One small flight for Aarti… a giant leap for womankind

Two years ago, Aarti, like many other women from small rural communities in North India, was seldom seen and never heard. A sheltered wife, daughter-in-law and mother, she would never leave her home unaccompanied or talk to a stranger.

However, there was a spark inside. That spark was ignited when a Dharma Life recruiter came by to present the opportunity to be trained as an entrepreneur, delivering multiple services and products through consultative sales to her village and beyond.

Hesitant to break family norms, it was the encouragement of her husband that helped her stand up to all the opposition she faced both from within the family and the other villagers. The training equipped her to answer tough questions, find her voice and use it to not just raise awareness on controversial and taboo subjects like menstrual hygiene but also to sell products and contribute to the family income.

We’ve just funded a ‘results-based financing’ pilot at Dharma Life, which anchors on accurate measurement of impact of a specific input/ intervention. My colleagues will know that impact indicators typically focus on quantitative metrics like difference in income, purchasing power etc.

However, the real effect is much harder to quantify in measurable metrics, but far more meaningful and long-term; true impact is what I was witnessing there at the airport.

And I smile when I think of Aarti’s daughter, who has seen this complete transformation of her mother. A woman who was once silently housebound, who now travels from village to village unaccompanied. An independent woman with a strong voice, both literally and metaphorically. In the home and outside of it.

This little girl’s world is now full of real possibilities that she couldn’t even have imagined before.

That to me is the real significance. One that will trigger greater societal transformation that we can only hope for, let alone measure!