Kishori Express
The central vision of the Kishori Express is the health improvement of adolescent girls (would-be
mothers) through regular medical check-up, hemoglobin check-up, awareness creation and nutrition
supplementation. It attempts to enhance female adolescent health by targeting anaemia-control through
timely detection and rectification. This programme has been implemented to meet MDG – 3, 4 and 5
which aims to reduce maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR) and the occurrence
of anaemia among adolescent girls. The stakeholders of the programme are National Rural Health
Mission, Integrated Child Development Programme and Zilla Swasthya Samiti.
Aparajita
Aparajita, a mason training programme, is transforming rural India through village-based masonry
training for vulnerable women. It is entailing holistic development in technical and life skills,
resulting in the formation of a women’s cooperative poised to take on masonry contracts needed
to improve the quality of life of rural communities. The project aims to empower women and change
mindsets about women being skilled masons for social and economic change.
Swawlamban
The aim of the Swawlamban project is to improve the livelihood of rural women by proper utilisation
of available resources, up-gradation of existing skills and marketing support to sell the products.
The objective is to identify, motivate, plan and implement income generation activities to ensure
sustainable livelihood opportunity of the members involved in income generation activities. Activities
such as livestock rearing, rural art and craft, food processing, candle making, bread factory, vermi
composting, soft toys manufacture, paper plate making etc. are supported. Marketing linkage is also
facilitated.
Vatsalaya
Vatsalaya is a unique project which aims to create awareness on health related issues among the
community women to ensure safe motherhood through strengthening of the existing health services. The
programme covers holistic health and sanitation issues and simultaneously mobilises community on their
rights. It aims to reduce MMR and IMR including malnutrition through different ANC, PNC related
awareness and services. Population stabilisation is also in its agenda. As a result, institutional
delivery have significantly increased in the areas of the Comapny's operation, acceptance of
contraceptive use has also increased. To ensure first-aid services in villages ‘Vatsalaya
Kendra’ have been established, which are working as health resource centre for the village.
Odifab
Odifab is a platform that showcases the diversified jute products manufactured by the rural women of
the villages. The initiative is a way of pursuing profit alongside a social goal. Jute is a natural
fibre- the golden fibre that is 100 % bio-degradable and abundantly available. It is also one of the
cheapest and the strongest of all natural fibres. Apart from being a major textile element, it has
also come to be the basic raw material for several non-traditional and value added products. Set-up
almost two years ago, Odifab is now already a registered trademark and is undoubtedly one of the most
sought-after livelihood options amongst young women residing in the nearby villages. A 10-member
self-help group is engaged in the manufacture of various kinds of jute accessories. This initiative is
also a part of the company's zero-polythene drive targeted at generating environmental consciousness
amongst the community within as well as outside. The self-help group has been receiving a steady flow
of orders for office and home accessories.
Sugandhi
Agarbatti rolling activity in the rural areas has proved to be a micro-enterprise and a household
activity. The rolling of agarbatti is done either manually, i.e. hand rolling or through pedal
operated rolling machines. Further, the trade tie-up between ORMAS and ITC for organised marketing of
Agarbatti since 2009 has strengthened this initiative. This project was launched under PPP mode with
the support infrastructure support from JSPL, capacity building support from ORMAS and marketing
support from ITC. Through this initiative, the employment opportunity for unskilled and semi-skilled
rural women has increased and it has created a comfortable working condition which further enhanced
their productivity.
Eco-Spa
Eco-Spa is an innovative initiative in the direction of sustainable livelihood and micro-enterprise
promotion where women from local villages bring together locally grown fruits, vegetables and herbs to
produce high-quality herbal body care products for the urban and affluent market. The Eco-Spa rural
women SHG initiative promotes wide spread socio-economic development, takes care of environment,
emphasises responsible consumption, nurtures nature, promotes organic agriculture thus strengthening
the traditional knowledge systems. Backyard herbal gardens are developed where women grow the
aloe-vera, hibiscus, rose and basil to supply the raw materials. The group has a functional bank
account in their name. The company provides market linkages with the urban market such as high-end
designer stores, boutique hotels and brands dealing with organic products. All products at Eco-Spa are
hand-crafted and involve minimal use of machines.
Sshodashi
The need for low-cost good quality hygienic napkins propelled the setting up of Sshodashi, the
sanitary napkin manufacture-cum-training unit. With technical inputs from the inventor and
patent-owner who was awarded the National Award, this low cost sanitary napkins training cum
production center was launched. The low cost sanitary napkin manufactured under the name of
‘Sshodashi’ brings in a sea-change in a young girls’ life and carries a long-lasting
impact. The access to better menstrual hygiene brings along a sense of independence and convenience
that has a direct correlation with young girls being able to complete school education and move on to
colleges for higher studies. As a cascading effect, women attain motherhood at an age that is
medically safe and healthy for her and the child to be born.
Chaiti
Though the peripheral villages have good vegetable growers, the possibilities of exploring food
processing through the manufacture of pickles hadn’t taken a cogent form. The company noticed
that several women self-help groups were keen on taking up food processing as an alternative means of
livelihood and this gave birth to Chaiti. This food preservation unit has been functional over a year
now. The fruits and vegetables used as ingredients in pickles, sauces, squashes and other canned
products are grown by the village folk in their backyards and freshly picked before being processed.
The women self-help groups engaged at Chaiti have received positive response while displaying and
marketing their products at the state and district level exhibitions, haat and fairs. Chaiti is now a
registered brand.
Srujan
Based on the interest of villagers, the company decided to go for stitching-as one of the component
for livelihood. This gave rise to setting up of Srujan- stitching & tailoring unit. The objective
of this centre is to bring in positive outlook and promote income generation among the rural women of
peripheral villages so that they can lead economically and socially productive life. The company
identified the potential self-help groups and provided 6 months training to the participants. The
initial financial assistance and hand-holding support was provided by JSPL in collaboration with Jan
Shikshan Sansthan.
Akriti
Akriti is a centre to produce hand made products by the women of adopted villages. The centre is
established to involve multi-skilled women in meaningful activity from where a range of products could
be produced and marketed. The centre also acts as a handmade products experimentation unit where with
the technical support from the consultants, new products would be designed, manufactured and sold.
