India Access to sanitation and small businesses :
Help vulnerable women in India access sanitation so that they can be safe, improve their health and productivity.
Your donation is provided directly to the women. She will receive a financial literacy training course, a bank account and in a low interest loan. Upon repayment the funds go to the next woman so she can restore her dignity and so on and so on.
Once a woman has a toilet in or near her home she will be provided with funds to set up her own small business. Sustainable businesses include sewing, textiles, artistry, and down-payment for a rickshaw.
Knock on effects from the purchase of only one toilet affect immediate and extended families as well as entire communities. All beneficiaries become role models and benefit from financial empowerment and inclusion for women.
Shanti Life is a member of the Indian Sanitation Coalition
Donate now!Vulnerable women who do not have access to sanitation suffer in all aspects of their lives.
Fear for their personal safety, complicated health issues and lack of productivity as well as no access to financial literacy or capital leave them helpless and at risk on several fronts.
Women have to walk miles away from the home at night so that they can defecate and on these long journeys they face danger including attacks, snake and insect bites. Scared for their safety, many women choose not to eat, resulting in child bearing related illnesses and anemia. Accessing medication from far away hospitals is nearly impossible and prohibitively expensive.
Women are rarely allowed to leave their homes in many of the villages, rather they are expected to nurture in-laws and large families. Widows or those not married suffer further challenges.
A toilet can change a life.
Vulnerable people are often forced into taking high interest loans from loan sharks in order to survive. The conditions for repayment are unfair and create an undesired dependency resulting in stress and non repayments resulting in extreme stress and sometimes suicide.
We encourage the beneficiaries to engage in sustainable businesses where they have experience and there is a need in the community. We provide them with training, though they would have already taken a loan for a toilet and will have experience in banking.
A business can help families flourish.