Financial Literacy & Women Empowerment
Mahashakti Foundation implemented a pilot project on Financial Literacy and
Women’s Empowerment (FL & WE) at Balangir & Kalahandi Districts in Odisha
aimed at enhancing financial awareness and knowledge among SHG/JLG members
as well as enable them to make better financial choices, enhance participation in
household decision making, awareness generation on gender discrimination and
improve attitudes towards sanitation and health.
Taking into account the success of the pilot project, Mahashakti Foundation with
esteem support of UKAID SIDBI-PSIG has a plan to scale up the programme in 5
districts of Odisha with coverage of 48,000 rural women clients. The objective is to
enhance the income and employment opportunities of poor women by enabling them
to participate and benefits from wider economic growth in India. The main aim is to
widen the social and economic space of women for them to participate effectively in
the different programmes sponsored by Govt., Bank and CSR houses. Financial
Literacy is thus increasingly being recognized as a tool for enhancing capabilities of
poor women and men to make informed choice about financial services and product
being offered and contribute to their financial and social wellbeing when offered with
the perspective of women empowerment integrated with gender issues in dissemination.
