Hand in Hand runs a specific community-based programme – the Village Upliftment Programme – that improves the living conditions of particularly vulnerable people, helps its members to develop entrepreneurial businesses and creates jobs in areas such as agriculture and animal keeping.
Groups of ten to fifteen women are trained in entrepreneurship and financial literacy while access to microcredit and vocational training is also provided so they have the tools to develop their own entrepreneurial enterprises. Many of these women have never had the opportunity to complete their school studies, so Hand in Hand also offers basic education in reading, writing and numeracy.
By giving people the means to help themselves, this programme is also able to address other societal issues such as child labour, lack of health care, environmental concerns, discrimination and political fairness.
From 2020 until 2022, Nordic Capital's engagement with Hand in Hand has achieved:
- 73 self-help groups were formed consisting of 845 members.
- 4198 participants attended awareness camps focused on various topics, including child labour, health, anemia and nutrition, government-provided social protection/welfare schemes, technology, and the environment.
- 558 female members started their own family-based enterprise.