Technical Support
Technical Support to Corporates : Forbes Marshall
DST provides technical assistance to Forbes Marshall Ltd., Pune to support their social initiatives through the Self Help Group – Federation model implemented at Bopkhel and Chakan.
An outreach of 100 SHGs in Bopkhel, along with the strengthening of the processes at the SHG and Federation level the focus is on building the Federation – Prerna Mahila Vikas Sangh as an umbrella organisation which would go Beyond providing MicroFinance services. Encouraging women to explore various livelihood options and providing opportunities to participate at events resulted in participation at the Yellow Ribbon Fair, Adivasi Crab Festival and International Festival of Spiritual India.
Women’s Socio-Economic Empowerment in local communities of Chakan is in the fourth year with an expansion to 25 SHGs in seven villages. This year the focus has been on mobilization of women through promotion of new SHGs and working on digital empowerment to help women monitor the banking transactions thereby saving time and resources. There has been an increased awareness amongst the communities on the benefits of SHGs with women availing loans not only for small consumption needs but now moving ahead in asset building.
For the second year the SHG members from Bopkhel had set up a stall at the Ishanya Foundation, Pre-Diwali Yellow Ribbon NGO Fair which is an annual event- a platform where the NGOs and the SHGs can showcase and sell products made as a part of their income generation activities and generate awareness about the work done by them.
The SHG women had set up a food stall and won the Best Stall Award!