She Dares, the reason why

A journey to empower women

As a global specialty chemicals manufacturer, we are well aware of our social responsibilities and the importance of the social license to operate in our communities worldwide. We knew we wanted to do a social sustainability project in India and very much wanted to have the biggest possible impact in our community. 

Guar-gum is a 100% natural raw material and basic building block and backbone for various products we both manufacture and introduce in several products with a very broad and diverse set of applications across industries. We identified guar-gum farming communities and explored several options there.  

Our project focus quickly turned into the women in these communities. Many times these women are very young and already housewives and with children to care for while the husband, in many cases a guar farmer, is working the land. Many of these farming communities live on very basic income leaving the women with very limited opportunities to receive any type of formal training. In some cases even the children in these farming communities have to abandon their schooling to contribute to the family income. 

The “She Dares” projects targets these young women to empower them with basic formal education with the goal that they achieve economic support and self-reliance. Additionally, it is proven that households where women have basic or formal education, the children stay in school, therefore the entire community wins.

Gender equality: a challenge to achieve

Social sustainability involves stakeholder engagement, company – community cooperation, a human centric approach to impacts of business and inclusive social development. Since independence in 1947, India has floated several social welfare schemes for ensuring social sustainability. But the inadequate social infrastructure has resulted to an unsatisfactory performance of these programmes. Hence the participation of private sector is must and has been introduced a compulsory spending out of profits on a Corporate Social Responsibility program.

 "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Brundtland Report (1987)

Therefore , the key issue and one of the important among the latest Social Sustainability Goals (SDGs) as identified in India is gender inequality. There have been several policy changes made in past years to  equal opportunities to women. Under such initiative, reservation to women in political system, free education, scholarships, reservation in government jobs/ including allowing their induction in Defence forces etc.

To impact the generations, a key issue of gender equality is most important. Providing equal opportunity for education, health and employment shall help creating a generation of educated and self-dependent mothers, who can help creating future generations.

Lamberti’s initiative through PANS is a well aligned effort to support the SDGs of Government of India.

She Dares a way to change lives

Since the beginning of our conversations with our partner PANS (People's Awareness Network Society indian NGO), we wanted to maximize the positive impact on these women’s lives and their communities.  We knew that it would require a long term commitment to stay the course and focus on best ways to achieve this. 

We’ve always believed on the importance of creating a context where people are given a chance to help themselves.  Our goal is to have a positive impact in these women’s lives as well as their communities.

The “She Dares” program aims to work with up to 50 women in the village of Ramsar Palawala in Jaipur Rajasthan during 12 months. Our partners at PANS  tell us that:
"The idea to empower women to be able to take decisions for their lives and their families’ led to the beginning of ‘She Dares’.  She dares to come out of her house, removing her vail and taking charge of her family”. 

The project’s graduates should be able to start their own business thereby creating job opportunities for themselves and other members of the community.
What an incredible opportunity to work on this social sustainability program that will leave such an imprint on these women’s lives!