PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The vision on Udyogini is to fully equip poor rural women with the skills and knowledge to increase and sustain their earning power. Udyogini aspires to become a nationally and internationally recognized agency specializing in business development services for NGOs and poor women.

In rural India women provide for their families’ basic needs by contributing to farm labor and by subsistence level income generation. These income generating activities are as varied as running a rice dehusking unit, operating an oil press, collecting, selling, and processing minor forest produce, embroidering on textiles and leather, and making baskets from local varieties of grass. Udyogini is involved in facilitating the learning of basic management skills that are required for running microenterprises — skills needed not only to manage their production but also to market their products and ensure better financial returns.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT UDYOGINI

Business/Women:

• Analyze and assist with business planning and strategies
• Assist with design of the supply chain and identify efficiency interventions
• Guide the businesses in financial analysis and sustainability
• Help to identify ways to use technology to increase efficiencies and human resource capacities
• Refine microenterprise training materials and methodologies
• Analyze the market with local entrepreneurs to establish suitable product mix to offer in the chain and marketing strategies
• Support capacity building and microenterprise through a tax deductible donation; identifying donors, writing proposals and following up with them, and assisting with other fundraising projects.

ACCOMMODATIONS AT UDYOGINI

 There are many different options for volunteers since the region covered is vast. Please inquire if you are interested. Most housing styles can be accommodated for with the possible addition of fees to cover costs.

MEET UDYOGINI PROGRAM DIRECTOR: VANITA VISWANATH

Reflections on childhood and family

I had a happy childhood with a very loving family. My mother was a homemaker so she looked after my every need and sacrificed a lot of her own needs to enable a good family for her two children. I went to an English-medium school run by missionaries so got a very good grounding at school level. So it helped me a lot later in life.

The challenges Vanita faced getting an education

I did not face any challenges because it was a priority with my parents that they should educate me. My mother particularly believed that I should be financially independent if I want to be respected by others.

What inspired Vanita to do the work and how he got started?

My doctoral dissertation on women’s microenterprises was my first exposure to the work of NGOs and my interest in wanting to know more about civil society and their work with women began from there. Later, when I worked at the World Bank in Washington, I got an opportunity to conceptualize and lead an initiative for microenterprise management training for poor women in three Asian countries, including India. This project brought Udyogini, the NGO that I now lead, into existence.

 What obstacles did Vanita face?

Getting donors interested in funding women’s businesses and their capacity to grow was a challenge then and continues to remain a challenge as poor women face a lot of social, economic and educational constraints that will get alleviated only slowly. With the market that moves so rapidly, the patience to see women through to the next level is limited among donors and policy makers and everyone is looking for quick fix innovations.

What are the hopes for the future of Udyogini’s program?

We are committed to finding these innovations that will help poor women to compete in the market and be recognized for their contributions. We are creating entrepreneurs who we believe will take the initiatives forward.

How has your partnership with Village Volunteers affected Udyogini’s work?

We have had one volunteer so far and he has been instrumental in helping one of our staff to understand complex business propositions that were needed for us to assess the viability of one of our projects.

 How does your community benefit from having volunteers

They bring in much needed skills that we could not otherwise have been able to afford.  We just wish they could spend a longer time with us than they are actually able to do!