At SEWA Cooperative Federation (SCF), our work has always been guided by the wisdom of Late Smt. Elaben Bhatt, who reminded us through Anubandh that our lives, livelihoods, and environment are deeply interconnected. Today, this interconnectedness goes beyond just philosophy - it is a framework for action. For over three decades, our informal women workers cooperatives have built livelihoods across agriculture, dairy, handicrafts, and services.

This edition celebrates the unstoppable spirit of women shaping India's cooperative and informal sectors. From fifty years of songs that united SEWA women in collective struggle, to grassroots leaders transforming communities today, we explore how women's voices are driving change.

this Women's Day, during the International Year of Cooperatives, holds deep significance for our work. Since 1992, we have witnessed the transformative power of cooperatives in empowering informal women workers, enabling them to achieve self-reliance and full employment.

As we step into the next year, we find ourselves reflecting on the journeys of women-led cooperatives. For 30 plus years we have seen women corporators from the informal economy breaking traditional boundaries, taking ownership of finances and their decisions, investing time in their cooperatives and collective enterprises to sustain not just themselves but their entire community.

We work as a Women’s Enterprise Support System, promoting and supporting grassroots women’s enterprises. Through this newsletter we bring to you our work, stories of grassroots women’s collective enterprises, their needs, and their contribution to the economy.

In the eighth edition of Sahakarita, we highlight a key building block of cooperatives: democratic participation. Cooperatives are democratically-run enterprises where the workers are owners(shareholders), managers, and decision-makers, ensuring collective decision-making over every aspect of the collective's functioning. This model enables women to take ownership of their trade ,and participate fully in the mainstream economy.