Today, 11 December, Women on Wings unveiled its latest milestone of 182,000 newly created jobs at the ACCESS Livelihoods Asia Summit 2014 in New Delhi. Ronald van het Hof, Managing Director of Women on Wings India: “The growth in the number of jobs is the result of great mutual understanding and a strong motivation by our Indian business partners to create sustainable jobs for women.”
Women on Wings’ Session at Livelihoods Asia Summit 2014
In 12 Plenary Sessions, over 600 delegates from around 8 countries in the Asia region, explored scalable solutions that offer a pathway out of poverty. The session of Women on Wings looked at the obstacles that people in rural India face, in their efforts to improve their positions within markets and identified ways to strengthen the poorly functioning markets. Ronald van het Hof led the panel discussions with experts in the field of creating social impact through sustainable business models: Dilip Barooah, CEO at Fabric Plus, Ashwini Sahay, DGM Marketing at Jharcraft, Siva Devireddy, Founder and MD at GoCoop and Yogesh Kumar Ghore, Senior Program Staff at Coady International Institute, Canada.
Growth comes in many shapes for sustainable development
For the future Women on Wings expects to see an increase in the number of jobs especially in the agri sector. Ronald van het Hof: “More and more Indian organizations are interested in working with us, especially from the agri-sector. There is a growing interest in social investment and sustainable business practices. And the Modi government certainly creates a change with its many programs for growth and rural development.”
545,000 children in school
A job and an income provide women in rural India with greater self-sufficiency, purchasing power and a better social position. These 182,000 jobs mean two meals a day and better livelihoods for 182,000 Indian families. It also means that over 545,000 children are in (a better) school, thanks to their mothers having a job and an income.
