Chingutai Jadhav, in her mid-40s, has taken it upon herself to raise the health and nutritional standards of women in her small village in the drought-prone Osmanabad district of Maharashtra.
She wants to counsel people and persuade them to build toilets at their homes for better hygiene.
But Jadhav is not alone in her endeavour. She is among 20 such women entrepreneurs, who are working at the grass-root level help in transforming the lives of others while overcoming their own personal problems.
These women - from Osmanabad, Solapur, Latur and Washim districts -- have been selected by Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), a Pune-based NGO, for the 'Unnati Fellowship Award'.
With the fellowship programme, started from this year, the NGO intends to support these women by providing them financial support for a year in the form of a monthly stipend.
Jadhav, who hails from Medsinga village in Osmanabad, says her husband left her soon after their marriage.
"While living with my parents and brother, I decided to move on in life, become self-reliant and also encourage other women to lead a meaningful life by becoming financially independent," she told PTI.
For this, she joined a self-help group and started earning enough to support herself.
Jadhav says the NGO provided her support, and now her goal is to help women with issues pertaining to health, nutrition and sanitation.
"I would like to counsel and persuade at least 200 families to build toilets in their homes. The health issues of women are close to my heart," she says.
Jadhav says women should go for regular health check-ups, including cancer screening.
Shilpa Vibhute, from Nanaj in Solapur district, wants to start a milk collection centre enlisting around 1,000 women.
"Using my experience while working with self-help groups and approaching banks for loans, I want to start a milk collection centre on a large-scale in and around our village with the help of 1,000 women. Through this venture, each woman can earn over Rs 12,000 per month," she claims.
Born into a poor family, Vibhute, who has studied till class 12, is currently running three successful enterprises, including a nursery which sells grape saplings to local farmers.
"My strength is the trust of over 500 women who form a network in the region," she says.
Archana Mane, from a small village called Ansurde in Osmanabad, says she has undergone training at the NGO in organic farming methods.
"Adopting this type of farming has helped me to change my life and also of other women in the village," she says.
Mane now wants to start a business cluster involving women and linking them to larger marketing chains in big cities to sell their produce.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog's founder and executive director Prema Gopalan says they are promoting a climate-resilient farming model for women.
"The model works by giving a small parcel of land, maybe one acre, to women for cultivation," she says.
The women are imparted training in climate-friendly farming practices, like diversification of crops, use of bio-fertilisers, and use of local seed varieties for organic produce, she says.
The main objective of the model, currently covering over 41,000 women farmers in about 500 villages, is to help the marginalised families attain food and income security, have sustainable development, proper health and nutrition, Gopalan says.
"SSP empowers women at the grass-root level to move into the mainstream," she says.
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