SEED Beneficiaries become financially literate

SEED Beneficiaries become financially literate

Women Empowerment is a key component of all Mumbai Smiles activities. We firmly believe that all women have the potential for growth, provided they have access to information, adequate skills and required resources. Mumbai Smiles has its vision aligned with the Millennium Development Goals and focuses on promotion of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women. SEED Project aims to empower women in the age group of 18-40 years from the marginalized section of society by imparting a set of marketable tangible skills to them through training in short term modular courses.

Being independent also involves the ability to manage finances aptly. With this objective, 13 beneficiaries of SEED project have come forward to open Saving Accounts under the Jan – Dhan scheme with Bank of Baroda. The women were given guidelines and information to open bank accounts under this scheme with bank of baroda. The objective of organizing this session was:

• To give the information on financial literacy
• To strengthen beneficiaries’ financial decision making skills
• To build a positive attitude through a motivational session

A meeting was held on 12th March at the Tailoring centre at Salve Nagar M.I.D.C. where talks on individual accounts and financial literacy were organised. 23 women attended this meeting. They all are beneficiaries of SEED Tailoring program. Information on Jan-Dhan Scheme that gives the option of opening 0% balance savings account at any Nationalize bank was shared with the beneficiaries. The scheme is part of central Government’s initiatives. Procedure to open a new account was also discussed. During the session, specific emphasis was laid on importance of saving and future financial planning.

Discussions were also held with Mr. Mohanto (Branch Manager) Bank of Baroda .I.D.C., Maheshwari Branch for opening of such accounts.

There was a good response from beneficiaries. Many of them have come forward and submitted the documents for opening of accounts. They were elated after receiving the pass book.

We are planning to open the more saving account for our beneficiaries in future.