Hindustan Zinc’s Women Empowerment initiative SAKHIwins ‘Leaders for Social Change’ Award

Udaipur : Hindustan Zinc’s flagshipWomen Empowerment initiative, SAKHIwon the Socio Story Foundation’s ‘Leaders for Social Change’ award. Ms. Anupam Nidhi – CSR Head, Hindustan Zincalong with Vaibhavi from CSR team and twoSAKHI leaders, Ms. Vijayshree Ji (Federation Leader) and Ms. Rajani Ji (Samuh Sakhi) received the award at the India Impact Summit in New Delhi. Socio Story initiated the ‘Leaders for Social Change’ award with the intention of empowering corporate change makers to share and express their inspiring stories while also incorporating sustainable development goals. Hindustan Zinc’s SAKHI initiative is part of the company’s larger sustainability goal of positively impacting 1 million lives.

SAKHI project has been instrumental in transforming the lives of rural women in and around operational areas of Hindustan Zinc. SAKHI aims to mobilise rural women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and strengthen their leadership, accelerate skill development, and increase their entrepreneurial capabilities. There are 2,248 SHGs, 207 village-level organisations, and 7 federations involved in this initiative, with a total membership of 27,517 women. More than 500 women have been groomed as future leaders because of leadership skills provided to them via numerous training and capacity-building programs.Sakhi has established 9 production centres, which generates 43.47 lacs turnover. The company had also launched its first ‘Sakhi Haat’ – a modern marketplace developed by and for our Sakhi women and SHGs.The ‘Sakhi Haat’ is a unique initiative that enables our rural women to showcase and market their handmade products. This initiative aims to boost their entrepreneurship skills, building a community of economically, socially, and culturally motivated women.

The winner was determined through an open and transparent process based on environmental, social, and governance criteria. It was highly competitive and predicated on principles of integrity, clarity, and sustainable long-term growth and development. The jury’s aim was to highlight noteworthy CSR projects that have made a protracted contribution to the community.

During the COVID-19 led pandemic, Sakhi members supported the company’s efforts to reach out to the most impacted populations with food and other necessities. A total of 3,269 Sakhi members gathered over 10,000 kg of grains to form a grain bank, which distributed food to deprived communities in the villages of South Rajasthan. A community kitchen was also established as part of the Sakhi initiative, and food was supplied to over 7,000 migrant workers through it. Even during the rough times of COVID-19, Business Sakhis were actively working to promote sales of products manufactured in the business’s operational villages.Sakhi members also supported the district administration by providing 2,50,000hand stitched masks, 1 lac PPEs and 25,000 sodium hypochlorite litres of solution for fogging.