Who We Are

Vision

To build a robust partnership ecosystem that enables grassroots women’s networks to access skills training, financial and digital literacy, and technology and marketing platforms.

Mission

To promote inclusive, sustainable community development by empowering women in low income climate threatened communities/regions. Swayam Shikshan Prayog repositions women’s collectives by training them as farmers and entrepreneurs and thereby increasing their economic and social resilience.

Our Approach

SWAYAM – self-empowerment by catalysing women’s participation and leadership to collectivise as farmers and entrepreneurs and be aware of their potential, entitlements, financial and digital inclusion, and opportunities linked to the government and market systems
SHIKSHAN – Continuous education and learning processes to enhance the status and agency of women learning & to resolve their household and community challenges
PRAYOG – Experimenting with solving problems and creating solutions at the grassroots on issues/priorities ranging from climate resilient agriculture and food security, entrepreneurship, water conservation and protection of natural resources.

Over the last two decades, Swayam Shikshan Prayog has built a movement of grassroots women leaders who see opportunities in challenges.

SSP’s transformative models in key sectors like climate-resilient agriculture, health, and water and sanitation are creating impact in India’s most underserved communities. SSP’s core partnership approach has enabled a wide range of stakeholders that enable grassroots women’s networks to access skills and entrepreneurship, finance, technology and marketing platforms.

SSP focuses on transformational changes by providing technical support and building capacities of women through its trained Sakhi cadres and leaders. Rural women are ambitiously repositioned by SSP teams, as problem solvers, innovators and planners. Be it water, food security, agriculture and livelihoods and access to social protection, women’s collectives or Village Action Groups tackle these issues head on while women leaders take on new public roles that are aligned so they achieve convergence with the Panchayat,government and market systems.

History

Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) was established in 1998, four years after partnering with the Government of Maharashtra on the Latur earthquake reconstruction project(1200 villages), where SSP reshaped a beneficiary program into a successful community women led effort.

SSP made a choice to focus its efforts to build women as change makers in water-scarce, drought-prone regions across seven states of India. Today, majority of its efforts are with women’s farmer collectives in the Marathwada region in Maharashtra.

SSP has reached out to over 6 million people, and empowered over 300,000 women mostly from farming communities to revitalise agriculture and enterprise, and take on the roles of decision makers in their households, communities and local economies. SSP has received several global and national awards, such as the UNDP Equator award for women and agriculture, UNFCCC Lighthouse climate change and Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur award, between 2017-2019.