digital literacy, government programme and schemes, data collection, documentation and reporting, agriculture package of practices, livelihood planning on livestock, agriculture, NTFP and micro enterprise, SHG management, Covid Awareness, WaSH and Nutrition etc.

At present, 32 Smart Sakhis are supporting 650 ultra poor women members in 40 villages through mobile technology. They are imparting training and coaching to project participants on various livelihoods activities. They are supporting to access various government schemes and entitlements, organizing village meeting, supporting Community Resource Persons of Mission Shakti Department for management of SHG and credit linkage. They are also providing handholding support for organizing digital practice day, interface meeting and nutrition festival at gram panchayat level.

Ms. Rukmani Putel, 29 years old, a Smart Sakhi of Pitapara village shared the success of MPowered project before a conclave of Tata group of companies at Mumbai in the year 2022 as Mpowered project selected as a model project in CSR category. She shared that how she skilled herself as well as her community to achieve the objectives of the Mpowered project. Her education and backwardness of the region could not stop her in four walls of house.

Like Ms. Rukmani Putel, Ms. Bobby Tandi was one of our Smart Sakhi from 2020 to 2022. With her zeal to learn and develop skill, Ms. Bobby promoted as Cluster Coordinator of the project. According to Ms. Bobby, every person has some eternal quality and skill irrespective of gender, caste and region which need to be groomed. She aimed to be in a synchronized higher position by developing her knowledge and skill.