A conversation with Sanjay Kumar of SEWA Bharat, one of the world’s largest movements working with women in the informal sector.

Please join the Tata Center and CITE!
Where: MIT 1-390
When: 4:00 PM, Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Tata Center and CITE are proud to host Sanjay Kumar for a conversation on the role of technology in the economic and social advancement of women living and working in informal communities.

What is the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) and why is such an organization/movement necessary in countries like India?

Are we addressing the technological need of poor women for their economic advancement and better living? Some examples from SEWA’s experience.

The real problems on the ground: gap in demand and supply and ways to link the bright and capable minds to serve needs.

 
The purpose of the discussion is to brainstorm on these themes and understand how we can improve interventions to reduce income inequality and technological divide.

About Sanjay Kumar
Sanjay is currently a Ford Foundation Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and pursuing a Masters degree in Public Administration. With a Doctorate in ‘Microfinance Interventions Among Women Workers’ from one of the premier universities in India, JNU, he has worked on issues of economic empowerment of poor women both on the ground and at the policy level for more than 15 years. Associated with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) movement for the last 16 years, he has spearheaded many programs and has ensured expansion of SEWA’s work in six diverse states. As the Director of SEWA Bharat, which is a federation of SEWA member organizations, he devises organizing strategies for women in the informal sector and formulates advocacies for urban and rural livelihoods and better living conditions. He has authored varying papers and articles to highlight the issues related to women’s economic and social rights. As a keen photographer, his inspiring images of the lives of women workers in India have been exhibited at many places in India and abroad, including the House of Commons, London.