THE NEED
United Way Mumbai’s Saksham programme strengthens women’s economic empowerment and financial independence by supporting women from low-income communities to access skills, financial knowledge and livelihood opportunities.
Despite progress, gender disparities in India continue to limit women’s participation in education, employment and entrepreneurship. Saksham works to bridge this gap by equipping women with the tools, confidence and opportunities needed to participate meaningfully in the workforce and build sustainable incomes.
In India, systemic gender disparities — including lack of schooling, gender-based violence, early marriages, forced drop-outs and restricted mobility — continue to affect women’s economic participation.
The Female Workforce Participation Rate (WPR) in India stands at 31.8%, nearly half of the male WPR at 73.2%. According to a McKinsey Global Institute study, India could boost its GDP by $2.9 trillion if female workforce participation improves by 10 percentage points.
Limited financial literacy, lack of employable skills and restricted access to capital prevent many women from achieving economic independence. Strengthening women’s employability and entrepreneurship is therefore both a social and economic imperative.
SOLUTION
Saksham adopts a structured approach to women’s livelihood development and economic empowerment, combining financial literacy, vocational skill development and entrepreneurship support.
Corporates and individual donors can play a critical role in advancing financial independence for women from low-income communities.
To support women’s economic development, you can:
- Enable financial literacy training for women
- Support vocational skills development and job readiness
- Fund entrepreneurship toolkits and start-up support
- Strengthen access to market linkages and income opportunities
Awareness sessions are conducted on basics of financial literacy including banking, budgeting, savings and short and long term investments. The women are also introduced to various government schemes that are available for them.
The women are helped enroll in vocational skills training courses based on their aptitude and interest. They are also provided soft skills training to improve job readiness. This includes resume writing, interview skills, telephone etiquette, English communication and others.
Women who have the potential to be entrepreneurs are supported through tool kits and financial support to kickstart and grow their ventures. This may include raw material, infrastructure, start up funds, market linkages and other support.
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Project Saksham was launched on 2nd May 2019 at the Bloomberg office with an orientation and introduction by the UWM team. At the launch, a session on ‘Public Speaking and Self-Confidence’ was organized by Bloomberg, followed by a discussion on challenges such as fear, lack of self-confidence and the flow and duration of speeches.
