A Social Enterprise in the Making: Can a Private Sector Model Work for Poor Women in India?
Women are overrepresented worldwide in the informal sector, with no easy transition to more decent, better-paid employment. Waste picking in particular is a highly vulnerable and risky form of informal employment. In 1995, India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) organized women waste pickers in Ahmedabad into a cooperative to improve their working conditions and livelihoods. Over time, this informal arrangement evolved into Gitanjali – a women-owned and -run social enterprises.
The Center for Global Development is delighted to bring together some of the key private sector partners that helped Gitanjali generate social value, along with practioners from the public sector and multilateral financial institutions, for a robust discussion about job options for poor women in low-paid, informal occupations, including a model entrepreneurship venture. The event will begin with a discussion of the CGD report, The Gitanjali Cooperative: A Social Enterprise in the Making. A panel discussion will follow. Light refreshments and limited copies of the report’s executive summary will be provided.
Location: Washington, DC
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2018
