1000 women to be provided training on financial literacy and access to financial services in Sikander, Gurgaon and Kapasehra, Delhi in Phase I
IndiaCSR News Network
GURGAON: Cargill stands tall for women empowerment and believes that the progress of a woman symbolizes a progressive nation. Inspired by this philosophy, today, Cargill kick started a project titled- ’Societymaker’ in Sikanderpur, Gurgaon.
The project was inaugurated by the Honorable Deputy Commissioner & Municipal Commissioner of Gurgaon, T L Satya Prakash, IAS, in presence of Cargill India’s Chairman Siraj Chaudhry, Ayan Dutta, Head, Trade and Structured Finance & Treasury, Cargill India and a gathering of over 75 beneficiaries and Cargill employees.
Cargill’s intervention ’Societymaker’, intends to transform a ‘Homemaker’ into women micro-entrepreneurs. There are around 200,000 women in Gurgaon, most of whom are migrants from the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and from disadvantaged backgrounds. The project aims to skill these women to become micro-entrepreneurs by training them in product making and basic business skills. Some of the potential products that have been identified based on consulting with experts are – soft toys, jute bags, mobile covers, handmade paper products, table mats and festival-related products.
The women will be organised in small collectives and provided with the seed capital to set up their ventures. Apprentices will also be supported to establish market linkages to sell their products. Project Societymaker’s total project cost for the first year is estimated at Rs 20 lakhs and more than 500 women will be provided with training on financial literacy and access to financial services in phase I.
In his key note address, the Honorable Chief Guest Deputy Commissioner & Municipal Commissioner, T L Satya Prakash said, “We are pleased to welcome Cargill in the development and growth of Women in Gurgaon. I am confident that this innovative women centric project ‘Societymaker’ in Sikanderpur will drive the progress of the area and will benefit the target community. This effort will help uplift the economic status of each household, and assist women in their quest of living their lives with pride, dignity and respect.”
“Financial independence along with better awareness and aptitude towards leading a healthy and progressive life would capacitate a woman to play a more meaningful role in development of her family and society at large. Therefore, she is being referred as “Societymaker”. Said Prerit Rana, CEO of Agrasar. The NGO focuses on the upliftment of the urban underprivileged through skilling, education and gender equality. Agrasar will be the key execution partner for the project Societymaker .
In addition, Cargill also announced the launch of an additional project ‘Samriddhi’ to empower the women from disadvantaged and poor households towards better quality of life for their families and themselves.
In line with Cargill India’s core principle and mission-moving forward by giving back, Cargill’s Samriddhi project in partnership with United Way of Delhi National Capital Region aims to tutor around 500 women of Kapasehra on financial inclusion training program to perk up their financial literacy skills and provide opportunity to start one’s own venture to improve family’s income. The training outcome will be in terms of attitudinal change, awareness about the financial services and developing personal financial management skills and operational knowledge to avail financial services. Project Samriddhi’s total budget is Rs 20 Lakhs.
Commenting upon Cargill Women empowerment initiatives, Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India said, “We are committed to the communities we operate in and work towards the development of the society as a whole. We firmly believe empowering women is an important element which signifies development Projects like Society maker and Samriddhi that will provide women with access to a customized training program that internalizes their learning needs and also tries to address their socio economic challenges. We are positive, programs like these will go a long way in enabling women’s participation in the workforce.”
Cargill provides food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services to the world. Together with farmers, customers, governments and communities, we help people thrive by applying our insights and 150 years of experience. We have 149,000 employees in 70 countries who are committed to feeding the world in a responsible way, reducing environmental impact and improving the communities where we live and work.
In India, Cargill’s operations started in 1987. It has businesses in refined oils, food ingredients, grain and oilseeds, cotton, animal feed and trade structured finance. Cargill Foods India, markets leading consumer brands of edible oils such as Nature Fresh, Gemini, Sweekar, Leonardo Olive Oil, Rath and Sunflower. It also markets wheat flour under the Nature Fresh brand name. The Animal Nutrition business of Cargill provides animal feed and premix and nutrition for aqua, dairy and poultry. It markets animal feed and premix under the brands such as Provimi, Purina, Citura and Cargill. The Grains and Oilseed crush business originates grains & oilseeds at 240 storage locations. Cargill employs more than 2,000 employees working across various offices and plants and a network of warehouses and depots across India.
Agrasar is a non-profit organization working in the field of human capital development and social security of the disadvantaged communities in India. Agrasar seeks to promote sustainable socio-economic development of the marginalized communities by systematically helping them build capacities and realize their true potential. Established in Dec 2010, the organization is primarily working on three inter-related developmental themes: Education, Employability, and Entrepreneurship. In last five years, Agrasar has trained and placed more than 4000 youth and provided education to 200 children in Gurgaon.
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