SEWA Bharat is the all-India Federation of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). SEWA is a trade union of low-income female workers in the informal economy founded by Ela Bhatt in 1972 in Gujarat. Since then SEWA has pioneered the women’s empowerment movement in India. Based on the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, SEWA’s goal is to achieve full employment and self-reliance for all its members. SEWA organizes its membership base of 1.9 million women workers to achieve self-reliance.
SEWA Bharat extends support to a large number of women informal workers across India. Currently, SEWA's membership exceeds 1.4 million women workers, representing 13 states of India. Based in Delhi, SEWA Bharat directly supports member institutions and projects in 8 states of India. SEWA Bharat also connects members with SEWA institutions in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Kerala for knowledge exchange, skill building and resource sharing.
SEWA provides a number of life-cycle programming opportunities to its members including the following: organising, capacity development and voice; livelihood and skill development; health; edication; micro-finance; social security; advoccany and networking.
Website: http://sewabharat.org/
Possible Volunteering Opportunities
See Testimonials for feedback from recent volunteers.
- Hidden Homeworkers Programme, Delhi: interviews on Decent Work and report writing
- Skills programme: support for writing the annual report, including both technical skills and soft skills.
- Communications: report writing, website and social media content, developing case studies, data collection and other research.
- Advocacy team: mapping advocacy needs and issues, designing tools, documentation.
- Uttarakhand state programme: analysis of the state programme, documentation of life stories and case studies, development of toolkits for field engagement.
- Rajasthan state programme: documentation, analysis and writing.
- West Bengal and Jharkhand state programmes: documentation, analysis and writing.
- Youth programme: documentation of activities and interviews.
- Ruaab SEWA: support for this ethical and transparent supply chain initiative, providing livelihoods for home-based women weavers and artisans.
Preferred skills
- Passionate about working for a social cause and contribute to the development sector.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- Detail oriented and creative thinking with good analytical skills.
- Ability to work with quantitative and qualitative data.
- Curiosity and a willingness to learn.
- Good interpersonal skills.
