Blog by Shakti.ism, a women's empowerment initiative

We did it! On 29th April 2020 we successfully raised £2,432 with 59 supporters in 28 days (an additional ~£600 was also raised offline) to train 10 tribal and disabled women to sew in Pondicherry, India. 

An introduction to My Choices Foundation, a Shakti.ism partner in Hyderabad that works to combat domestic abuse and sex trafficking in India.

I am delighted to announce the Basha Collection will be launching soon at Shakti.ism, particularly as our first collaboration to empower disadvantaged women outside of India. Basha is a social enterprise based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that works to empower women who are at risk and those who have survived human trafficking.

All about reusable upcycled sari gift wrap: how to use it (with step-by-step and video instructions), the environmental benefits of not using wrapping paper, and the inspiration and story behind Shakti.ism's popular fair trade sari gift wrap.

I was in India in February earlier this year, purely on a social mission. You see, I had spent the last 6+ months scouring the country looking for accountable, transparent and most importantly impactful NGOs to partner with in India, primarily those that support and empower women and girls. So when I planned my trip to India, I basically planned all my activities and meetings back-to-back to maximise my time. I was spending an entire week away from my two children, which is not an easy feat and is not an opportunity to be wasted.

Currently crowdfunding: A Women’s Empowerment Sustainable Livelihood Project to train 10+ tribal and disabled Indian women. This project will be a partnership between Shaktiism CIC, Sewing the Seeds and Samugam Trust in India

An update from the founder of Shakti.ism: I returned home to London nearly a week ago, and I am still buzzing with inspiration, ideas and excitement from my recent solo trip to India, which was for my nonprofit social enterprise Shakti.ism – a women’s empowerment initiative.

An intro to women's empowerment and social business in India by Shakti.ism. By providing an opportunity for marginalised women to obtain transferable skills like sewing and tailoring, which is what we are doing at Shakti.ism, we can help them to gain dignified employment, achieve financial independence, self-confidence 

I decided to start what I hope is the first of many traditions to celebrate the women that we’re empowering together at Shakti.ism, and sent my fabulous Pondicherry tailoring team for a day out. The ladies took the afternoon off and went to see a Tamil film called Draupathi, that’s, coincidentally all about a strong woman, and then I treated them to a team lunch. The only downside was that I wasn’t there to join them, but we managed to have a lovely video call to say Happy Women’s Day after the event so I could tell the team how proud I am of every single thing they are achieving! I truly hope this is only the beginning of the things we will achieve together, and that we are just getting started. I also plan to make this an annual tradition for International Women’s Day for all the empowered women being impacted for the better by Shakti.ism. I am committed to regularly recognising and celebrating their successes throughout our journey together as well.

2019 was very exciting, but 2020 is already shaping up to be a fantastic year for Shakti.ism! I’d like to share some updates on the progress we’ve made to date

We have reached the crowdfunding campaign goal of £2000!!! An exciting update on my crowdfunding campaign to train disadvantaged women in India.

I'm Jitna, the founder and one-woman team behind Shakti.ism, a social enterprise with a mission to empower and employ disadvantaged women in India and beyond. I thought I’d share a quick update on my women’s empowerment project for anyone who's interesting in following along.