“Uplifting Women Street Vendors Program” (UWSVP), an initiative of The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA), to uplift women street vendors, has been launched in Arunachal Pradesh on February 4.
Arunachal also became the 4th state to launch the programme, after Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.
The launching programme was held at St. Francis School in Dadam Block of Tirap district and attended by 124 women from Dadam village.
The women were mostly engaged in producing and marketing of local farm yields in Dadam and neighboring town of Khonsa.
They also engaged in door-to-door sale or dot the streets with their local produces ranging from variety of fruits and vegetables, both farmed and foraged from the wild. The programme was moderated by CEO of Khajen Farmers Producer Company Limited, Chanem Thingnok.
Content Writer at tEA, Chubatemjen spoke on the origin, vision, and mission of tEA and the relevance of the Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme, especially in rural spaces.
He elaborated on the impact of the initiative since its inception under the mentorship of the Executive Director of tEA, Neikule Doulo. He further substantiated on strategies for women to attain financial freedom and the vital role that blue collar jobs play in sustaining the economy.
CEO of Pedmoahty Farmers Producer Company Limited, Khiapgi Agi, who also spoke at the event, highlighted importance of savings.
He also briefed the women on the various profitable saving pools trained under tEA.
Lawyer and CEO of Sunphiak Farmers Producer Company Limited, Senya Lowang enlightened the women of their legal rights as street vendors and the availability of seeking free legal aid from the State Legal Service Authority.
President of Dadam Catholic Church, Liamja Sumnyan expressed delight to tEA for pioneering an empowering initiative in Arunachal Pradesh, specifically with regards to Dadam.
It may be noted that the Uplifting Women Street Vendors Program was a flagship program of The Entrepreneurs Associates, launched in October 2017, to empower women involved in the network of marketing farm produce.
Till date, tEA has trained and worked with 7000 women street vendors in Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam with plans to branch out to other neighboring states in the upcoming days.
Under the program, tEA has also been providing training on financial and business management, skills training, health and legal services, mentorship and linkages to markets and Zero Interest Loans. tEA was hopeful that 2025, 10,000 women street vendors will be impacted under the program.