BENGALURU: Wondering where to call or whom to approach for sanitisation of commercial and residential spaces or even your vehicle? Then just call the SHE warriors.The Panchayat Raj department along with LabourNet, a social enterprise, has trained six women in three panchayats to sanitise and disinfect premises to become SHE (Sanitisation and Hygiene Entrepreneurs) warriors.
The initiative was started on a pilot basis in the third week of May in Somanahalli, Rajankunte and Chikkaballapur panchayats. Now, after tasting success, the department has decided to extend it to 200 panchayats by August 15. “It was started to make women, under the self-help group programme who lost jobs or were looking for employment, independent and capable to earn a living during the lockdown period. It has now become popular and will be stretched across the State. These SHE warriors are trained and well equipped to sanitise any type of place. They reach the area to be sanitised on a call and are thoroughly professional,” Panchayat Raj Commissioner Priyank Mary Francis told The New Sunday Express.
Two women working in each panchayat are chosen to become SHE warriors and they earn anything between Rs 500 and RS 700 a day. Apart from getting daily calls, they have also got monthly sanitisation contracts. The Common Health of Learning module of Vancouver has been adopted by LabourNet to train these women. A triparty agreement for the SHE warriors project in Karnataka to implement has been signed between the Panchayat Raj Department, the gram panchayats and LabourNet.
Gayathri Vasudevan, Co-founder, LabourNet, said they they are also working with the National Skill Development Corporation. “The idea is to have sustainable development and make women capable rather that giving them grants. Apart from training, the women are given equipment like spray gun, tank and a mobile phone. They are trained to sanitise bus stops, autos, all type of vehicles, commercial and residential spaces of any size. A loan of Rs 10,000 was given by the state government to start with and it has worked well,” she said.