Empowering SHGs

BTS has initiated a project to enhance existing women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and spread micro-credit benefits in new areas. Their goal is to boost women’s independence and economic growth. A key achievement is the creation of the “Kultali Mahila Bikash Co-operative Credit Society” in the Kultali Community Development Block. This society, approved by the West Bengal Government, represents all women SHGs. Here, each woman can own shares, making them a part of the larger credit cooperative. Essentially, this Women’s Credit Bank showcases the progress of women’s groups that BTS began promoting years ago.

BTS has taken a significant step in empowering the women’s Self-Help Group, “Sundari,” to produce cost-effective sanitary napkins for the Sunderban Region’s rural communities. Given the financial challenges many adolescent girls and disadvantaged women face, mainstream sanitary products often become unaffordable. BTS’s initiative seeks to address this by offering a viable alternative. To put this in perspective, BTS currently provides sanitary napkins to 1,550 school-attending adolescent girls at a mere cost of Rs. 5 for two packs every month. With the inauguration of BTS’s Sanitary Napkin Production Unit (SNPU) in July 2018, the distribution is set to expand, amplifying the reach and impact of the “Sundari” initiative in local markets.