Philanthropy for Equitable Justice and Peace

Tewa has always aimed to support the initiatives of women's organizations. The grassroots level women identify their needs to which Tewa financially supports with micro funds. One of our grantee partners from Lalitpur, Siddhipur Mahila Sashaktikaran Samaj has been working towards women's empowerment by engaging them in income-generating training and awareness-raising programs. One of the projects proposed by this organization is related to environmental justice. The activities included in this are to create awareness about plastic pollution and its impact on the environment and advocate for reducing the use of plastics. The other activity is to develop the skill of recycling waste plastic for handicraft production. Both these activities have benefitted women from that community. This organization has initiated the reuse of single-use plastics by providing training to 20 women. These women learned about the traditional handicrafts making from these plastics. The participants also learned about the management of plastics and shared with others in the community regarding the proper plastic proposals. Out of 20 women who learned to make traditional handicrafts, two of them have become trainers and ten of them have already started selling the products to support their income. Another training on making cloth bags was taken by 15 women. Of which 4 have become trainers. This has supported the livelihood of the women and supported them to become economically empowered.