Vandana Khandekar, a grassroots woman leader and entrepreneur from Pathari Village in North Solapur Block of Solapur District, Maharashtra is overcoming personal challenges and getting recognised for her excellent work in promoting community development and clean energy!
Widowed at an young age, Vandana tai became active in her local Self Help Group (SHG), where she learnt about Swayam Shikshan Prayog – SSP and their work. Soon, she began to attend trainings on Entrepreneurship Development and Women-Led Climate Resilient Farming with the support of SSP. By 2022, due to her enthusiasm and interest, she was selected as a village leader, and started promoting organic farming, vermicomposting and other aspects of SSP’s one-acre model to farmers in her community.
Recently, she has begun to promote clean energy solutions like bio-digesters (biogas plants) in her village, with the objective of promoting zero-waste farming and increased financial savings within small and marginal farming households.
In the past two years, Vandana tai has guided 200 women farmers in implementing one-acre farming, improving household health and nutrition, along with increasing earnings through the sale of organic vegetables locally. Additionally, she was also instrumental in getting 20 biogas plants and 8 vermi compost beds installed in households across her village. She continues to support women in starting their own small-scale businesses to become financially independent and linking farmers to relevant government agricultural schemes.
In 2023, Vandana tai was selected as one of the grassroots women leaders to attend a national level conference on “Clean Energy & the Environment” organised by South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP), as part of the Women Led Energy Product Programme. She was able to share her experience of working on the field to promote clean energy in rural areas through the installation of biogas plants to various high-level stakeholders including government officials, donors and the private sector.
When asked about her empowerment journey so far, Vandana tai says “As rural women, we must be willing to work hard, and put in effort to change ourselves and our communities. It is okay to be scared in the beginning, but we must be willing to learn and step out of our houses to experience the world outside.”
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
September 5, 2023