Women’s Excellence Initiative (WEI) has signed an MoU with SEWA to encourage and promote empowerment and social and economic development of women in the country.

SEWA is a family of organizations providing different services to poor women in the informal economy. These include (but are not restricted to) SEWA, with nearly 2 million members, recognized as a national trade union; SEWA Bank, at present a State-level Bank in Gujarat, regulated by RBI; SEWA Academy and SEWA Manager’s School, providing capacity and skill building; Lok Swashtya SEWA Trust providing health services and education, Mahila Housing Trust providing habitat services including water and sanitation. Additionally, SEWA has sponsored a large number of co-operatives, including Gujarat Mahila Co-operative Federation. SEWA focuses on women’s economic empowerment leading to the overall development of women and their families by building self-reliance through organising.

WEI and SEWA will collaborate to undertake research and publish case studies and insights. WEI will study SEWA’s cooperative business model and publish success stories. 

This MoU will also benefit the students at ISB as the arrangement aims to create opportunities for immersive learning experiences for them.  WEI will work with SEWA Academy to build capacity for their internal training.