Verified · May 20251 min read
● projectActive · national · 2015
SEWA: data and digital platforms of informal women workers
SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association), a union of ~2.5-3 million informal sector women workers founded by Ela Bhatt in Ahmedabad, Gujarat (1972), built its own data layer and digital tools by and for its members.
illustrative atlas image · Brett Sayles / PexelsSESelf Employed Women's Association (SEWA)SBSEWA Bharat (federación nacional)EBEla Bhatt
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01 The context
It digitized its membership ('Vadlo online'): 2,000+ grassroots women leaders collect and renew data on ~2.5 million workers per year. Its members co-designed apps for membership, savings and credit, women farmers' livelihoods and health data, with digital and financial literacy training (100,000+ members trained in Gujarat in 2022).
02 How it works
method · Digital and financial literacymethod · Cooperativism / collective organization of informal women workersmethod · Co-design of applications with women userstool · Savings and credit group appstool · BETI (Business Enterprise Training Initiative)tool · 'Vadlo online' membership management systemtool · Apps for logging members' health data
03 What it stands on
Evidence level
Own experience
Grounded in published theory
Documented evidence elsewhere
Independently evaluated here
2 published documents support this project. No independent evaluation is in the atlas yet. Know of any? Contribute it.
The evidence 2 ›
EvidenceUnlocking Potential: SEWA's Digital and Financial Literacy Drive for Catalysing Women's EmpowermentSEWA · 2025
EvidenceHow information technology is empowering the women of SEWA in IndiaInternational Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) · 2016