Announcing the Finalists of CII Foundation’s Woman Exemplar Program, 2018

Announcing the Finalists of CII Foundation’s Woman Exemplar Program, 2018 Nancy has tackled severe backlash and threats for challenging caste and gender-based discrimination and organized 11,980 ultra-poor Dalit women and children into SHGs, domestic workers unions, and children’s collectives. Living with poverty, dealing with chronic mental illness and being lesbian led Srija to build a movement of barefoot community women mental health counselors in partnership with the government, directly impacting 4,000 persons with psychosocial disabilities and reaching 300,000 individuals through dialogues to break the stigma around mental illness. Forced into marriage at the age of 12, Munni is transforming the lives of 5,770 illiterate rural women through literacy and livelihood programs in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Nancy, Srija and Munni are among the 15 unstoppable women change agents who were announced as Finalists of CII Foundation’s Woman Exemplar Program, 2018 in the three categories of Education, Health and Micro Enterprise. ABOUT CII FOUNDATION’S WOMAN EXEMPLAR PROGRAM The CII Foundation’s Woman Exemplar Program recognizes exemplary women who are transforming grassroots India. Since its inception in 2005, the program has discovered, recognized and supported women from excluded communities who have, against all odds, excelled and contributed to the development process in India. The women who are selected to this initiative are called EXEMPLAR because they demonstrate vision, resilience and role model leadership. Winners of the CII Woman Exemplar Program, 2017 with dignitaries ABOUT THE 2018 WOMAN EXEMPLAR PROGRAM This year, the Woman Exemplar Program, 2018, received 227 nominations from across 23 states – the highest ever. After a rigorous five-step selection process, 15 Finalists were shortlisted, each of whom have emerged ground-up, from the most marginalized communities of India. They have overcome deep social and economic exclusion to transform their own lives and their communities. Working across nine states with different communities and sectors, these Finalists share a common vision of an inclusive India, where full citizenship is secured for all. In every way, these grassroots women change makers are ‘nation builders’, driving progress and change in the fields of education, health and micro enterprise. Three winners (one each from the categories of Education, Health and Micro Enterprise) will be selected by an illustrious jury and felicitated by business, government and civil society leaders at a CII exclusive session in April 2018. The winners will receive a cash award of INR 3 lakh and a trophy. All winners and Finalists will also be part of a year-long leadership training and mentoring program. Moni Kannaujia in her classroom of change MEET THE FINALISTS CATEGORY: EDUCATION A child wage laborer, Munni was forced into marriage at the age of 12. She withstood intense domestic violence and schooled herself, sometimes writing with coal on waste paper discarded by her neighbors. She is today a leading advocate for women’s literacy and education. This ‘Malala of Eastern UP’ has transformed the lives of 5,770 illiterate rural women through literacy and livelihood programs. She has also organized them into collectives to access government schemes and entitlements. Thrust into poverty after her father’s death, Nita found purpose in building a grassroots volunteer movement in the forested tribal belts of North Bengal. She has launched 4,500 youth and women change agents who have set up 61 self-sustaining volunteer groups in villages around remote and impoverished tea plantations. The change agents facilitate projects to address access to education, health, sanitation, trafficking, rights abuse and environmental resilience. These projects have impacted more than 8,500 individuals. A survivor of domestic violence and financial crisis, Arshi has launched a movement against early marriage and trafficking in deep, interior pockets of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Through life skills and vocational training, she is encouraging 5,000 vulnerable girls to stay in school, delay their marriage, and prepare for viable livelihoods. Arshi has also mobilized 13,000 SHG members as education advocates and trained 250 women to take up girls’ education leadership roles in the government. Daughter of a Dhobi, Moni funded her education by working as a domestic help. Channeling her passion for the camera, she now leads a unique technology-and-media education initiative, Digital Study Hall. Moni and her team have produced more than 2,000 videos of classroom sessions conducted by model teachers on joyful learning and gender empowerment. Uploaded on YouTube and distributed offline, these films have impacted 100,000 teachers and girls in government schools across Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Daughter of a sugarcane vendor, Nasreen has ignited a movement for education and empowerment among girls of the poorest Muslim, Dalit, Devdasi, and Maadiga communities of North Karnataka. She has organized 854 children and young women in civic action and advocacy groups, where they experience self-transformation and access scholarships, tuition, and counselling supports to pursue higher education. These groups now play a key advocacy role against Triple Talaq and other discriminatory religious practices. CATEGORY: HEALTH Living with poverty, dealing with chronic mental illness and being lesbian led Srija to find her life’s mission. She has shaped Janamanas, a community mental health program in deprived municipal wards and panchayats in West Bengal. Srija is building a movement of barefoot community women mental health counselors in partnership with the government. The counselors have directly impacted 4,000 persons with psychosocial disabilities and reached 300,000 individuals through dialogues on breaking the stigma around mental illness. Gowramma’s world crashed with the news that her husband was HIV positive. But she pivoted quickly to convert this adversity into an opportunity for entrepreneurship. Unable to afford the nutritional supplements that her husband required, Gowramma developed and produced an affordable alternative-Samruddhi, a FSSAI certified supplement. Distributed through NGOs, hospitals and clinics, Samruddhi has revived 5,500 individuals back to health. Gowramma has received investments from social enterprise funds and is poised for growth. Married at the age of 9, a daily wage laborer at the age of 11, and widowed by AIDS at the age of 15, Asha founded Saksham, the Ajmer chapter of the Positive Women’s Network. Working in Nasirabad, Rajasthan’s most high-prevalence HIV belt, Saksham has offered de-stigmatized counseling, free treatment, nutritional supplements and access to government health services for 6,011 women, children and men living with HIV. She has also trained and connected 50 women survivors of HIV to livelihood opportunities in difficult rural belts of Ajmer. Born into a family of iron smiths, Deepa won over poverty, abuse, early marriage, domestic violence and work place discrimination to emerge as a change agent. Her organization is launching transformative Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim youth leaders. They are mentored to mobilize local governments and communities on sexual health, gender rights, mental health, and wellness. Deepa’s work has directly impacted 15,800 youth leaders and their communities. More than four groups have evolved into formal organizations, in turn impacting 15,000 individuals. Growing up with abuse, violence and poverty, Hajera is working to end domestic violence and child sex abuse in the poorest pockets of Hyderabad, dominated by religious conservatism. Hajera and her team of ‘peacemakers’ are opening up safe spaces in bastis for women and children to access psychological and legal relief. Awareness sessions, counseling and legal redressal have given courage to 1,382 women and 4,593 children to break their silence around abuse and take urgent action. CATEGORY: MICRO ENTERPRISE Financial independence from a micro enterprise enabled Eliza to overcome domestic violence. With this conviction, she grew from being a SHG member to pioneering the SHG movement in Assam. Under her leadership, MASK has impacted 2,550 women and their families through SHGs, micro entrepreneurship, animal husbandry and other allied activities, ending indebtedness and stemming forced migration. By engaging women from all ethnic and linguistic groups in livelihood generation, MASK has strengthened unity between once-conflicted tribes. Vechulou grew up in an isolated village on the Indo-Burmese border, managing farm work and domestic chores. Her capacity for back-breaking work enabled Vechulou to transform her community by introducing modern agriculture and animal husbandry to 10,586 women, farmers and youth, seeding thousands of small entrepreneurs in the deep rural interior pockets of Nagaland. The only woman to be invited to traditional Naga tribal council meetings, Vechulou represents the voice of Naga women in the state. Daughter of a Dalit school headmaster, Nancy has tackled severe backlash and threats for challenging caste and gender-based discrimination. Vizhuthukal Trust (VT) has organized 11,980 ultra-poor Dalit women and children into SHGs, domestic workers unions and children’s collectives. It has incubated more than 450 Dalit women entrepreneurs, providing credit linkages of up to 3 crores. VT has also provided supports to elderly Dalit domestic helps who are abandoned and too emaciated to fend for themselves. At 15, Sumitra was abandoned and left penniless by her husband. Today she is a master at seeding and strengthening grassroots business ventures.Working in the drought-affected areas of Osmanabad, Sumitra has organized 3,000 women into SHGs with an asset pool of Rs. 5.3 crores. Owner of two businesses and a producer company, she has also mentored 2,000 women entrepreneurs, of which 700 are running successful businesses with annual income increases of more than 40 percent. Sangita fought against the stigma of Leukoderma by establishing a livelihoods ecosystem for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). Working in 132 villages, she organized 954 PwDs in Peer Support Groups and SHGs and encouraged savings, access to social security and small business ownership among them. Through entrepreneurship trainings and market linkages, 50 PwDs have launched ventures. They bring home annual incomes of Rs. 60,000, disrupting the conventional understanding of ‘ability’ in this backward region. ABOUT THE SPONSORS Health Category Sponsor: J K Tyres Micro Enterprise Category Sponsor: JCB NOTE TO THE EDITORS The CII Foundation was set up by CII to provide a meaningful bridge between marginalized communities and donors, especially corporates, and to develop and manage high-impact programs through strategic guidance on CSR. Over the last few years, CII Foundation has undertaken various projects with corporate sector support in the areas of skill development, child development and maternal health, water conservation, disaster relief and rehabilitation etc. Start Up! – an incubator, impact accelerator and leadership springboard to social entrepreneurs- manages the due diligence, leadership trainings and mentoring for the Woman Exemplar Program, on behalf of the CII Foundation.