2 Sakhis in Dadri went the extra mile during the pandemic lockdown to help combat COVID-19 and continue promoting other health issues among women. Armed with only mobile phones and a fire in the belly, Sashi Devi and Sudha Kumari embraced ‘digital’ to connect with over 9000 community members.

In working among adolescent girls, the importance of menstrual health and hygiene cannot be emphasized less. Myths and taboos are, however, highly prevalent and dispelling them become essential to executing a successful programme in this space.

Last mile coverage of maternal healthcare in villages across India continues to remain a challenge. The quality of health service provided by Primary healthcare centres and Sub-centres is often sub optimal, essential medicines and beds in short supply as well as lack of qualified medical professionals.

Across India, rural women are stepping out of their households and participating in community life via Self Help Groups (SHGs). But SHGs are merely a launching pad and, once empowered, many women are going on to hold formal and informal leadership positions in their local communities.

Hansaben Jadhav is no stranger to financial difficulty. When her father-in-law passed away at the age of just 55, she stepped up in life and started handling the financial responsibilities of the family.

Rural women are key agents for development, yet in India, there remains a large, latent potential in the country's women - particularly in rural areas. However, many communities are finding ways to tap this latent potential to enable 'last mile reach' in remote, rural communities for various community services - in particular, healthcare.

Dairy plays a crucial role in the rural economy of the country with high potential to generate income and employment.

Here's how 325 landless women labourers from Ropar district are earning an additional income during this lockdown period

With the outbreak of Covid-19 virus and subsequent lockdown across the entire country, daily wage earners have been struggling to survive, with many facing starvation.

Women from Sorath Mahila Federation have come together to prepare 1200 ration kits for the deprived communities in Kodinar District of Gujarat. Each ration kit includes 7 kgs of wheat, 2.5 kgs of rice, 1 kg of oil and 2.5 kgs of potatoes and is enough to last a family for 4 weeks.

Predominantly involved in inter-lending and in providing community support, Self-Help Groups in Ambuja Foundation's core villages are now also playing a role in fighting COVID-19 - by making face Masks!

Ambuja Foundation works with over 144 Sakhis across locations, and today they are playing a major role working closely with the village health authorities in restricting the entry of COVID19 into the villages we work in. Ambuja Foundation spoke with two Sakhis from Farakka, West Bengal, who are working rigorously to curb the virus.