Standard Chartered has collaborated with global multi-dimensional women’s fund, Women Win, through their NGO partner in Sri Lanka, SERVE, to launch ‘Shaktheen’ – a women empowerment program aimed to revive the livelihoods of working women in Sri Lanka.
A donation of $209,158 from the Standard Chartered Foundation will fund the program over 24-months and will directly benefit 500 women who operate in the informal sector to overcome the strains caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The project was launched at an event organised by SERVE recently, to mark International Women’s Day.
Over one-third of working women in Sri Lanka are employed in the informal economy. Due to the many lockdowns, they have faced reduced mobility and elimination of opportunities to sell products and provide services and therefore, lost business and income that had supported the wellbeing of their families.
The ‘Shaktheen’ program will empower working women across Moratuwa and Panadura, through Self-Help Groups (SHGs), a popular regional approach to financial access, collective problem solving and action for women.
The program will ensure increased loan capital for business start-ups, as well as access to vocational training and business skills development opportunities for women to improve their businesses or gain new income. While increasing the financial resilience of the SHG members and encouraging them to bring the next generation of women into its program, ‘Shaktheen’ will also provide psychosocial wellbeing support to the 500 members.
Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, Standard Chartered Sri Lanka Anuk De Silva said, “Standard Chartered believes in a culture of empowerment within our Bank and by understanding the importance, we have supported our communities, to adapt to the post Covid-19 context.
The ‘Shaktheen’ project will not only help its beneficiaries to be financially independent, but will also help the economy by creating women entrepreneurs who are self-sufficient. We look forward to closely work with SERVE to serve our communities through education, awareness, providing seed capital and psychological well-being support coupled with knowledge resources through our staff on financial literacy.”
Based on the SERVE model, the women recruited into new SHGs will be trained to prevent, identify and respond to instances of gender-based violence as well as know critical information about women’s rights and laws. This is a key programmatic component as research shows, that even where opportunities for earning are available, there are a wide array of factors that determine whether women can find, pursue and use these.