Empowering Women Transforming Lives
Our Vision , Our Mission
Kalaa Sakhi is committed to advance gender equality and human dignity. Our work on transforming women’s lives is critical to society’s future. We strive to align to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across interconnected issues by bringing together innovative ideas to tackle problems of inequality, poverty, quality education and economic growth. We build communities of support and nurture initiatives to advance the dignity and well-being of women. We believe that empowered women will lead prosperous families, the building blocks of resilient communities. Kalaa Sakhi’s Mission is to promote women’s empowerment by providing vocational training, enterprise development, access to finance, market linkages, leadership development, and equal opportunities.
We believe that improving gender equality will create lasting benefits for families and communities, creating a society where every woman can live with confidence and dignity.
Kalaa Sakhi, under the framework of relevant Sustainable Development Goals, supports a holistic approach to empowering women by improving their education, economic opportunities, health, equality, and participation in society.
On Gender and Livelihoods in India
91 Million (52%) women in India are not in any education, training or employment
India ranks 135 out of 146 countries in female labour force participation
Kalaa Sakhi
An introduction to our Communities
Kalaa Sakhi initiated from a livelihood training project piloted in a settlement in Okhla, New Delhi in 2022. Our female labour force participation ranks at 135 out of 146 countries and 91 Million women / 51 per cent are not in any education, training or employment. “Millions of women in our hamlets know what unemployment means. Give them access to economic activities and they will have access to power and self confidence to which they hitherto have been strangers” – Mahatma Gandhi in Young India (1930).
Kalaa aims at Socio-Economic Self Reliance for female artisans through livelihood training and formation of SHGs thus working towards a better future for the next generation. We work at the intersection of gender, craft and economic opportunity.
Women in India face various constraints – care, access, social and economic. Poverty and patriarchy limit access to capital , knowledge, market and network. At Kalaa we empower our Sakhis by skilling them in weaving, crochet, knitting, tailoring and other handicrafts. Flexible hours allow the ladies to balance their household care duties and income while creating the intangible wealth of confidence obtained from their craft and the subsequent savings for a rainy day.
Starting from Okhla, we have spread across the NCR and have Sakhis in various settlements right from Hanumanji Camp in the South to Nand Nagri in North East Delhi. We have also made an impact across numerous villages of Haryana and Rajasthan providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to women artisans working from the security of their homes.