Self-help groups, skill workshops, and self-defence classes — practical tools for the women holding rural Maharashtra together.

If you have spent any time in a rural Maharashtra village, you already know who runs it. The women carry the water, raise the children, run the household, often work in the fields, and somehow still find time for the local bhajan group. The question is never whether women have power. The question is whether the systems around them give them room to use it.

Our Naari Shakti programme is built on a simple premise: women already know what they need. Our job is to listen, then provide the tools. The two we hear about most often are skills and safety. So that's where we focus.

On skills, we run rolling workshops — tailoring, papad-making, masala packing, basic computer literacy, simple bookkeeping for self-help groups. Every workshop is led by a woman who has already turned that skill into income. The participants are not students; they are the next generation of small business owners. Last year, six of our tailoring graduates pooled resources, rented a one-room shop, and now stitch school uniforms for three local schools. The shop is in their names.

On safety, we run self-defence camps with certified trainers — every quarter, in a different village. We've trained over 400 girls and women in basic self-defence techniques over the past two years. We also run sessions on what to do if you face harassment, who to call, how to document, and how to support a friend who is going through it. These conversations are not easy. They are also not optional.

If you are a woman with a skill — any skill — that you'd like to teach in a village setting, we can host you. Travel and lodging are covered. The participants are eager. The atmosphere is warm. You will leave feeling that you got more than you gave. That, in our experience, is how seva tends to work.