SHAKTI - Changing Lives in Rural India

Shakti is HUL's rural initiative, which targets small villages with population of less than 2000 people or less. It seeks to empower underprivileged rural women by providing income-generating opportunities, health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani programme, and creating access to relevant information through the iShakti community portal.

In general, rural women in India are underprivileged and need a sustainable source of income. NGOs, governmental bodies and other institutions have been working to improve the status of rural women. Shakti is a pioneering effort in creating livelihoods for rural women, organised in Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and improving living standards in rural India. Shakti provides critically needed additional income to these women and their families, by equipping and training them to become an extended arm of the company's operation.

Started in 2001, Shakti has already been extended to about 80,000 villages in 15 states - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar & Jharkhand. The respective state governments and several NGOs are actively involved in the initiative.

Shakti already has about 25,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold. A typical Shakti entrepreneur earns a sustainable income of about Rs.700 -Rs.1,000 per month, which is double their average household income. Shakti is thus creating opportunities for rural women to live in improved conditions and with dignity, while improving the overall standard of living in their families. In addition, it involves health and hygiene programmes, which help to improve the standard of living of the rural community. Shakti's ambit already covers about 15 million rural population. Plans are also being drawn up to bring in partners involved in agriculture, health, insurance and education to catalyze overall rural development.

HUL's vision for Shakti is to scale it up across the country, covering 100,000 villages and touching the lives of 100 million rural consumers by 2005.

Shakti Vani is a social communication programme. Women, trained in health and hygiene issues, address village communities through meetings at schools, village baithaks, SHG meetings and other social fora. In 204, Shakti Vani has covered 10,000 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Karnataka. The vision is to cover 80,000 villages in 2005.

iShakti, the Internet-based rural information service, has been launched  in Andhra Pradesh, in association with the Andhra Pradesh Government's Rajiv Internet Village Programme. The service is now available in Nalgonda, Vishakapatnam, West Godavari and East Godavari districts. iShakti has been developed to provide information and services to meet rural needs in medical health and hygiene, agriculture, animal husbandry, education, vocational training and employment and women's empowerment. The vision is to have 3,500 kiosks across the state by 2005.

(For more details, please visit www.hllshakti.com)