14-11-2012, 11:29 AM
Empowering Women through Agarbatti
Empowering Women.ppt (Size: 1.92 MB / Downloads: 38)
How did it Begin…
ITC is committed to empowering poor women by providing sustainable livelihood
ITC in partnership with Sewa Bharat initiated a systematic need analysis in Munger, Bihar
After a number of rounds of discussions with the women and looking at the pros and cons of different activities, agarbatti rolling was chosen
The skills were easy to learn, it could be done from home and most importantly it has an assured market
The Model
The required training on skills are imparted to the women to ensure they conform to the requirements of the business
Exposure to the existing agarbatti units
Clearly identifying the quality parametres and setting up systems to monitor it
Investing in training and capacity building of Sewa staff as well as women
After the pilot and fine tuning the systems, ramp up the production
Provide continuous handholding support to the local team
Key Strategies
Partnership with national level institutions like SEWA linking the SHGs with livelihood activity of Agarbatti Rolling
Identifying the needy women
Devise easy to use quality measurement systems
Designing productivity linked incentive
Established model of Production center and sub centers and home based rolling
Centralised distribution of pre-mix to ensure standerdisation of raw material
Initiated incentive based production system. All the centres recover their costs from the revenue generated from the agarbatties produced.
Robust quality systems with electronic weighing machines, moisture meters and unique coding system all managed by women
Help register a women’s co-operative to create a separate identity and ensure sustainability
Exposure to successful co-operatives
Key Highlights
Started with 375 kgs in Dec 04 and and have reached 15000 kgs of raw agarbatti per month impacting livelihood of 700 poor women
A women earns between Rs 700 to Rs 2000 per month
Have been acknowledged by the Agarbatti business as the best quality batties
The cooperative have been able to negotiate a premium of Rs 2/kg from the business
Establishment of incentive based production system
Maintained an average production of more than 10 MT in 08-09
Sale of 110 (Mt), 35% growth over 07-08
Execution of agreement between agarbatti SBU vendor and SUSSS Ltd
Productivity and quality linked payments to centre in-charges and field staff. Some centre in-charges earn as much as Rs 7000/month