Name: Achiben Dalaji Manek

Village : Bamroli
Block: Santalpur
District : Patan

Achiben is a widow living in Bamoli village in Santalpur Block which is also a resource poor and drought prone area. The literacy rate is low and migration out of the village is very common.

In addition to being a widow, Achiben is also physically disabled, and mobility is difficult. She relied upon casual labour for income; however, the work was irregular. She joined as a member of SEWA and subsequently joined a SHG.

She undertook training in profitability, costing and self-sustainability. Based on the knowledge she gained from theses programs, she took out a loan and decided to open a small grocery shop. Using the profit that she was making from her shop, she decided to diversify her business and obtain an STD facilities existed in her village. Achiben was illiterate so she underwent on site training in order to read the numbers and how to dial.

While she was gaining profit from both her shop and STD business, she decided once again to expand and decided to purchase a fridge in order to sell locally manufactured cool drinks.

She participated in many training sessions including capacity building, kadam (advanced) disaster preparedness, savings, ICT and computer training. “During the training of costing and pricing, the trainer gave an example of the cost of a ballpoint pen. We learned how to calculate the price of the pen based on the purchase price and sales price and the overhead costs. I was able to use this example and relate it to my shop business”. She also learned how to maintain and write accounts and felt satisfied to teach those skills to others around her. With the skills she had developed, she contributed substantially to the spearhead team. She noticed that this involvement impacted her status in the community whereas before she was perceived poorly and not included in auspicious gathering, and now she is getting recognized and her status is changing. Now she’s short listed by the Manager’s School resource person as a trainer of giving the training to other districts and she’s the resource person for sustainability training. After this, big changes began to happen. She was able to conduct and facilitate meetings. She traveled to New Delhi to attend a meeting with the Prime Minister of India.