Building Pathways to Women’s Empowerment

This book showcases the work of Annapurna Pariwar, an NGO comprising six organizations, over the past 30 years and its impact on changing the lives of low-income working women with small businesses in the slums of Mumbai and Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra. This group of six organizations together forms a social enterprise, established at a time of major changes in the Indian economy in the form of globalization and urbanization. The NGO set out to address issues of livelihood and poverty alleviation in slums. Adopting a path that was sustainable and did not depend upon grants, the journey is a fascinating account of learnings in organizational evolution and its impact on the lives of poor women. The book is divided into two parts. The first part has three chapters charting the journey of Annapurna Pariwar based on interviews with Medha Tai, the founder of Annapurna Pariwar. These chapters discuss milestones, organizational evolution, and challenges, especially demonetization and COVID-19. The lifecycle of the organization and of the women in the case studies are juxtaposed within the framework of financial, physical, sociocultural, and political spaces. The second part of the book contains analyses from well-known authors and academics who contextualize the relevance of Annapurna Pariwar’s work and future against microfinance, microinsurance, plus services, social entrepreneurship, digitization, and urban landscapes. The book thus contributes not only to the practice-field; it has several academic contributions as well for researchers studying social phenomena such as social entrepreneurship, microfinance, cooperatives, women empowerment, and women entrepreneurship. While doing so, it addresses SDGs such as SDG3, SDG5, SDG8, and SDG11. The book is for a wide audience, comprising social entrepreneurs in the field of social development, microfinance, and microinsurance. It is of relevance to business schools and educational institutions which offer courses on social entrepreneurship and development studies.