Samanvita — the word means inclusion — helps women and vulnerable groups earn with dignity. It is the programme Ubantu began with, and it remains the one everything else grew out of.
2019Running since
3States with livelihood centres
6+Vocational trades taught
Earning with dignity
Samanvita · Goa, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
Samanvita empowers women and vulnerable groups — including tribal communities, transgender people and persons with disabilities — to earn with dignity.
Gender inclusion is fundamental to social equity and sustainable development, and the challenges women face are not only economic. They are social and structural too. The Foundation runs a range of targeted programmes designed around that reality rather than around a single training course.
Alongside the livelihood work, Ubantu runs menstrual-hygiene awareness and access initiatives to break taboos and improve health — the same concern the Foundation started with in Pilgao.
What the livelihood centres actually teach
Hands-on vocational training · with CSR partners
Ubantu builds sustainable livelihoods by training youth and women from marginalised communities in Goa, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Working with CSR partners, the livelihood centres offer hands-on vocational courses in soap and candle making, stitching, baking and bio-enzymes.
Training alone rarely creates an income. So the courses come with end-to-end support in branding, business development, social media and e-commerce — the part that decides whether a skill becomes a livelihood.
A trainer demonstrating bio-enzyme preparation during a skills session.Products made at a livelihood centre, arranged for sale.
Launched by a Union Minister
Pilgao village, North Goa · 20 October 2019
On 20 October 2019 the pilot project under the Samanvita programme was launched by Shri Shripad Naik, Hon’ble Minister of State for AYUSH, Government of India, in the presence of elected representatives of the local bodies and civil society.
What began there — a biodegradable sanitary pad unit run by women of the village — is still running, and has since expanded into stitching and food production.
Bring this programme to your community
If you would like to host a livelihood centre, volunteer your skills, or partner with us on CSR — we would be glad to hear from you.
