National Youth Day: Four young women who are catalysing change in rural India

Bhubaneswar(10/01/2025): Jaishree Shetole, Sania Kumari, Madhuri Pal and Jyoti Kumari have empowered not just themselves but also their communities. Despite their limitless potential, rural youth struggle with a multitude of socio-economic issues, such as unemployability, a paucity of growth opportunities, and systemic barriers.

This calls for targeted outreach strategies and grounded solutions to bring equal opportunities to rural India so that the youth and their communities can flourish. On National Youth Day (January 12), the uplifting stories of four rural women highlight the transformative impact of scalable efforts at the grassroots.

Some of them are forging new paths as entrepreneurs, while others are leading by example to inspire change, paving the way towards socio-economic progress. An overview: Sania Kumari- Hailing from the Darbhanga district in Bihar, Sania has evolved into an empowered youth champion, spreading awareness about menstrual health and reproductive hygiene in her community.

In 2017, Sania became a member of Kishori Samooh (Adolescent Group), a platform supported by Population Foundation of India.

Equipped with knowledge , she began to actively work towards reducing the stigma and misinformation around menstrual health.

By 2020, Sania was leading 'Ekta Kishori Samuh' and had also set up a sanitary pad bank for the benefit of underserved girls.

She shares, "Initiatives like Kishori Samooh play a critical role in empowering girls in rural communities and showing them that they matter.

Population Foundation of India enabled me to show my peers that they too can overcome social and cultural barriers to become leaders within their communities." Jyoti Kumari- Born into a family of daily wage workers in Nawada, Bihar, Jyoti Kumar has become an inspiring youth champion.

As part of Population Foundation of India's youth collectives during the pandemic in 2020, Jyoti formed two adolescent groups cumulatively comprising 55 girls, creating a space for them to learn about menstrual hygiene and safe sexual and reproductive health practices.

She also took the initiative of establishing sanitary banks for women and girls in her village.

Trained by Population Foundation of India to make sanitary cloth pads, Jyoti promoted these cost-effective and eco-friendly alternatives within her community.

Her efforts to empower girls did not stop there; Jyoti also organised free computer learning classes to help them build skills and move towards self-reliance. Jaishree Shetole- Jaishree Shetole from Niwali, Madhya Pradesh was unable to continue her education after the 10th standard.

After the end of an abusive marriage, she found herself starting from scratch at her parents' place with her two children.

She recalls, "My life changed when I met Transform Rural India's youth fellow Vandana Ahire during a youth mobilization drive.

She connected me to the enterprise facilitation hub in the Niwali block." Post counselling, she enrolled in a long-duration skill training program focused on tailoring and boutique management at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Niwali.

Though she arranged some funds to start a boutique, she needed help to expand her business.

She approached the Enterprise Facilitation Hub at Niwali and attended the Gender Integrated-Accelerated Entrepreneurship Development Program (AEDP).

She reminisces, “AEDP is like a mini-MBA and it helped me to understand the significance of the 5 Ps (Product, Place, Price, People, and Promotion) and equipped me with real-world knowledge.” She also prepared a business plan for the next three years and received a loan via the social investment platform Rang De.

Now, well-versed with digital marketing, she is all set to employ youth in her community.

She also hopes to establish a stitching training centre that will help women to gain financial independence. Madhuri Pal- Madhuri Pal hails from Jagan Purwa village (Lakhimpur Kheri) and runs a flourishing milk collection centre.

Her success however did not come easy.

She recalls, "Conspiracies by local milkmen and delayed payments to farmers who supplied milk created a slew of problems.

Initially, some conspirators laced my supply with some coagulator to spoil the milk, but I was determined to succeed.

A little more care and quick payments to the farmers solved the issue eventually." She also took loans from a Self-Help Group (SHG) powered by development designers Transform Rural India (TRI) and a CLF (Cluster-Level Federation) to create a regular cycle of payments to the milk suppliers.

She says with pride, "My milk collection centre started with a mere 5 litres and now we gather at least 2.5 quintals per day." Just a few years ago, despite being a postgraduate, Madhuri was just a homemaker while her husband, a farmer, was the only earning member of the family.

Today Madhuri contributes handsomely to the household income.

The Rang De Groundbreaker Entrepreneur program has offered her financial support through TRI to further expand her enterprise and now Madhuri also supplies khoya (solid condensed milk) and paneer (cottage cheese) and aspires to set up an ice cream-making unit.

She also serves as a Board Director of the TRI-supported Women Farmer Producer Company (WFPC).