SEWA’s founder Ela Bhatt always said “Technology per se is not bad. In fact, when given in the hands of the poor, technology can help in strengthening their lives and livelihoods and play an active role in building an Economy of Nurturance”.
On these lines, SEWA’s members have been using technology for over 4 decades as an enabler, building their collective strength and bargaining power. From using video as a tool for building self-confidence, capacity and policy advocacy for informal sector women workers in early 80s, to designing our own customised apps for membership management, savings and credit group management, strengthening the livelihoods of our smallholder farmers, recording the health data of our members or generating new forms of livelihoods, SEWA’s members have been using technology as a tool for strengthening their lives and livelihoods.
However, countries of Global South are seeing a shift in demographics. Even at SEWA over 35% of our members are young in the age group of 18 – 30. These young workers have a natural affinity to modern smart tech-savvy employment opportunities. Therefore, we need to think how can we generate new livelihood opportunities using new technology? How do we tactfully employ technology for strengthening the existing livelihoods of informal workers, reducing drudgery and thus converting mundane tasks into smart employment opportunities, while preserving our values and principles as well as the benefit of all workers and above all generating newer forms of employment?
SEWA has tried to harness the power of digital technology to address these questions, to create reduce drudgery from the existing livelihoods, convert / generate decent and smart livelihood opportunities and increase / broaden members’ access to market.
Understanding the important role decentralized digital technology can play in strengthening livelihoods of the poor, scaling up their tiny and micro enterprises and in building an economy of nurturance, SEWA launched a large-scale drive for its members – training over 100,000 members across Gujarat in digital and financial literacy in 2022.
Rinkuben, SEWA’s grassroots sister from Anand says.. “During the pandemic, we couldn’t go and meet our members. The only way I could continue my work, my children’s education and keep in touch with our members was through digital technology. Therefore, I took our a loan from SEWA and bought my first smart phone. I was really scared to use it. What if I broke it? I barely used it for making phone calls.
But after undergoing the trainings on Digital and Financial literacy from SEWA, I now use it for online meetings using zoom and Google Meet, conduct online financial transactions for myself, my family and also our members. I have now even become a master trainer and have trained over 1000 women in my community in digital and financial literacy”
With majority of the households now having access to smart phone, SEWA saw it as an opportunity to enable its members – the rural microentrepreneurs to use smart phone as a tool for strengthening their livelihoods – accessing knowledge, reaching out to more customers and conducing financial and business transactions.
Therefore, SEWA’s skilling on digital and financial literacy starts with acclimatizing members to various basic features and functionalities of a Smart phone. Adopting a need-based and demand driven approach, SEWA through its managerial and entrepreneurial training arm – “SEWA Manager ni School”, organizes different types of digital training that included basics of mobile phones, basics of digital literacy, basics of financial literacy, making online payments, enrolling and availing government schemes, registration and use of common applications, etc.
Meenaben Khokhar, SEWA’s executive committee member from Kutch says “After undergoing the training, I have helped over 5000 members in our district open new bank accounts, use ATM banking and get direct digital payments for their embroidery and animal husbandry work in their own account.
During the trainings, I realized that several of our members do not have smart phone. Therefore, we incorporated topics like accessing online banking services like balance checking using simple feature phone in our training modules. I have been teaching this to our members, helping them avoid trips to bank just for balance enquiry.”
Majority of SEWA’s members work as self-employed / entrepreneurs in their own individual capacities. Lack of proper bookkeeping and accounting records and clear financial documentation makes it difficult to track income, expenses, and profits. Without such records, women face challenges in accessing loans, expanding their businesses, or even understanding the financial health of their ventures.
Therefore, with the objective of strengthening the micro-enterprises of women through strengthening their financial database, cash flow and expense management and enabling them to conduct evidence-based growth planning for their micro-enterprises, SEWA also included a training on “Business Enterprise Training Initiative (BETI) as a part of its Digital and Financial literacy training.
Yoginaben Tarbada, SEWA’s grassroots leader from Chota Udepur district says… “We live in remote interior villages. To pay utilities bills, we have to travel several kilometers to the nearest big town. But after SEWA’s training, I started paying my utilities bill online and also help my community members to do so.
I also learnt using the “BETI” app for keeping records of our micro-enterprises and taught members in my community pursuing their micro-enterprises like smallholder farming, garmenting, running small cutlery shop or grocery shop, to maintain records of their enterprise’s financial transactions. Because of this, now women are able to clearly calculate profit / expenses in their business and make informed decision.”
Success of SEWA’s Digital and Financial Literacy initiative has shown that access to digital and financial literacy is not just about technology, but has become the key to building women’s self-confidence, self-reliance, agency and a better life. Access to knowledge and awareness along with enabling environment can enable poor informal sector women workers to strengthen and scale up their existing lives and livelihoods and enter the mainstream economy.
To enable its members across other states of the country, SEWA is planning to scale up this initiative and take the trainings on digital and financial literacy to more members across the states of UP and Maharashtra.
On launch of this initiative, La’Kerri Jackson, Global Director of Social Impact at UPS Foundation said “The confidence with which SEWA’s sisters are sharing their stories of success itself is a testimony to the impact of training on Digital and Financial literacy. I also work with a group of poor informal sector women workers in Uganda and have seen similar impact of such trainings on their lives and livelihoods too. Therefore, we are very happy that SEWA would be taking these trainings further to more poor informal sector women workers across the country.”
Digital and Financial literacy training has brought real change in the lives of poor rural women workers. It’s not just about learning to use a phone or an app but has enabled our members in strengthening their micro-enterprises, strengthening their agency through evidence based decisions making, availing government schemes and subsidies, accessing new and dignified forms of livelihoods and preparing a bright future for their children – it has led to enabling women’s economic empowerment, increased self-respect and self-confidence and dignity in the society.
