Working predominantly with tribal women, the NGO and associated social enterprise taps into their traditional weaving skills, providing them with raw materials to make bags, scarves, and home decorations. These items are then sold online and through retailers in India. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the women have been able to maintain a vital income, by making World Heatlh Organization compliant facemasks.

“The program has been successful in engaging with women and helping them source an income,” Ms Street says.

“Too often we hear about empowering women at the policy level, but it’s the women who need to decide what this looks like. And we need to talk with them directly.”

When it comes to reducing the risk of trafficking, a steady income plays a major role.

As one woman told Ms Street: “When the man is the sole breadwinner, he feels superior.

“When women earn for themselves, they are not seen as inferior and they don’t feel inferior in their home.”

Women involved in the program have the autonomy to organise their weaving work according to their needs. This flexibility is essential, as most women are involved in a range of other day-to-day household and seasonal activities such as farming and rice cultivation.

As part of her master’s research, for which she won the University Medal, Ms Street found the weaving program also facilitates powerful intergenerational change.

“Women spoke with resignation that they didn’t have an education. They want their children to finish school and have access to greater opportunities in their lives than they do,” she says.

“This was one of the main benefits from generating their own income through the program – the choice and means to make a difference to the lives of their children, particularly their daughters, through education.”