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Three women in a brightly painted red rickshaw driving through the town of Alwar, Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Ahmedabad and Surat may have been a sight for sore eyes , but they were on a mission. To meet ordinary women who have been the change they wanted to see and to raise funds.
Using social media to constantly share the stories of the women they met in the hope of finding support for them and also inspiring other women in India, these women celebrated the achievements of ordinary women, via their blogs, who were accomplishing extraordinary feats across several states.
An initiative of Vodafone Foundation, the 3 women and 30 stories wound down in Mumbai on Monday. While the red rickshaw revolution managed to raise Rs 30 lakh, Vodafone Foundation raised Rs 1.3 crore for partner non governmental organisations.
The Idea
The three women traversed from Delhi to Mumbai, a distance of 1,500 km, in 9 days and raised over Rs 30 lakh for three organisations — Apne Aap Women’s Collective, Breakthrough and Corp. The Vodafone Foundation contributed an additional sum of over Rs 1 crore, and a further support of over Rs 1.6 crore to work with the 30 women-led projects identified enroute from Delhi to Mumbai. “The idea is to further their work by bringing them and their community online and enabling digital literacy,” said Manu Kapoor, Director, Vodafone India. Stating that this was the single largest social investment campaign till date by Vodafone Foundation in India, Kapoor said the cause of women’s empowerment could be well served with the initiative.
The rickshaw stopped at multiple locations along the way, to engage and interact with women whose initiatives have positively impacted people’s lives and made a real difference within their communities. The ride covered five states and over 2,500 villages.
> amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in
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