The Covid-19 pandemic may have changed the way we live, but it has not deterred our spirit. This is what struck me the most during a recent virtual town hall with our 130+ on-ground field staff.
Crisil Foundation's on-ground field staff typically travel at least 15,000 km every year to the most remote villages of Assam, Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra. However, they had switched to lockdown-impelled work-from-home mode just as easily within a week by March-end.
How we work has changed so much in these few months. We have moved to byte-sized content through virtual trainings, amplified use of online platforms and virtual monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
More importantly, it has united us in more ways than one, with the pandemic as the common enemy. Let us continue to spread positivity and encourage others to stay safe, healthy and happy.
In this milieu, I am happy to share our new, revamped online edition of ‘Pragati ke Saarthi’ (Version 2.0), Crisil’s quarterly e-newsletter, which covers our pandemic-related interventions.
We have come a long way since our first edition in 2015. Our outreach has grown manifold and our team’s footprint has expanded to diverse locations.
Through our flagship programme ‘Mein Pragati’ in Assam and Rajasthan, we have successfully driven positive change in financial inclusion for 160,000 self-help group women, their households and communities. We have created a community cadre of 700+ Sakhis in these states, who have driven over one lakh linkages to various financial services and social security schemes and financial awareness at the doorstep level. Steps are afoot to formally certify them as financial health workers through an online app-based certification programme, GramShakti.
It has also been close to three years since the Reserve Bank of India trusted us with the responsibility of implementing an ambitious pilot project of setting up and managing MoneyWise Centres for Financial Literacy (CFL) at a block level – currently active in 25 locations across seven districts of Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan. The CFLs are working closely with banks, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and other stakeholders to further the financial inclusion agenda. They have become an integral part of the financial ecosystem in these districts.
Our endeavour to scale new heights, enabling women, their households and communities attain the goal of financial freedom, continues. As Nelson Mandela once said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Let’s build on this foundation together.
Maya Vengurlekar
Chief Operating Officer
Crisil Foundation
