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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
SECTOR TRACK REPORT
WOMENEMPOWERMENT
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 02
MESSAGE From Mr. T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs 03
SECTION 1 Introduction to the SDG on Women Empowerment 04
SECTION 2 The importance of SDG 5 in India
2.a. The Indian economy, gender disparity and a course of action 06
SECTION 3Current Challenges and how SDG 5 will help
3.a. The progress so far in bridging the gap of access to finance, sectors catering to women and the continued challenges being faced 12
3.b. Case studies of innovative products in the market that address the various needs of women in rural India. 17
SECTION 4 SDGs and the Impact Investment Industry, the road ahead 21
SECTION 5Recommendations to ensure the successin achieving the outcomes of SDG 5 22
ANNEXURE 1Stories of Impact from Northern Arc’s Clientele 26
ANNEXURE 2About Northern Arc Capital & Northern Arc Investments 28
ANNEXURE 3About Impact Investors Council 28
THE SDG 5,GENDER EQUALITY ANDWOMEN EMPOWERMENT-THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVEAuthored by:Namitha JanardhanAssociate Vice President,Northern Arc Investments(formerly IFMR Investments)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
T.S. Tirumurti is currently the Secretary (Economic Relations) in the
Ministry of External Affairs. T.S. Tirumurti joined the Indian Foreign
Service in 1985. His previous diplomatic assignments include postings
in Cairo, Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, Representative of
India in Gaza, Washington D.C, Deputy Chief of Mission in Jakarta and
High Commissioner in Malaysia. He has also served as Under
Secretary (Bhutan), Director (Foreign Secretary’s Office), Joint
Secretary (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives) and Joint
Secretary (United Nations Economic and Social) during his stints at
the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.
02 03
We would like
to thank Mann Deshi,
Asha Impact, Kois Invest
and Northern Arc’s partners
for their valuable
contributions towards
the report.
- Northern Arc
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SDG ONGENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
1 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%202015%20rev%20(July%201).pdf 2 http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures#notes
End all formsof discrimination
Eliminate all formsof violenceagainst women
Eliminate allharmful Practices
Recognize and valueunpaid care anddomestic work
Adopt sound policiesfor promotion of gender equality
Ensure women's fullparticipation and equal
opportunities
Universal access tosexual and reproductive
health and rights
Reforms to givewomen equal right to
economic resources
Enhance the useof enabling techology
to promote womenempowermentSDG 5
Gender Equality
Empirical studies in the past have pointed out a strong correlation between economic empowerment of
women and bridging the gap in gender inequality. ‘When more women work, economies grow. An
increase in female labour force participation or a reduction in the gap between women’s and men’s
labour force participation results in faster economic growth’2 (A study conducted by OECD).
04 05
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
3http://www.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) this
year, Christine Lagarde of IMF (International
Monetary Fund) pointed out that raising
women’s participation in the workforce to
the level of men can boost the Indian economy
by 27%.
India has among the lowest participation in the
workforce, ranking 120th among 131 countries, a
World Bank report states. The labour force
participation rate for women in 2017 was 28.5%
in comparison to 82% for men (The Global
Gender Gap Report 2017)3.
As per WEFs latest Global Gender Gap Index 2017,
India fell 21 places far behind neighbouring
countries like China. The Gender Gap Index
further points out that 66% of women’s work in
India is unpaid.
When we look at high ranking countries across the
world, what has enabled them to achieve better
gender equality, traditionally measured by a
combination of factors including high labour force
participation, minimal or zero disparity in salary
based on gender and opportunities available for
women, is primarily because of an inclusive
ecosystem that promotes:
1) Education2) Family support & work life balance through relevant policies3) Equal division of work with parental leave that enables both parents to assume equal responsibility
4) The presence of day care centres across ages5) Policies against gender-based violence among others
In developed countries, gender equality is
primarily associated with institutionalizing
certain best practices and policies. However, the
issue surrounding gender equality in India and
other developing countries are more
deep-rooted with a need for a shift in the
mindset of society.
Often referred to as the ‘unwanted daughters’ of
India, mothers from various walks of life have
been shunned time and again for not bringing a
boy child into the world. Fear instilled in young
mothers, coupled with the belief that women
across many pockets in India are inferior to men,
has resulted in many mothers taking drastic
steps.
GENDER GAP IN LABORFORCE PARTICIPATION
India Turkey Mexico Indonesia Costa Rica Colombia Chile Brazil South Korea Italy
OECD 2017
With the role of women often perceived to end at
home not much effort is spent educating girls,
resulting in girls and women being viewed as an
economic burden.
Women face several issues across the spectrum
of society and in every walk of life. These
issues need to be addressed to enable greater
equality.
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
SECTION 2: THE IMPORTANCE OF SDG 5 IN INDIA
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
According to a report by UNICEF, more baby
girls die in India in comparison to boys with
parents less likely to seek treatment for a sick
baby girl than a boy. A preference for sons has
also resulted in a skewed sex ratio with female
foeticide and infanticide rampant across India.
A 2011 study in a British medical journal
(Lancet) showed that over 12 million India girls
were aborted since 1981. Over 2,000 girls are
killed in the womb every day.
2.a. The Indian economy, gender disparity and a course of action
06 07
https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Every_Child_Alive_The_urgent_need_to_end_newborn_deaths.pdf
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
The issues highlighted above have plagued
gender inequality in Indian society for countless
years. However, looking at urban India especially
middle income or high-income groups, we notice
that there has been a progressive shift over the
last decade or more, primarily driven by a change
in thought processes of younger generations.
With the implementation of certain laws and
policies, to create a controlled environment, we
expect far more gender equality in urban India
going forward.
We believe that to address gender inequality in India, with 70% of India’s population living in rural areas, the epicentre of the issue currently lies here and is far more rampant and ingrained. Moreover, the issues of gender inequality are elevated by the extreme levels of poverty witnessed across many sections of India, both urban and rural.
With women being viewed as an economic
burden, we believe that the first step towards
bringing about equality in society is by creating
opportunities and facilities that could help
economically empower women in India through
the provision of finance, education and skills.
This in turn could lead to more balanced
households.
It is essential to equip women with these skills for
them to subsist in society without the support of
male counterparts, which has been an effort
undertaken by Northern Arc Capital/Investments
(formerly IFMR Capital/Investments) over the last
ten years through over 140+ partner institutions.
As eloquently stated by Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation “We know that women and girls have
a unique power to reshape societies. When you
invest in a woman’s health and empowerment, it
has a ripple effect, helping families, communities,
and countries achieve long-lasting benefits10.”
If we are to look at the financial position of women in rural India prior to the introduction of the SDGs, according to a 2012 report by World Bank, only 26% of women in India had an account with a formal financial institution. Less than 15% of women entrepreneurs had access to finance from formal financial institutions11
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
According to a WDR 2012 report by
World Bank women account for 81%
of household work4.
66% of women's work in India is
unpaid for as per the WEF Gender
Gap Index.
An unequal division of work is often
a common cause of gender
inequality. With often no time to
spend on other activities,
a women’s role is automatically
assumed to end at home.
at Home
While women constitute almost half
the population in India, their
participation in the employment
sector is visibly much lower than
men.
There is a 20% gender pay gap in
most organizations between men
and women which increases with
the number of years of experience
(Monster Salary Index 2016)5.
140 women held 12.4% of board
seats and just 3.2% of board chairs
in 2017 (Deloitte, Women in the
Boardroom: A Global Perspective)6.
An unequal division of work at
home in turn translates to lower
employment rates of women. As
women are perceived to assume
certain roles in life, it has been
observed that in most
organizations inflexible policies has
resulted in over 50% of Indian
women dropping out of
employment between junior and
mid-levels (Catalyst India)7
Employment
As per the Indian Census of India,
2011, 82% of boys were literate in
comparison to 65% of girls8. While
significant progress has been made
through the MDGs in bridging this
gap with a decrease in the gender
gap of boys and girls enrolled in
school there still much more to be
done.
The Annual Status of Education
Report points to unfair division of
resources with 89% of girls required
to do household chores9. Further,
more girls drop out of school as
they reach puberty primarily on
account of social stigmas
associated with sanitary health.
Creating an ecosystem that fosters
education and good health is
essential to enable women to
assume roles beyond their
expected responsibilities.
Education
& Health
Environment Statistics Impact on Women
A survey of 34 developing nations
by the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization show that
women own less than 10% of land
in these countries.
If we are to look at India alone, a
study by the National Council of
Economic Research points out that
while women comprise over 42%
of agricultural labour force, they
own less than 2% of farm land.
According to the Economic Survey
2018, women workers were found
to be the most disadvantaged as
they constitute a high percentage
of the low skilled labour force and
hence engage only in unskilled, low
wage jobs.
Ownership of land is essential to
enable women to assert
themselves in society. Creating an
environment where decision
making is not lopsided, is essential
to ensure that women assume an
equal footing as men would in
society.
Skill development, especially in
rural India, will enable women to
use their time and resources much
more productively adding to the
welfare of the economy as well as
enabling a progressive shift
towards formal activities.
Ownership
of Land
Skills
Environment Statistics Impact on Women
4 https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/7778105-1299699968583/7786210-1315936222006/Complete-Report.pdf5 https://media.monsterindia.com/logos/research_report/MSI_Gender_Ready_Reckoner_March_2017.pdf6 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Risk/ Women%20in%20the%20boardroom%20a%20global%20perspective%20fifth%20edition.pdf7 https://www.catalyst.org/system/files/india_firststep_final_1.pdf8 http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/data_files/india/Final_PPT_2011_chapter6.pdf9 http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publications/ASER%20Reports/ASER%202016/aser2016_nationalpressrelease.pdf
10 https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ 11 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/453121468331738740/pdf/WPS6025.pdf
*arrows indicate the relationship between various factors in enabling gender equality
08 09
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
Economic Empowerment & Gender Equality
At least 636 mn Indians lack access to toilets, as per latest
census data. Women have to venture far from their homes to
defecate creating physical and mental stress. Open defecation
also leads to malnutrition and disease. Further, health hazards
increase during times of mensuration.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the
pollution level in rural Indian kitchens is 30 times higher than
acceptable levels. With women spending a large part of their
time in kitchens, they remain the most susceptible to the
harmful health hazards with a need.
According to a report by Bloomberg, 240 mn Indians do not
have any access to electricity. This results in many households
using kerosene or diesel which have many health and
environmental hazards
EconomicEmpowerment
SDG 5Indicator
More women educatedbeyond primary andsecondary education
leads to
Reducedfertillity rates
Higher GDP & lowerlevels of poverty
Lower infantmortality rates
Increase in theage of marriage
Higher income &understanding leads tobetter knowledge and
education
BalancedHousehold Income
Self awareness& decision making
capability
Ensure women's fullparticipation andequal opportunities
An illustration of how we envision the correlation between
economic empowerment and equality to look like is provided below:
Interventions
• Skill Development
• Inculcate saving practices
• Education on impact of
women contributing
to household income
• Education towords
respectful relationships
and gender equality
• Better awareness and
understanding of sexual
and reproductive health
While India has made tremendous strides towards
a lot of the issues stated including through
focussed government schemes such as Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao (A government scheme to
generate awareness and improve the efficiency of
welfare services intended for girls), extension of
mandatory maternity leave to 26 weeks for
women employed in public and private sectors
under the labour law, toilet schemes under Swach
Bharat Abhiyan and door step banking among
others, far more capital needs to flow into the
private sector to enable further development.
The SDGs on Gender Equality is a much-needed
step forward, creating a mechanism to enable
empowerment of women in India through clearly
defined goals.
10 11
In addition to traditional finance facilities,rural women face various other obstacles that preventthem from progressing in the economic ladder:
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
While highlighting the issues above it is pertinent
to state that India has progressed significantly
over the last twenty years with many specific
schemes launched to tackle the issue of poverty
as well as enable gender equality.
For example, according to the Global Findex
Report 2017, in 2014 men were 20% more likely
than women to have a bank account. That gap
has now shrunk to 6%.
The government has over the last decade
launched a number of schemes to enable financial
inclusion especially in rural India including Mudra
Yojana (a financial initiative for facilitating MSMEs
with sufficient funds to help them develop their
businesses), Jan Dhan Yojana (A national mission
for financial inclusion to ensure access to financial
services) and Stand Up India (a scheme for the
promotion of entrepreneurship among women
and individuals belonging to lower castes).
Niti Aayog recently launched a women
entrepreneurship platform with initiatives aimed
at building an ecosystem for the development of
women-entrepreneurs. In addition, a real push
towards the enablement of access to finance,
specifically to women in rural India, has been
through the creation of a favourable ecosystem
driven by the presence of microfinance
companies and rural co-operative banks.
Today microfinance institutions have enabled
access to finance to thousands of women across
India. These are women who aspired to set up
their own businesses and break the shackles of
society. They however did not have adequate
support financially to do so owing to minimal
support from the family, lack of adequate
documents to approach a bank and financial
illiteracy.
Over the last decade, microfinance institutions
have enabled more women to contribute to the
economy and their families, helping them adopt
an equal footing in society.
Northern Arc identified and assisted many such
institutions at a time when their access to
finance and capital markets was limited enabling
them to provide assistance to many women like
Shakun.
In addition, these microfinance institutions have
not only provided basic financial requirements,
but also expanded their services to provide Water
and Sanitation Loansas well as, Solar Power/
Energy efficient loans.
According to a report by Microfinance Gateway
with evidence from World Bank Water Global
Practice’s Water and Sanitation Program and
Water.org, USD 120 million in microfinance
lending has resulted in more than 573,000
household water and sanitation loans, reaching
more than 2.4 million people. Based on the
survey, 25% of women stated that they were able
to improve their productivity with access to these
loans, with less time being spent venturing
outdoors and in taking care of sick families.
The survey was based on data collected from
India, Bangladesh, Kenya and the Philippines12
Financial institutions must be far more inclusive
to empower women to take on larger roles:
While microfinance has helped to a large extent in
economically empowering women, to enable
women to benefit much more from the finance
provided and to help them grow especially post
availing their first loan various other factors come
into play. Through our field work, we have
observed that while it is crucial to provide women
with the necessary finance, it is equally essential
to teach them other skills such as the importance
of savings, insurance, pension and capital growth
among others to ensure long term productivity
and self-sustainability. However, in some cases,
financial literacy is limited to educating
customers about the terms of the loan provided.
In a study conducted by IFMR Lead it was found
that even the provision of a lock box with a key
increased savings of women with a less likelihood
of indulging in unplanned expenditures.
Financial empowerment & education also goes
hand in hand with skill development: While some
women have been financially empowered, the
biggest challenge facing most women is the lack
of adequate skills owing to their circumstances,
with girls forced to drop out of school at a young
age. Poor skills and no financial literacy
automatically reduce or eliminates a large
population of women who are unaware of the
facilities offered by institutions and the plethora
of opportunities available to them. It is essential,
that we create an ecosystem where women
realize their aspirations and ambitions in life and
create opportunities to achieve them. The Skill
India initiative launched by the government of
India primarily through the Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) incentivises skill
training, providing rewards for enrolling in skill
development programmes. Through the skill India
program more than 35 lakh women have been
empowered.
More microfinance institutions need to begin
adopting their own skill development
programmes or partner with institutions that
provide these services with skill development
and financial education complementing the
provision of loans: While there are many
individual organizations that have been
established with a focus on skill development
there is little collaboration between economic
empowerment, financial literacy and skill
development. Further, skill development and
financial education at times needs to be a first
step adopted by institutions to attract many more
women into the financial system.
Some of our partner institutions have set up their
own foundations or subsidiaries to provide skill
development to their borrowers. A notable name
in this cause is Madura Microfinance, who through
their subsidiary Madura Micro Education has
rolled out a number of initiatives including mini
MBA courses. The mini MBA course trains women
entrepreneurs about the fundamentals of
business and marketing, equipping them with the
necessary skills to plan and grow their businesses.
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
SECTION 3: CURRENT CHALLENGES ANDHOW SDG 5 WILL HELP3.a. The progress so far in bridging the gap of access to finance, sectors catering to women
and the continued challenges being faced
In an impact evaluation study conducted by IFMR Lead on inclusive growth through Microfinance
and entrepreneurial training, the results from the study suggest that the implemented Self-Help
Group (SHG) program is a powerful tool in mobilizing rural households to save and acquire loans
from formal sources, thus formalizing financial services for the poor. SHGs act as an important
platform for achieving financial inclusion for rural women belonging to low income households.
Results also indicate that a holistic SHG program comprising not just of group formation and loan
disbursement, but of business and skills training, makes group members more likely to start and
expand businesses. It also helps make them more likely to reinvest their profits, thereby promoting
self-employment and opportunities to diversify their income, and increasing their welfare
Shakun has been a customer of SV Credit Line (SVCL), a partner of Northern
Arc since 2011. After her husband died, she took over the command of her
family. She was 42 years old at the time. Her first loan was invested into her
family snack business. While the business was earlier run at her house, post
acquiring a loan, she bought a cart and started selling chaat (an Indian snack)
in the local market. The business flourished, and she started making profits.
After years of successfully running the business, Shakun now owns three
carts, managed by herself and her two sons.
‘Because I work, I feel self-sufficient and everyone respects me at home. I hope to grow my business much more with the help of SVCL’
12 http://www.findevgateway.org/library/microfinance-water-and-sanitation-how-one-small-loan-makes-difference
12 13http://ifmrlead.org/inclusive-growth-through-microfinance-and-entrepreneurial-training-an-impact-study/
Forty-five year old Vandana Raut was married
off at fourteen to a family of daily wage
labourers who lived in Dahiwadi, Satara
district, Maharashtra. While she was in charge
of managing their home, her husband and
father-in-law worked on farms, earning a paltry
income. After the birth of her two children and
an illness in the family, finances became even
more strained. Unsure of what to do since she
was only a sixth standard dropout, Vandana
was extremely worried. Moreover, as living
expenses continued to mount, she began to
face a lot of pressure to take her older
daughter out of school.
At this time, Vandana came across Mann Deshi
Foundation and enrolled in the financial
literacy course run by the Foundation’s
Business School for Rural Women. She had no
money, no savings and no bank account of her
own. What she did have however was a
determination to set up a business that would
provide enough income to ensure that her
daughter could continue in school. The training
impressed upon her the need to start saving so
she could build a financial foundation for her
business and apply for a loan. She opened a
Mann Deshi bank account and began savings
Rs. 50 a day through the bank’s doorstep
service.
A little later, she took a Mann Deshi Bank loan
to start a vada pao business. As she only had a
handcart from which she sold food items, she
didn’t make as much as she expected. She
turned to the Foundation for a more advanced
financial literacy course. This time, she learned
about business and time management. Her
business improved, and her husband joined
her. Whenever she needed financial support or
guidance on how to expand her business, save
her money or invest in improvements, she
would turn to Mann Deshi.
Her business grew and as her income
increased, she was able to ensure that her
children continued in school without any
opposition. She opened a fixed deposit
account and then used that money, and the
interest it earned, to continue to expand her
business.
Today, she is the proud owner of a 2000
square foot plot that she has mortgaged so
that she could build, set up and run a
permanent vada pav stall. She has taken half a
dozen loans and grown her savings to Rs. 400
a day. She has an LIC policy, something she
understood as extremely important as a result
of her financial literacy trainings.
Her older daughter is well educated and
married while the others continue to study. She
says that the Mann Deshi business and
financial training and support she received
ensured that her family is now stable and
happy.
41 year old Selvarani, a client of Madura Microfinance (a partner of Northern Arc)
learnt tailoring when she was just 20 years old and has been in the tailoring
business for the last 10 years. Her business however was not very profitable with
significant competition. She decided to expand her business and with Rs. 15,000
that she had saved over these years, she ventured into the sale of sarees, dress
materials and other ready-made garments for women. She didn’t want to ask her
husband to purchase more garments as it was her individual endeavor to
succeed as an entrepreneur. She wanted her financial freedom to make business
decisions. The biggest challenge she faced was that only people who know her
personally and her customers were aware of her business. Her goal was to reach
out to and attract many new customers.
Selvarani attended a course on Micro Business Education from Madura Micro
Education which includes topics of entrepreneurship and consumer literacy.
After taking the course, she installed a signage for her store which gave her great
visibility and made her shop easily identifiable. She also started giving out carry
bags with the name of her business and phone number printed on it. Through
business education, Selvarani gained more knowledge on understanding
customers’ needs as per the season and occasion, how to better interact with
customers and pricing her products appropriately.
Selvarani’s profits increased substantially post the course and her tailoring
business also grew. Madura, truly empowered Selvarani to run a successful
business by providing her with all the resources required to help her grow.
Mann Deshi Foundation is another noteworthy
name. Chetna Gala Sinha, the founder of Mann
Deshi has been an advocate for women
empowerment. Chetna Sinha’s story started in the
mid 1990’s in the drought prone village of
Mhaswad in the state of Maharashtra India. In
1996, Kantabai, a welder who lived on the street,
wanted to buy a tarpaulin sheet to protect her
family from the rains. She needed a safe space to
keep her daily savings out of the reach of her
alcoholic husband. She went from bank to bank
trying to open an account. No bank would accept
her as a customer. This was when Chetna decided
to start a co-operative bank for women like
Kantabai.
Mann Deshi through their foundation and bank
have reached out to over 400,000 women
through 16 Business Schools with courses covering
financial literacy, computer literacy, banking,
personality development, tailoring, beauty
services, and more. Through participation, Mann
Deshi helped the average annual income of
business school trainees to increase by 25% with
40% of participants starting to regularly save. They
also started a business school on wheels which
plies through rural areas to reach out to borrowers.
14 15
In spite all efforts taken so far, the gap in male
and female labour force participation continues
to hover at over 50%.
Various efforts can be taken to enable financial
empowerment through financial literacy and
skill development to bring in more women into
the financial system. However, this will be
incomplete unless combined with efforts
focussed on changing the mindset of
households on the role of women: The role of
men and women, especially in Indian society, is
in many cases already pre-defined. To witness
more empowerment in India, these roles need
to merge. At an urban level, if we are to look at
the corporate sector this requires many more
policies implemented towards maintaining a
certain ratio of women employees to male
employees creating an incentive for companies
to ensure hiring is aligned with this. In addition,
flexible working hours and day care centres
incorporated into work are much needed. At an
educational level, this requires incorporation of
curriculums specifically on equality in schools.
Most learning is imbedded in children at a
young age with what they observe around
them shaping their outlook. Removing
gender stereotypes is key to creating a more
balanced society. At a rural level, in addition to
education far more awareness needs to be
created across various levels starting from the
governing bodies. More representation by
women on these committees is a first step
towards bringing many more women into the
work force, creating policies that help in
empowering them.
There is a necessity to develop innovative
products at the ground level, as well as fund
structures that will enable further flow of capital
into these areas for creating avenues to finance
that enables women to progress in society.
Shobha Raut developed polio when she was just ten months old. A serial
entrepreneur, she has never let her handicap inhibit her ambitions. Her
first micro finance loan of INR 15,000 helped her start her own stationary
and clothing business. As her business and profits grew, so did her
confidence to take on larger loans.
She now plans to build additional space in her shop, buy new furniture
and expand her offerings with an ultimate dream of buying a home.
Recently completing a 100 km walk to a temple to prove her
determination, there is no doubt that this inspiring young woman can accomplish whatever she
sets out to do.
Shobha is just one of millions of women micro-entrepreneurs. They have repaid numerous cycles
of micro-finance loans, built their capital and businesses and are now ready and keen to take their
enterprise to the next level.
Forty-five year old Vandana Raut was married
off at fourteen to a family of daily wage
labourers who lived in Dahiwadi, Satara
district, Maharashtra. While she was in charge
of managing their home, her husband and
father-in-law worked on farms, earning a paltry
income. After the birth of her two children and
an illness in the family, finances became even
more strained. Unsure of what to do since she
was only a sixth standard dropout, Vandana
was extremely worried. Moreover, as living
expenses continued to mount, she began to
face a lot of pressure to take her older
daughter out of school.
At this time, Vandana came across Mann Deshi
Foundation and enrolled in the financial
literacy course run by the Foundation’s
Business School for Rural Women. She had no
money, no savings and no bank account of her
own. What she did have however was a
determination to set up a business that would
provide enough income to ensure that her
daughter could continue in school. The training
impressed upon her the need to start saving so
she could build a financial foundation for her
business and apply for a loan. She opened a
Mann Deshi bank account and began savings
Rs. 50 a day through the bank’s doorstep
service.
A little later, she took a Mann Deshi Bank loan
to start a vada pao business. As she only had a
handcart from which she sold food items, she
didn’t make as much as she expected. She
turned to the Foundation for a more advanced
financial literacy course. This time, she learned
about business and time management. Her
business improved, and her husband joined
her. Whenever she needed financial support or
guidance on how to expand her business, save
her money or invest in improvements, she
would turn to Mann Deshi.
Her business grew and as her income
increased, she was able to ensure that her
children continued in school without any
opposition. She opened a fixed deposit
account and then used that money, and the
interest it earned, to continue to expand her
business.
Today, she is the proud owner of a 2000
square foot plot that she has mortgaged so
that she could build, set up and run a
permanent vada pav stall. She has taken half a
dozen loans and grown her savings to Rs. 400
a day. She has an LIC policy, something she
understood as extremely important as a result
of her financial literacy trainings.
Her older daughter is well educated and
married while the others continue to study. She
says that the Mann Deshi business and
financial training and support she received
ensured that her family is now stable and
happy.
This section explores innovative products in the
market that cater to various aspects highlighted in
earlier sections that hinder women’s footing in
society.
A fund focussed on empowering micro-
entrepreneurs in rural India: Northern Arc
Investments in partnership with Mann Deshi is
launching India’s first Alternative Investment Fund
focussed on women micro- entrepreneurship with
an underlying theme of women empowerment.
Both Northern Arc and Mann Deshi have been
working towards the financial inclusion and
empowerment of women across India. The
partnership will help leverage on the expertise of
both groups, reaching out to a much larger set of
women micro-entrepreneurs who are looking to
grow their businesses.
Northern Arc Investments (formerly IFMR
Investments) is a specialized asset manager
investing in the impact space in India across six
sectors - microfinance, small business finance,
vehicle finance, agriculture finance, affordable
housing finance and corporate finance. NAI
currently manages six debt Alternative
Investment Funds with USD 150+mn of AUM and
40+ unique investors. Mann Deshi’s activities
highlighted under section 3.a. has helped
empower women across the state of Maharashtra.
Both Northern Arc and Mann Deshi stand out for
their continued efforts towards fostering an
environment that helps empower women.
Northern Arc’s access across India through
partner institutions and Mann Deshi’s expertise
through their cooperative bank and foundation
will lead to wider outreach to women in need of
finances and skills that are required to take on
roles as entrepreneurs.
The fund has been launched to address a specific
need that exists, where women face a significant
capital crunch while growing their businesses.
While many women can avail microfinance loans
through a Joint Liability Group (JLG) model, the
maximum cap on these loans is at INR 80,000.
Moreover, traditionally most microfinance
institutions do not exceed loan amount of INR
40,000 – INR 50,000 and this is post multiple
cycles of lending. In addition, when we look at
small business finance companies, funding is
largely skewed with majority of the funding
provided to men. This again stems from the root
cause of gender disparity with most businesses
being in the name of men throwing up the issue of
inequal ownership as highlighted earlier in this
report.
Most microfinance borrowers borrow to start a
range of businesses including dairy, tailoring
shops, kirana stores, saree shops, beauty parlours
and much more. Post the initial set up, they have
limited access to finance to meet their working
capital needs.
3.b. Case studies of innovative products in the market that address the various needs
of women in rural India.
An example of one such woman’s story is illustrated below
To enable the goals of SGD 5 to be met and for economic empowerment, in addition to finance, investments must focus
on other factors as well. Each of these factors are inter-linked and complement each other. A few examples of
what we need to see more to enable economic empowerment and gender equality is captured above
SD
G 5
In
ve
stm
en
t F
ocu
s
EconomicEmpowerment
SkillDevelopment
SkillDevelopment
FinancialEducation
Education onGender Equality
Participation bywomen
Technology Health
Incorporatingcompulsoryskilldevelopmenttraining asa part ofmicrofinanceloans
FinancialLiteracy beyondthe termsof the loans- inculcatingsaving habits
GenderEqualityas part ofschoolcurriculum
Cornpanies tomaintain a ratioof men towomen withflexible policies
Enablingaccess tomobile servicesto createfurther accessto finance
Building thenecessaryinfrastructurewith adequatesanitation &water facilities
Collaboration ofgovernment skilldevelopmentprogrammeswith financialinstitutions inrural India
Moreorganizationsto set up , skilland employwomen fromrural areas
Inculcatingfinancialknowledgethrough playsand songs foreasy understandingin rural India
Policies andeducationthroughwomen oncouncils/bodies
In governmentbodies ofpanchayats invillages canhelp representmore womenin rural India
To equip morerural householdwith technologyenabling womento accesseducation &finance at theirdoorstep
Much moreimportanceneeds to beprovided tomenstrual andreproducivehealth withMoblie medicalunits acrossvillages
Through the provisionof finance and jobs
16 17
The fund has been designed to cater to women
like Shobha by promoting larger ticket size
lending and increasing the share of financing to
women in a male dominated world. The fund
intends to achieve this aim by offering subsidized
funding for on-lending to women entrepreneurs
above a certain ticket size. The fund will also help
balance out ownership issues with businesses
required to be in the name of women to access
finance.
The fund also intends to provide women micro
entrepreneurs with an ecosystem that will enable
them to thrive by promoting Water & Sanitation
and Solar power loans, key requirements to
enable healthy functioning of women
entrepreneurs.
This is only one such example in the market which
has been designed to create an enabler that
redefines the role of a women, creating a platform
that promotes lending to women, providing her
with the able resources required to carve her
identity in society.
A few other examples of companies who through
innovative design and ideas, are addressing some
of the key issues being faced by women across
health, education, skill development, financial
planning and technology include:
Financial Planning: Kaleidofin, was started to
address a pertinent need that existed in the
market. While money was flowing into the sector,
there was little financial planning that enabled
households to grow their finances. Kaleidofin
moved beyond the concept of ‘one size fits all’
developing tailored financial solutions using
intelligent algorithms to suit customers’ unique
goals, such as education of their children,
extension of their home and pension for the times
they will no longer be able to work. Financial
planning creates an opportunity for smoothening
of income reducing the economic burden on
households to meet specific expenses.
Health & Education: Menstruation is a key
component of a woman’s life. Yet it remains a
taboo in many cultures, including in India, where
the issue has been consistently overlooked,
underestimated, and underfunded. A recent
survey by the National Family Health Survey
(NFHS) indicates that as many as 62% of women
in the age group of 15 to 24 years still use cloth
during mensuration. With sample data from
2015-16, the figures are much higher in the North
with 82% of women in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh at
81% depending on cloth, leading to reproductive
and urinary tract infection. This has a critical
impact on productive hours of women as well as
reduces self-worth as health issues begin to rise.
A report by Dasra states that 23% of
drop-outs from school are on account
of attaining puberty, with 70% of girls never
hearing of mensuration before their first
period14.
Girls feel less confident because of the lack of
sanitary facilities at schools and due to the
unavailability of better sanitary products. This
contributes to decline in school attendance and
eventually, negatively impacts their performance
at school.
KOIS Invest initiated a feasibility study for the
creation of a Development Impact Bond in
technical partnership with the Water Supply and
Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), a UN
entity that is a global advocate for adequate and
equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, as well as
paying special attention to the needs of women
and girls including Menstrual Hygiene
Management (MHM). The objective is to empower
adolescent girls by implementing a holistic MHM
programme, comprised of three interventions:
raising awareness, access to affordable sanitary
products and building MHM-friendly sanitary
infrastructure. The programme would be financed
through a Development Impact Bond which
remunerates investors based on the social
outcomes achieved. Through this initiative Kois
expects to reach out to over 200,000 girls
increasing their dignity, self-esteem and
confidence.
In addition, Institutions like Aakar innovations,
have innovated in the mensural hygiene space by
manufacturing low cost sanitary napkins,
developing training programs to teach rural
women about mensural hygiene through
interactive games, plays and videos. These are
only some of the kind of initiatives that are
required to prevent girls from dropping out of
school. A group of IIT Students designed a set of
games including a jig-saw puzzle, roulette and
memory game focussed on mensural hygiene.
Through project Titli these students have
educated over 1,500 women and girls.
Another company helping empower women
through its products is Greenway Appliances.
Each year, 4.3 million die from inhaling indoor air
pollution, adding up to more deaths than malaria,
tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Most poor
households that rely on inefficient cookstoves and
traditional sources of energy, also end up spending
a significant proportion of their income on fuel.
Their first product, the Greenway Smart Stove,
forms a modern replacement for traditional mud
stoves, saving 65% fuel and emitting 70% less
smoke, thus enabling healthier, happier kitchens.
The efficient, affordable cook stoves provide a
healthier, more convenient cooking experience for
families lacking access to modern cooking fuels
and replace traditional mud stoves that emit toxic
smoke. It also helps reduce the time women spend
on collecting firewood, thus enabling them to
spend more time with family or start their own
businesses.
Education: A school in Lucknow fits education into
the lives of young girls by operating at a convenient
time. The curriculum incorporates the importance of
gender equality in innovative and fun ways through
combining information with various techniques of
theatre. It is important that, to enable girls to
embrace education and hygiene, it is essential to
launch programmes or design curriculums that
embrace these girls’ circumstances.
Skill Development: The government has launched
several schemes including Modular Employable
Skills (MES) under Skill Development Initiative
(SDI), a scheme for training school dropouts in the
unorganized sector with employable skills;
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act – NREGA providing guaranteed
wage employment for unskilled manual labour
among many others as highlighted earlier. In the
private sector, institutions like SEWA, Mann Deshi,
Tara Livelihood academy have for many years
been resolute in their efforts towards skill
development. However as mentioned earlier, we
need to see much more co-ordination between
government organizations, private agencies,
financial institutions and companies that provide
employment for skill development programs to be
truly beneficial.
Technology: Neurosynaptic communications
through a cloud-based service ‘ReMedi Remote
Healthcare Delivery Solutions’ facilitates remote
diagnosis of patients by capturing various
physiological parameters. The technology enables
health technicians with little education to act as
proxy doctors with operations across 2,200
villages across India reaching out to over 50 mn
people. With no hospitals across many villages in
India and childbirths in unsanitary conditions
ideas such as these can reduce maternal deaths in
rural India.
To enable true empowerment, projects and ideas
such as these require much more support from
Impact Investors across the world enabling
impact creation across every nook and corner of
rural India.
18 19
As Chetna Gala Sinha states ‘the innovation lies not only in creating products, but the innovation also lies in investors taking a larger view of what social returns are. Sometimes this might involve some philanthropy as well. The point is to truly create the opportunity they provide to create real, deep change in the lives of millions. That would be truly win-win. Because what does winning really mean? It’s when everyone benefits. This is a process that takes time, and one where the women business owner is an active participant rather than a passive receiver, and the investor also makes money. the financial product and its bottom line -- investment return – should be only one part of a far bigger social goal.’
While innovative products like some of those stated
above are essential towards curbing gender
inequality, there is generally insufficient capital
available in the market to enable these projects to
get off the ground or to ensure sustainability.
Thus, while there has been capital flowing into the
sector with an underlying objective of impact, this
has not been the focus so far resulting in scattered
funding. The SDGs have through specific goals,
enabled enterprises to understand and better focus
on the goals that are to be achieved to increase
capital flow into their businesses. At the same time,
this has also enabled investors to develop clearly
identifiable metrics to form a part of their
investments.
While impact investments have been a common
phenomenon, the SDGs have also enabled the entry
of non-impact investors into the market in addition
to traditional players.
Today we see many investors launching specific
focussed strategies on SDGs. Partners Group
recently launched PG Life an investment strategy
focussed on UN’s SDGs with a dual mandate of
achieving risk adjusted financial returns and
measurable positive social and environmental
impact separate from their impact arm. Partners
Group was only one among 18 signatories in
Netherlands who together carved out a strategy for
SDG investing primarily through joint understanding
of SDG investing and outlining a clear roadmap for
collaboration and coordination among stakeholders
on achieving these SDGs.
With over 2.8 trillion euros of assets under
management across these 18 signatories in
Netherlands alone, the potential that one country
could achieve through the focussed SDG investing
is enormous and that is just one indicator of the
tremendous pool of capital available to solve key
issues and create impact.
In addition, the SDG on Gender Equality enables
Gender Lens investing to take much more
prominence. When we look at Gender Lens
investing, like the SDGs, the focus primarily is on
investing in products and services for women,
gender equality in the work place and investing in
areas that run or co-run by women and preventing
or providinge solutions to exploitation of women.
With several common metrics the SDG 5 should be
looked at in conjunction with gender lens investing.
Total assets in gender lens investing strategies
invested in public market securities had risen 41%
to $910 million in the 12 months ending June 30th
2017, just a little after SDG 5 came into existence15.
The SDGs, with specific impact metrics that allow an
investor to look at an investment holistically
enabling a financial return as well as a ensuring a
social impact specifically towards women, create
further avenues towards the promotion of gender
lens investing in India.
However, while devising strategies for impact
investments through SDGs, investors also need to
contemplate the right mixture of impact and returns
and how this would transcend to the ultimate
beneficiaries.
Going forward, we see many more impact as well
as corporate investors devising strategies on
specific SDGs that they would like to focus on, as
well as businesses adopting the key metrics of the
SDGs with a clear segmentation of investors and
investees based on the SDGs.
school. A group of IIT Students designed a set of
games including a jig-saw puzzle, roulette and
memory game focussed on mensural hygiene.
Through project Titli these students have
educated over 1,500 women and girls.
Another company helping empower women
through its products is Greenway Appliances.
Each year, 4.3 million die from inhaling indoor air
pollution, adding up to more deaths than malaria,
tuberculosis and AIDS combined. Most poor
households that rely on inefficient cookstoves and
traditional sources of energy, also end up spending
a significant proportion of their income on fuel.
Their first product, the Greenway Smart Stove,
forms a modern replacement for traditional mud
stoves, saving 65% fuel and emitting 70% less
smoke, thus enabling healthier, happier kitchens.
The efficient, affordable cook stoves provide a
healthier, more convenient cooking experience for
families lacking access to modern cooking fuels
and replace traditional mud stoves that emit toxic
smoke. It also helps reduce the time women spend
on collecting firewood, thus enabling them to
spend more time with family or start their own
businesses.
Education: A school in Lucknow fits education into
the lives of young girls by operating at a convenient
time. The curriculum incorporates the importance of
gender equality in innovative and fun ways through
combining information with various techniques of
theatre. It is important that, to enable girls to
embrace education and hygiene, it is essential to
launch programmes or design curriculums that
embrace these girls’ circumstances.
Skill Development: The government has launched
several schemes including Modular Employable
Skills (MES) under Skill Development Initiative
(SDI), a scheme for training school dropouts in the
unorganized sector with employable skills;
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act – NREGA providing guaranteed
wage employment for unskilled manual labour
among many others as highlighted earlier. In the
private sector, institutions like SEWA, Mann Deshi,
Tara Livelihood academy have for many years
been resolute in their efforts towards skill
development. However as mentioned earlier, we
need to see much more co-ordination between
government organizations, private agencies,
financial institutions and companies that provide
employment for skill development programs to be
truly beneficial.
Technology: Neurosynaptic communications
through a cloud-based service ‘ReMedi Remote
Healthcare Delivery Solutions’ facilitates remote
diagnosis of patients by capturing various
physiological parameters. The technology enables
health technicians with little education to act as
proxy doctors with operations across 2,200
villages across India reaching out to over 50 mn
people. With no hospitals across many villages in
India and childbirths in unsanitary conditions
ideas such as these can reduce maternal deaths in
rural India.
To enable true empowerment, projects and ideas
such as these require much more support from
Impact Investors across the world enabling
impact creation across every nook and corner of
rural India.
14https://www.dasra.org/sites/default/files/Dignity%20For%20Her%20-%20Part-I.pdf
SECTION 4: SDGS AND THE IMPACT INVESTMENTINDUSTRY, THE ROAD AHEAD
15 https://missioninvestors.org/sites/default/files/resources/Gender%20Lens%20Impact%20Investing%20Factsheet.pdf
20 21
of these laws still make assumptions of women’s
role in society. If we are to take gender equality
seriously, the government needs to ensure that all
laws are equal in its terms for men and women
and do not favour either party.
d) Policies for participation of women across the
board with specific policies for representation of
women in the corporate sector across various
levels and more reservations towards education
of women among others.
While we see several initiatives around us, to
ensure the effectiveness of the SDGs, businesses
must understand and align their work with the
needs of women, designing suitable products.
Thus, while developing products to help meet
SDGs, businesses must:
a) Map out targets under each SDG to focus on
b) Understand the challenges that face women
and devise a product that not only meets their
primary need but also helps overcome other
barriers that they face. For e.g. Providing the
option of mobile banking to women who cannot
venture to a bank can increase account usage
c) Besides designing innovative products, it is
also integral to understand the psyche of women
and the product at hand. For e.g. Educating
women about mensuration and sanitation might
be invited (in rural areas) only if these women are
approache by other women. Studies in the past
have indicated that female loan officers in
financial institutions can attract more women to
take a loan and start a business.
d) More businesses must take an active role
towards enabling women to enter the workforce
through company policies and innovative
strategies.
To enable the efficient adoption of SDG 5 there must be effective co-ordination across different
stakeholders with each party playing a role towards the achievement of SDG5. It is only through a
mutual understanding, agreement and a co-ordinated effort across stakeholders can we achieve the
outcomes of SDG 5.
SECTION 5: RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENSURETHE SUCCESS IN ACHIEVING THE OUTCOMES OF SDG 5
22 23
Investors Government
Beneficiaries InnovativeProducts
The Indian government has been committed
towards achieving national development goals,
having launched many schemes as well as
separate bodies such as Niti Aayog to achieve
these developmental goals. These goals have
been devised in line with the SDGs, with some
coming into existence even before the SDGs were
formally announced. While each of these
schemes have created significant impact and the
gender equality gap has narrowed over the years,
for schemes like these to reach every woman in
need:
a) There is a need for more co-ordinated efforts
between government and private organizations.
There are numerous organizations working
towards the empowerment of women. Mutually
mapped goals and targets with effective tracking
will prove beneficial to both parties with much
larger outreach as well as faster achievement of
goals.
b) The institution of bodies that consist of a mix
of representation of public and private bodies
that can highlight pertinent issues on the ground
based on experience can help better map goals
and means to achieve the same factoring in these
obstacles.
c) Removal of discriminatory laws against women
or amending laws that create gender equality.
While there are a lot of laws that have come into
place benefitting women, the wordings of many
The Government
Businesses & Innovative Products
24 25
Investors
a) Investors need to devise focussed strategies
for the SDGs with key goals to be achieved clearly
defined. This is a first step towards ensuring
alignment of objectives.
b) Far more focus is required on working with
businesses towards developing structures or
products that help meet these SDGs.
c) Investors will have to combine the nuances of
the SDG 5 targets together with gender lens
investing to ensure that empowerment is not only
limited to he underlying beneficiaries but
percolates through entire ecosystem. For
example, ensuring a healthy ratio of women GPs
in the fund or evaluating women led enterprises.
Vikram Gandhi, the founder of Asha Impact and
Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School,
recently wrote a case study at HBS on the ‘SHE
Index’ of State Street, which selects stocks
weighted on both financial parameters and
gender diversity in executive and board positions
d) Investors strategies must account for each
aspect of the SDG 5 for investments to be truly
effective. While for a business this might be
difficult to achieve, sometimes it may lie with an
investor to structure his/her investments to focus
on each these elements regionally which will
eventually lead to far more collaboration and
achievement of goals.
Beneficiaries
While the government and businesses can work
towards devising innovative strategies to
achieving the SDGs this should be coupled with a
guided effort towards educating women about
their rights and role in society. Only this will
ultimately bring more and more women into the
system empowering them to take on challenges
and make their own decisions.
Husainee moved to Bareilly town after getting
married. Her husband used to work in farms and
could hardly make enough money to take care
of his family. Besides household work, Husainee
used to work as a labour and earn Rs.100 per
day which was not enough to raise her family.
She was worried about education of her
children. Husainee was skilled in sewing and
embroidery, however she was unable to take it
up as a livelihood due to paucity of funds for
the machine and other material. She availed the
first micro finance facility from SVCL in June
2010. She invested the whole money in their
embroidery business. The credit facility made a
significant change in her life. She started
scaling-up her embroidery business and soon
her creativity, dedication and talent brought her
recognition and the business flourished. In a
span of 4 years, her profit has increased over
75%. Her livelihood improved, and her children
started going to school.
‘I wouldn’t be who I am today without this
assistance. The loan enabled us to purchase
equipment and grow. It has made a big
difference to our lives’.Mariyam Beevi sought her first loan from SMILE
Microfinance in 2011. Utilizing this loan she started
a flower business.
The loan has benefitted me to a great extent.
I earn profits, pay regularly and I take care of my
children’s educational needs and can provide
them with healthy food. I hope many more
women are benefited by these loans.
Mrs. Kanagavijaya a client of SMILE Microfinance
(a Northern Arc partner) since 2008 runs a
successful petty shop. Step by step with support
from SMILE she grew her business. Today, her
shop in addition to selling regular food items also
houses a xerox machine and a public telephone
for customers. She recently purchased a fridge
where she stores milk, ice cream, juices,
beverages and dairy products.
“My confidence has grown so much, even though
there is no support from the family members and
relatives. I can see myself standing on my own
two feet. I am waiting to avail a bigger loan from
SMILE and will accomplish much more in life.”
Syed Ali Fatima along with a few other women
in her village started a mat weaving business
8 years ago. Initially, she availed a loan of
Rs. 10,000 from Madura Microfinance and utilized
it to purchase more raw materials for the
business and to display her products. She then
expanded her business and service more
customers. Today, she has a range of mats, bags
and other products that are pre-made
and displayed in her store. She also takes orders
to weave wedding mats and other gifts
on demand.
ANNEXURE 1: STORIES OF IMPACT FROMNORTHERN ARC’S CLIENTELE
26 27
Impact Investors Council (IIC) is the national
industry association of all Social Impact
Investors in India. Impact Investors are financial
investors who invest in social enterprises to
deliver social (and environmental) impact to the
underserved beneficiaries in sectors such as
Agriculture, Financial Inclusion, Affordable
Education, housing & Healthcare, Water &
Sanitation, Clean Energy Access, Livelihoods,
etc. Impact Investors use the power of both
financial markets and social entrepreneurship to
deliver such impact. Impact investing shows us
that it’s possible to build companies that
provide both social and financial returns. IIC and
it's members like Aavishkaar, DFID, Michael and
Susan Dell Foundation, Omidyar Network,
Elevar Equity, Lok Capital, Caspian among
others have been investing in social enterprises
like Asirvad Microfinance Pvt Ltd, Drishti,
Hoppocampus Learning Center, Janalakshmi,
Labournet, Ujjivan and Vistaar Finance
ANNEXURE 3: ABOUT IMPACTINVESTORS COUNCIL
Northern Arc Capital (Formerly IFMR Capital)
was established in 2008 with an objective to
enable access to finance to several high-quality
institutions who were empowering
under-served households across India through
the provision of loans to start businesses.
Northern Arc Capital identified and financed
many of these institutions who in turn have
reached out to millions across the length and
breadth of the country. Today, Northern Arc
Capital works across six sectors including
microfinance, small business finance, vehicle
finance, agricultural finance, affordable housing
finance and corporate finance having enabled
over USD 8 bn (INR 55,000 Crs) of finance to
these sectors across 140+ institutions and 110+
investors with a skin in the game approach
followed across all our transactions.
Northern Arc Investments, a specialized asset
manager investing in the impact space in India,
was started in 2015 to address a gap that
existed in the market in catering to the
long-term funding requirements of institutions
as well as to bring in more investors into the
sector through the creation of a platform that
enabled diversified impact through a single
investment. Northern Arc Investments has since
launched 7 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)
with over USD 175 mn (INR 1,100 Crs) of assets
under management. Northern Arc Investments
derives strength from the vintage and track
record of its parent company Northern Arc
Capital.
Northern Arc as a group has continuously
stood for the empowerment of women,
reflected not only in the work that we do
but also transpires throughout our
organization through the values of our
company and outlook.
ANNEXURE 2: ABOUT NORTHERN ARC CAPITAL& NORTHERN ARC INVESTMENTS
28
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) came
into being at the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil in 2012. The SDGs came as a replacement to
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) which
had guided global efforts towards key
developmental priorities encompassing a wide
range of focus areas like eradication of poverty
and hunger, universal education and
environmental sustainability among others until
2015. While significant progress was achieved
through the MDGs, the results signalled uneven
progress. Developed countries demonstrated a
relatively greater level of achievement of goals
in comparison to under-developed countries
marred with conflict. As a result, the lowest
margins of society were unreached by the goals.
The need for a more holistic approach toward
attainment of goals was required to enable
equal advancement in society with a collaborated
effort across stakeholders; governments,
businesses, investors and societies.
The MDG on promotion of gender equality and
women empowerment (MDG 3) was especially
limited the sole target being: elimination of
gender disparity in primary, secondary and
tertiary education by 2015. The progress of the
goal was tracked by the ratio of boys to girls in
the classroom, the share of women in paid
employment services and the proportion of
female MPs in national parliaments. As per the
Millennium Development Goals Report 2015,
significant progress was made towards these
goals with the ratio of girls enrolled in primary
education in Southern Asia increasing from 74
girls for every 100 boys in 1990, to 103 girls for
every 100 boys by 20151. However, pertinent
issues and targets required to achieve women
empowerment were omitted from MDG 3. Thus,
while MDG 3 had the right objectives in mind, the
measures and targets in place fell short in carving
a pathway to achieving the goal.
In 2015, 193 Member States of the United Nations
had agreed to adopt the SDGs and to end poverty
by 2030. Learning from the hurdles of the MDG 3,
SDG 5, with an objective to achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls, has
set out clear targets to achieve the broader goal
as demonstrated below:
At Northern Arc, it has been our continuous
endeavour to reduce gender disparity and
economically empower women by supporting
institutions that are invested in the development
and progress of women in society. This is
represented not only in the work we do but also
transpires across the organization through our
values and outlook. Our partners in the sector
track discussion at Prabhav 2018, Asha Impact
and Kois Invest, follow a similar outlook. Asha
Impact, an impact investment platform in India,
ensures an equal balance of men and women at
all levels of the organization with investments in
women-run ventures being a key focus,
constituting 40% of their portfolio. Kois Invest, an
impact finance firm, has been working on
several impact finance products focused on
empowerment of girls and women, ranging from
access to comprehensive menstrual hygiene
management to improvement in livelihood
opportunities of young women through skill
training. The team at Kois Invest comprises of
over 50% of women.
We believe that for SDG 5 to work, the economic
and social empowerment of women is pertinent.
The report will explore SDG 5 and its importance
in the context of the Indian scenario, the progress
achieved so far, innovative products in the market
that address the issues at hand, the role of
different stakeholders and recommendations that
will create an ecosystem that enables easy
adoption of the SDG 5.
Register at prabhav2018-iiic.com
Contact USAman Kalsi Associate 9810821117 [email protected]
Sugandhi Luthra Manager 8588830840 [email protected]
Neha Bhatnagar Head 9716066067 [email protected] (PARTNERSHIPS)
Ranjna Khanna Director 9899181810 [email protected]
Arvind Mathur Non Ex Director 9818934615 [email protected]
Chennai10th Floor, IIT M Research Park,1, Kanagam Village, Taramani,Chennai 600 113, IndiaTel: +91 44 66687000
Gurugram803, 8th Floor, JMD Megapolis,Sector – 47, Sohna Road,Gurugram – 122 002, IndiaTel: +91 124 4587830
MumbaiThe Capital, 902 – B WingPlot No C- 70, Bandra Kurla ComplexBandra (East), Mumbai – 400051, IndiaTel: +91 022 6668 7500
Bangalore15, “KMJ Arcadia”, Industrial Main Road,5th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore 560 095, IndiaTel: +91 80 46472300
@northernarccapital
@_NorthernArc
Northern Arc Capital