In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, we completed the distribution of saris in annual meetings to support members of our Amrita SREE Self-help Groups for women. Most of them are from isolated and rural areas. They will also receive financial support through direct deposits to their bank accounts.
Around 200,000 sets were given across various locations, including Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Thrissur, Kodungallur, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.
Today, Amrita SREE has around 15,000 SHGs with a count of 250,000 members in locations across India. The women are trained to earn a living for their families via professions not reliant upon weather, especially fishing and farming. This also uplifts them by instilling independence and self-confidence through collective support for each other.
The largest number of SHGs is in Kerala where the initiative started in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. It is also actively expanding its reach in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
We are working to equip women who are unemployed and economically vulnerable with the skills and means to set up small scale, cottage-industry businesses. While the SHGs operate autonomously, we nurture them by providing vocational education, start-up capital, marketing assistance, and access to micro-credit loans and micro-savings accounts from government-regulated banks.
Some of the fields include tailoring, handicrafts, electronic repair, account systems, beauty parlour management, feminine hygiene products, paper products, readymade garments, leather products, bakery items, weaving on handlooms, garment making, communal farming, food processing, rice-flour production, banana culture, and coir making.
