The facts are clear: women’s empowerment is central to economic growth, community health, and just about every other marker of prosperity. When women learn, work, and lead, communities thrive.
In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting the programs and women leaders transforming rural India.
Women serve in several important leadership positions at Ekal USA — as regional and chapter presidents, marketing managers, and more.
On the ground, women leaders are building rural India, from leading schools to providing critical health services and starting their own businesses.
Ekal’s founding mission was to bring free education to children in rural villages. Today, we operate 102,000 single-teacher schools in as many villages, serving 2.8 million students.
The success is due, in large part, to women.
Women make up nearly three-fourths of Ekal’s teaching force. That means 72,000 women are leading classrooms and empowering children in rural villages every single day.
They become important members of the village community, leading change and nurturing students.
But there’s more. Women are also leading the way in bringing healthcare to the last mile with Ekal Arogya, our trailblazing health initiative.
Through telemedicine and preventative health education, Arogya helps rural communities thrive. As of 2021, we’ve brought free health services to 500,000 people across 990 villages.
The program’s success is made possible by local women volunteers, who are trained to be community healthcare workers, called Arogya Sevikas.
Arogya is highly impactful, bringing about improved hygienic habits in children, increased use of safe drinking water, significant reduction in the spread of water-borne diseases, and more.
Thanks to these women leaders, rural India has never been healthier.
Beyond education and healthcare, Ekal is also empowering women to become entrepreneurs through our tailoring training program.
Knowing how to tailor is extremely valuable. The skill provides women with a source of sustainable income, so they can support themselves and their families. Many graduates go on to start businesses in their village.
To date, Ekal has trained more than 10,000 women tailors. That’s 10,000 business owners, self-starters, and community builders — sewing clothes, building confidence, and weaving the future of rural India.
Finally, Ekal is empowering rural women to become digitally literate through Ekal on Wheels, our solar-powered mobile computer lab.
Thousands of rural women have gained digital literacy and, with it, increased confidence and earning potential.
Today, we honor these women teachers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Over the course of March, we’ll be sharing more stories about how women are building the future of rural India.
Together, we celebrate them.
Ekal is a non-profit organization on a mission to empower individuals and families in India’s and Nepal’s rural villages to achieve their full human potential. To learn more and get involved, go to ekal.org.
