3 Grass Root Women Role ModelsHonoured
Mr. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, presented three extraordinary grassroot women leaders with the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award 2016 for their extraordinary contribution. Ms. Kalpana Mistry, Ms. Akila Sayyed and Ms. Dalimi Rabha, were conferred the awards in the fields of education, health and Micro-enterprise respectively at the CII Annual Session held New Delhi.
Presented by Bajaj Group, powered by CISCO Systems and supported by JCB (in Education category), the award presentation is the part of CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Program, which discovers, recognizes and further empowers grassroots women for their contributions to the development of their communities. The award, now in its 12th year, includes a cash reward of R 3,00,000 each.
Ms. Kalpana Mistry received the Award for her commendable efforts in education in the slums of Wadala, Mumbai. She works in protecting children from harassment, trafficking and sexual abuse. Kalpana has impacted lives of more than 6,000 women and children and has helped in rehabilitating trafficked women and children by connecting them with different shelters and training institutes for skills.
Ms. Akila Sayyed received the Award for her yeomen efforts in providing basic healthcare services and ensuring the well-being of the marginalized in Pimperkhed village of Maharashtra. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Akila is the only health worker in her village and provides basic treatment to more than 4500 people for free. Akila was instrumental in soliciting government funds to pave the road to the hospital, and in providing electricity to every household in the village.
Ms. Dalimi Rabha received the award in the micro-Enterprise category, for her transformational leadership in enabling better livelihood and financial security for marginalized women in Goalpara district of Assam. After her father's death, Dalimi went to Bagmara to acquire formal training in embroidery. With support from Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust, she got a micro-credit loan of Rs. 25000 to set up her own tailoring and embroidery training school. Among many women who received training from her school, over 800 are employed. Today, the strong and single 37-year old is the sole business woman in the area.
Selected by an eminent panel from Industry and social sector, the awardees were shortlisted by Institute of Financial Management and Research, due-diligence partner, from over 100 nominations received from grassroot NGOs across the country.
The Award is part of the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Program which focuses on promoting women’s empowerment at the community level by discovering and recognizing those who chose look beyond their limitations and contributed significantly to positively impact the community. Since its inception in 2005, 35 women have been identified and recognized.
To build the capacity of existing exemplars, CII Foundation organized a Capacity Building workshop on 3rd April 2016 in Delhi, to understand their future plans, areas of support and provide opportunity to interact with industry members. The platform aimed at celebrating the Women Exemplar Collective with industry leaders, and to spur dynamic learning and exchange among the exemplars.
About CII Foundation:
The CII Foundation (CIIF) was set up by CII in 2011 to undertake a wide range of developmental and charitable activities pan India by enabling industry for infusing inclusive development.
CIIF works towards inclusive development by providing a meaningful bridge between marginalized communities and donors, especially corporates by providing strategic guidance on CSR and developing and managing high impact programmes.
The thematic areas of CIIF include: Education; Public Health and Sanitation; Skilling, Employment and Livelihoods of the marginalized; Gender Equality, Women Empowerment and Safety; Environmental Sustainability, including water; Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation.
In this effort, the Foundation works together with corporates, governments, communities, and civil society institutions to channelize their collective resources towards social and community development.
Since its inception, CIIF has undertaken a range of projects in the areas of skill development, maternal and child health, sanitation, livelihood creation, women empowerment, water conservation, and disaster relief and rehabilitation.
4 April 2016
New Delhi