Impact Stories

Yogita is a resident of Amoda village in Nawagarh Block of Chhattisgarh and a mother of three children. She is also the first woman in the village to weave on a handloom 18 years ago. But more than this, she is a driven individual who is doing her best to bring positive changes in her village. Yogita contributes to her family’s development by making a decent earning from weaving sarees and providing higher education to their children. She just needed encouragement to think beyond her household and work for the society at large.

In 2020, Yogita got associated with TLMTI’s Building Resilient Communities (BRC) project and joined an SHG. She received training on the rights of women from the project team. She was encouraged to focus on village governance. The same year she contested Panchayat elections and became the ward member of her village.

When pandemic hit her village in 2020, Yogita went from door to door to create awareness on COVID-appropriate behaviour in her ward and later encouraged the members of her SHG group to take vaccines. Simultaneously, she, along with other SHG members, carried out several development work in her ward, including cleaning of pond, construction of separate bathing spaces for men and women, construction of boundary wall and classrooms of high school, and construction of boundary wall, toilets and a borewell in the health sub-centre.

Gradually, she started identifying other pressing issues, including alcohol abuse. She mobilised other women in the village and raised the issue in the Panchayat several times. They continue their protest, demanding closure of country liquor shops in their village. “Youth is drawn towards alcohol. The men in families earn less and spend more. This leads to domestic violence and it’s our responsibility to stop it. We are now planning to form a commando unit of women for the safety of every woman in the village,” says Yogita.

A self-motivator, 43-year-old Yogita is committed to making Amoda a progressive village. She now plans to persuade local duty bearers to set up a college in Amoda so that girls can pursue higher education without having to travel out of their village. Her other plan includes construction of a road from middle school to the local health sub-centre and bus stands.