SEWA8217;s work a role model all: US

The Self Employed Women's Association,which has transformed the lives...

The Self Employed Women8217;s Association SEWA,which has transformed the lives of hundreds and thousands of women in India,is doing an extraordinary work and the organisation has become a role model for the world,a top US official said today.

US Ambassador at Large for Global Women8217;s Issues Melanne Verveer said the US would be able to collaborate with the SEWA in creating some of those great models of the world on how even poor women can make a difference.

8220;The extraordinary work that SEWA has done to create collective or collaborative cooperatives of poor people binding together8230; imagine the clout of the thousands of the farmers,textile workers and what they can do in their association to bring about both economic growth and asset building in their own lives,8221; Verveer said.

The top US official on women8217;s issue was speaking at an event on 8220;Women8217;s Empowerment in India8221; in honour of Reema Nanavaty,director of SEWA,hosted by the Indian Embassy and the Sierra Club.

Referring to the phenomenal work being done by SEWA to transform the lives of hundreds and thousands of women in the country,which is now expanding its works to countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,Verveer said its work is truly transformative.

8220;This is an organisation that is a model for the world,8221; Verveer said praising the work of SEWA.

As SEWA expands its operations outside India in countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,she said the US would like to collaborate with this Indian NGO.

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Referring to the recent strategic dialogue between India and the US,she said the two countries have agreed to take SEWA8217;s self help lesson and grow it more broadly in terms of capacity building regionally and also to grow the work that SEWA has been doing in Afghanistan.

8220;The miracle of SEWA is a treasure of India. It is also a treasure that the world is getting to share and benefit from it more and more. They have a huge fan in the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,8221; Verveer said.

8220;We need SEWA to blossom and grow and nurture so much more all over the world because it is truly a model of how poor people can move from the bottom of that pyramid and become self sustaining,have good incomes,transform their lives and improve their countries for the better,8221; she said.

Meanwhile,Nanavaty met Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.