Topic: Women Empowerment and Health

Resource Person: Dr Rashmi Saraswat

International Director,Mahavir International

Target Participants: U.G. & P.G. Students

Venue: AV Hall

Date: 17^th January, 2020

‘Progress has a plural connotation; it cannot be steered by a single person’. For any society to grow institutional approaches along with the involvement of community is equally essential as today’s world is moving towards greater interdependence. Dr. Rashmi Saraswat ,a doctor by profession represented Mahavir International ,Jaipur and oriented the students about the functioning and initiatives taken by the NGO and the impact of the same. They have started various national projects like ‘Vatsalya’ and ‘Amba’ which are focussing on the health of women during pregnancy and empowering women respectively. These two are just two of the nine national projects the organisation has undertaken to help the community.

As we know that India has a bleak picture to present when it comes to maternal health specially in the case of rural women and hence Mahavir international under various initiatives distribute ‘Poshan kit’which consists of pulses ,nuts ,jaggery ,ORS and glucose etc. Their approach is to provide pregnant women with a nutritional kit that has all the essentials which are affordable and highly beneficial to the health of the women and they also provide women with baby kits which are prepared by the local women who are paid for the number of kits they make and hence this initiative has led to financial independence for women.The session exposed students to the vital roles that can be played by the community in development and specially women who are otherwise socially excluded . The students got the idea of how skill development programmes and awareness regarding government initiatives could be helpful. The initiatives of the organisation like breast-feeding booths for women in various parts of Jaipur motivated students to come up with new ideas that can help women.

The session indeed had a lot in store for the students to understand how NGOs spearhead development. Students did put up questions at the end of the session. It was truly inspirational to know how students can contribute towards society.