Economic Empowerment for Single Mothers
The Economic Empowerment for Single Mothers initiative seeks to guide single mothers from the mindset of being supported to becoming self-supporting — either through strengthening their existing work or by developing new enterprises built on their skill sets. This programme aims to create pathways for these women to thrive economically and socially through collective empowerment and sustainable livelihoods.
To create momentum and strengthen women’s economic independence, the initiative focuses on the following key areas:
- Identifying skills and skill gaps through a socio-economic study
- Building or enhancing existing skills
- Facilitating linkages with financial institutions
- Building an array of women social and economic entrepreneurs who can challenge the status quo
- Creating collective efforts for social and economic support
- Establishing market linkages for women-led enterprises
- Developing advocacy and skill-building for schemes, entitlements, and justice
The project worked with 75 single mothers from Nongrah, Nongmensong, and Umlyngks within Shillong. Through interactive discussions and capacity-building workshops — both on-farm and off-farm — a chips-making co-operative society was established to foster collectivism and enable long-term livelihood enterprise development.
This programme was a collaborative effort between the Foundation for Social Transformation (FST) and Grassroot, uniting efforts to strengthen the socio-economic fabric of women-led households through empowerment, entrepreneurship, and community solidarity.