Nileema completed her masters in clinical psychology in Pune and worked in Vigyan Ashram for eight years that helped shape her perspectives on development. She returned to Jalgaon and began to spend time with the community to understand their grievances. Her fellow villagers were struggling to survive – women suffered the most due to the lack of any opportunities to create a livelihood. Nileema strongly believed in the resolve of the village itself to identify their problems and find solutions to bring them out of poverty. She sees her role as a 'facilitator' guiding people to become self-reliant. In 2000 with a few like-minded people she created an organisation called Bhagini Niveditha Gramin Vigyan Niketan for the welfare of women and to provide credit for them. Their journey began with 14 women who opened joint bank accounts with their savings. These women then turned to entrepreneurs, making quilts from home. Soon the numbers grew. Today the organisation is an umbrella to 1800 self help groups.
Bhagini Niveditha Vigyan Niketan also provides these women with training and capacity building programmes that help women in marketing, account keeping and the use of computers to aid their work. Today these women have a warehouse to buy and store materials they require in bulk and for cheap and have built outlets to sell their products across four districts in Maharashtra.
Addressing a multitude of problems
Bhagini Niveditha Gramin Vigyan Niketan began to support farmers and created a rotating fund that was especially significant during a three-year drought where cotton farmers were unable to repay bank debts. Today their network of farmers have even created their own seed capital. They initiated an incentive award to villages building a toilet block thus ensuring they address health problems but using the capacity of the villagers themselves to build solutions.
The total microcredit distributed is to the tune of five million dollars with a 100% recovery rate. Nileema's work has contributed to the lives of countless number of people who were ridden with poverty and had almost no hope for an alternative reality. Women are now decision-makers in their community, farmers are not prey to money lenders and the villages itself have a great sense of confidence and will to a better future.
We are very proud that one of our associates has been honoured with such a prestigious award. Our hearty congratulations to Neelima and her team.
