Working Women's Forum Emphasises Cooperatives' Resilience in the Face of Pandemic

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 21 July 2022

At the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) High Level Segment Session 2022, the Working Women's Forum (WWF)-Indian Cooperative Network for Women (ICNW) emphasised the women's cooperatives' tenacious struggle against the epidemic through new institutional mechanisms.

ICNW President Nandini Azad provided commentary on the topic of "Building Better from the Corona Virus Disease While Promoting the Full Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development."

She noted that despite suffering a severe loss in sales and earnings, women cooperatives did not close their doors or leave their staff, proving that problems cannot stop cooperatives from developing resilience. During the epidemic, they were able to restart enterprises thanks to their savings or reserves.

For a total of 500 crore, the WWF/ICNW has given small loans to roughly 6 lakh impoverished women entrepreneurs. As independent contractors, they used native coping mechanisms and took part in computer literacy training.

On the basis of her observations at the WWF/ICNW, Ms. Azad provided some suggestions. At all cooperative levels, women must be at the centre of decision-making and must be given a platform to express their needs and ideas. She asserted that women must have the ability to influence other cooperative members' futures.