Raising the bar

Shabana Azmi. Pic/Instagram

Shabana Azmi's NGO Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS) started as a project to help uplift rural India. The actor and her team have now taken it a notch higher as they are awarded the Gold Certificate by international validating agencies, including GuideStar India, United Way, Charities Aid Foundation, Fair Trade, the United Nations Global Compact and the government of India. "[The recognition] builds the NGO's reputation among donors and helps to attract more funds," says Azmi, who had temporarily remodelled the organisation to provide aid and masks for the pandemic-stricken.

Taking the original plan, to garner more work for artisans in the international markets, forward, the organisation is now in between team discussions to "globally register the company, Samridhi [a project with rural women artisans], which was started last year during Covid". " Our masks have reached the UK and USA, but to reach out properly while adhering to compliance, planning is in process.

Last year, MWS had kick-started the Kaifi Azmi International Internship programme in collaboration with the University of Southampton. Azmi hopes to now join forces with universities in the UK, South Africa and Australia. "We are developing an app for government services information with the help of the University of Southampton entrepreneurship division and the Ahmedabad University. [Besides approaching other universities], our plan this year also includes to supply chikankari masks to other countries, team up with more international donors to support our programmes, and [to organise] a gala event to raise funds and sell some artisans' products through Samridhi."

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