In drought-prone Beed, Maharashtra, social worker Manisha Ghule has developed the Sakhi model to turn rural women from informal, undervalued workers into trained frontline development professionals.
Selected by their communities and trained in agriculture, livelihoods, education and social protection, Sakhis are paid for services that address local needs. Earlier programme data recorded 1,200 Sakhis across 300 villages, while recent updates put the network at around 1,500 Sakhis across the same geography.
The model has also been linked to increased household incomes, micro-enterprises, property ownership and reduced migration. Ghule’s wider aim is to create sustainable career pathways for rural women rather than temporary field jobs.
Turning Women Into Professionals
The model emerged from a contradiction that has long shaped rural India: women contribute substantially to agriculture and household economies, yet much of their work remains informal, unpaid or poorly recognised.
Government and development programmes have created frontline positions for women, but these roles often provide limited technical training, authority and opportunities for progression. Ghule’s Sakhis are instead selected through village-level processes and trained through a structured leadership programme before taking on professional responsibilities.
Their work includes helping women establish Self-Help Groups, access banking and government schemes, develop enterprises and strengthen livelihoods, while other Sakhis work on agriculture, education and access to justice.
Building Leadership At Village Level
The model is designed to give Sakhis not only skills, but legitimacy within their communities. They work with Panchayats and village institutions, allowing them to participate in local decision-making rather than simply deliver programmes designed elsewhere.
Earlier programme data recorded Sakhis serving 15,000 families, incubating 4,500 micro-enterprises and engaging 3,500 farmers in bio-farming. They also helped 20,000 women become joint owners of property and enabled more than 3,500 families to move away from inter-generational migration.
Communities involved in the programme have reported significant increases in household incomes, while Sakhis have also seen their own earnings rise.
From Poverty To Purpose
Ghule’s approach is closely connected to her own life. Born into a family of agricultural wage labourers in Beed, she experienced poverty, child marriage and violence before rebuilding her life through work and education.
She later founded Navchetana with other rural women and developed the Sakhi model after seeing how grassroots women workers were often excluded from organisational decision-making and denied clear career pathways.
Her work has received recognition including the CII Foundation Woman Exemplar Award and the Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar for her contribution to rural entrepreneurship.
Creating Careers Beyond Jobs
For Ghule, the long-term objective is to ensure Sakhis do not remain a temporary field workforce. The model aims to create pathways into social entrepreneurship, professional farming, business and political leadership, building on the knowledge and community trust women acquire through their three-year tenure.
The network has now expanded to around 1,500 Sakhis across 300 villages, while the Sakhi-Sukhi Academy is being developed to strengthen long-term grassroots leadership and wellbeing.
The approach comes at a time when drought, agricultural uncertainty, migration and limited employment continue to put pressure on rural households.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Rural women have always been central to agriculture, household economies and community life, but their knowledge and labour have too often remained invisible or poorly valued.
The Sakhi model offers a different approach by connecting income with dignity, skills with authority and lived experience with professional opportunity.
As rural communities face growing economic and climate pressures, recognising women not merely as beneficiaries but as professionals and decision-makers could help build more resilient villages. What more can be done to ensure rural women have lasting pathways to leadership and economic independence?
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