Uninor pilots female empowerment initiative

Uninor has a legacy in promoting inclusive growth in the society and has empowered marginalized women through its corporate responsibility initiatives in the past. Through SEWA, Uninor reaches out to women who are single mothers, widowed or HIV positive with livelihood opportunities through extensions of its business. This gives them an opportunity to access the enabling effects of telecommunication while also strengthening their earning potential.

“This is an example of Telenor’s overall corporate responsibility strategy to create shared growth in the societies where we operate. Uninor has long focused on female empowerment in their societal outreach, and by sharing the benefits of telecommunications with women in adversity, we are bridging the digital divide as well as providing new employment opportunities in India,” said Mai Oldgard, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Telenor Group.

Project SEWA launched in Maharashtra and Goa

The pilot for project SEWA was launched in Pune in association with the ‘Hope for the Children Foundation’ and seeks to support 50 underprivileged women in the first phase. Under the project the team from the Maharashtra and Goa Circle of Uninor will take the  responsibility:

• to select the women for the project based on their need with the assistance of the NGO
• will train the women in soft skills, spoken English and book keeping
• offer sales training in the product and tariff structures of Uninor services
• provide them with SIM cards and a consignment to sell in credit
• to offer women’s health related information through their VAS

The objective is the all-around development of the capacity and confidence of the participating women, empowering them to raise their families and make a place in society. Awareness on issue was raised through GSMA’s groundbreaking report with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which stated that women in the developing world are disadvantaged by a prevalent “mobile phone gender gap”. This means that women are 21 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than a man in low and middle income countries like India. Projects such as Uninor SEWA will help address the key barriers to women’s access to mobile phones, including promoting technical literacy and removing cultural barriers to adoption through the advent of women retailers in society. The programme aims to increase access to mobile connectivity and services, thus giving underprivileged women a greater sense of security, independence, economic opportunity and connection with the world outside their homes.

About Hope for the Children Foundation

Hope for the Children Foundation (HFCF) is a trust-based, non-profit organization that was founded in the year 2006 with a mission to serve, help and improve the quality of life of orphaned and underprivileged children of India. HFCF goes a step further to also look after the mothers of these children under a program called ‘Atmanirbharata’ or ‘self reliance’. The endeavor is to equip women from the most disadvantaged backgrounds with the know-how and skills to sustain themselves economically. By embarking on mission SEWA with Uninor, the aim is to help destitute women in the community to steadily move towards entrepreneurship.

Pilot to extend SEWA to 100 women

While the launch of the pilot of SEWA was initially with 50 mobile women retailers but there is an ambition to extend the project to include 100 women.

“It is our endeavor to further extend SEWA to 100 women in the next 6 months and monitor the impact on the target group,” said Madhu Singh Sirohi, Head CR and Internal Communications. “We will study the progress and evaluate the gaps, after which we hope to replicate the initiative in the other circles of Uninor as well.”