UNDP and DAY-NULM collaborate to uplift marginalized sections of the urban women

New Delhi: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) have joined a collaborative partnership. To uplift urban poor women - a move to empower women in entrepreneurship.

DAY-NULM is a scheme under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that focuses on reducing poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households.

At the signing ceremony, Rahul Kapoor, Joint Secretary and Mission Director of DAY-NULM & PM SVANidhi, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, expressed his optimism about the partnership.

He stated, "DAY-NULM has an essential objective of empowering urban communities. We are hopeful that through this partnership with UNDP, we will be able to make our interventions more effective and impactful under the Mission."

Ms Shoko Noda, Resident Representative of UNDP India, highlighted the significance of women's entrepreneurship for poverty alleviation, financial independence, and reshaping gender norms.

She noted that currently, women only represent 15 per cent of total entrepreneurs in India. By increasing this number, women will be empowered, and economic growth will also be accelerated, leading to a happier and healthier society. Ms Noda emphasized that UNDP and DAY-NULM are joining forces to build an inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Drawing on its experience of linking over 200,000 women to better employment opportunities, UNDP will provide national-level capacity-building support to DAY-NULM. This support will focus on knowledge generation and management, including compiling best practices related to urban poverty, to enhance the implementation of national-level schemes. UNDP and DAY-NULM will collaborate on piloting innovative solutions, particularly in the care economy domain, leveraging their extensive sectoral expertise.

The primary objective of this partnership is to enable women to make well-informed career choices by providing support for starting and expanding their enterprises. The focus will be on sectors such as the care economy, digital economy, electric mobility, waste management, food packaging, and more.

To foster entrepreneurship development and accelerate enterprise growth, the project is set to span three years, with the possibility of extension beyond 2025. Initially, it will cover eight cities in its implementation phase.

The collaboration between UNDP and DAY-NULM will also involve on-ground mobilization activities, such as identifying areas of urban poverty and potential entrepreneurs and facilitating access to Business Development Services. Handholding support will be provided to the cohort to formalize their businesses, establish bank linkages, and gain access to finance and markets.

Additionally, UNDP will develop community business mentors called Biz-Sakhis in selected project locations to further contribute to the initiative. With their valuable business knowledge, these mentors will support new and existing enterprises and serve as a resource for DAY-NULM in the future.

DAY-NULM aims to uplift the urban poor by enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development. The scheme covers all 4,041 statutory cities and towns in India, encompassing a significant portion of the urban population.

Through its outreach efforts, DAY-NULM has mobilized over 8.4 million poor urban women nationwide, forming over 831,000 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in over 4,000 towns.

These grassroots initiatives facilitate economic empowerment and amplify the voices of marginalized sections of the urban population, including Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, minorities, female-headed households, street vendors, and rag pickers.