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The Impact of the Pandemic on the Lives of Homeworkers

Kavita moved to Tiruppur from Kerala when she got married a few years ago. To support her household’s financial needs she started taking on homework. She receives garments from a local contractor on a weekly basis. Her work involves cutting out loose ends of thread from garments to ‘finish’ them. However, things have been very difficult for her since the lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic were announced. There has been no work for the past four months. This has led her family into a state of deep financial crisis. 

What are the implications of not having work for four months for someone like Kavita? Jenny, another homeworker in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu pays INR 3000 as rent for her two-room accommodation. For the last four months she has been unable to pay this amount causing a rift in her relationship with her landlord. Similarly, Kavita has been unable to make timely payments to payback several outstanding loans causing her mental stress.

Similarly, Rupa moved to Delhi from Azamgadh in Uttar Pradesh 20 years ago. Her husband works as a rickshaw driver. She has three children- two daughters who are 18 and 15 years old respectively and one son who is 13 years old. She lives in Khapas Hera a slum in south-west Delhi where she used to work in a small fabrication unit that specialized in wedding attire for a monthly income of INR 5000. However she has not worked since March 2020 when news of the pandemic led to the nation-wide lockdown. Her employer has told her that there will be no work until November. 

This is a difficult time for Rupa and her family. “I have not been able to pay my rent for several months. We have been taking loans from money lenders in the neighbourhood to buy food and basic groceries. We even requested some money from our village a few weeks back because things became very difficult.” she says. 

The lack of access to good quality healthcare is a major cause for concern for several homeworkers. Women like Kavita and Rupa feel particularly vulnerable in the face of this pandemic. Kavita worries that those in her neighbourhood have not fully understood the importance of social distancing norms and are still unaware of the implications of not following simple hygiene rituals. She worries that her community might be more severely impacted by this pandemic because they cannot afford good hospitals and doctors.

Children’s education is also likely to be greatly impacted due to the financial crisis faced by homeworkers. Jenny worries that her son will not be able to appear for his class 10 final exam if she is unable to pay his fees on time, leading to an unplanned break in his education. The uncertainty in the lives of women like Kavita and Jenny will remain for some time to come. “We see the number of Covid cases rising and worry that strict lockdowns may be imposed at any time. How can we get back to work if things go on this way?’ Jenny asks. 

During the lockdown homeworkers were left in a lurch with a sudden loss of work, no income, non-payment of past dues, and no access to social security /protection measures. Rakesh Supkar, the business head of Traidcraft India reiterates, “It is critical to win back the trust of workers, who have been disproportionately impacted by this crisis.”

With support from the European Union under the Hidden Homeworkers Project, with our partners Home Net South Asia and Homeworkers World Wide, SAVE in Tiruppur has reached out to 3174 homeworkers so far, raising awareness about Covid 19, providing them with masks and soap. With many homeworkers not able to access government ration schemes since they are migrants from other parts of Tamil Nadu, SAVE has played a crucial role in ensuring food security and preventing homeworkers and their families going hungry. Essentials such as lentils, rice and oil have been provided to 1000 homeworkers. At the same time, SAVE has linked 151 homeworkers to government schemes that are available to support them at this difficult time.

However it has been difficult to take stock of the situation on the ground. As Mary, the Director at SAVE points out, it has not been possible for workers to gather in one place to discuss the situation and plan a way forward, due to social distancing norms. Each homeworker is being met individually and this has been a challenging task for the team at SAVE.  

Similarly, in Delhi, project partners SEWA Bharat – Delhi Branch have reached out to 160 homeworkers, raising awareness about Covid 19 through phone calls and audio messages. Furthermore, they have reached out to 360 homeworkers through, SEWA’s aagewaans (local women leaders) through digital modes such as WhatsApp, giving detailed awareness sessions around protective measures against Covid 19, domestic violence, psychological trauma and care. They are also in the process of distributing Covid 19 awareness pamphlets to homeworkers and their families. 

With many homeworkers not able to access government ration schemes, SEWA Bharat- Delhi branch has played a crucial role in ensuring food security and preventing homeworkers and their families going hungry. Essentials such as lentils, rice, and oil have been provided to 191 homeworkers. SEWA Delhi has also provided Sanitary kits to 250 homeworkers and their families. These consists of sanitary pads, 2 sanitizers,1kg of detergent,1lt of disinfectant, bathing soap, washing soap and 5 cotton cloth masks. Additionally, SEWA Delhi has linked 39 homeworkers without ration cards to temporary rations distributed by the government.

In Nepal, our partner SABAH Nepal has reached out to 36 homeworker leaders from in 8 locations through phone calls, who have in turn reached out to 1500 homeworkers on COVID-19 awareness. They have been providing counselling sessions twice a week via Viber, a voice messaging software, to homeworkers who have reported feeling depressed and vulnerable during this time of uncertainty and crisis. 

Similar to India, in Nepal, the relief package announced by the government for informal workers was insufficient despite the prolonged lockdown. SABAH Nepal selected 200 vulnerable homeworkers for food relief distribution. The relief package included rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt, sugar, tea, spices, beaten rice, potato, flour, hand wash, soap, masks, and a mobile recharge card. 

Under the livelihood support initiative, SABAH Nepal also provided raw materials, free of cost, to 72 homeworkers who are now working 45 hours a week and have been able to sell 3600 face masks in the local markets. To further support homeworkers, Sabah Nepal has diversified its products by making processed food items that are dried, pickled, frozen or ready-to-eat. They have also launched a mobile application called “Mero Pasal Sabah Bazaar” to enable homeworkers to post their products and sell to a wider audience. 

The photographs above show the distribution of sanitary kits by the SEWA Delhi team.

In Nepal, our partner SABAH Nepal has reached out to 36 homeworker leaders from in 8 locations through phone calls, who have in turn reached out to 1500 homeworkers on COVID-19 awareness. They have been providing counselling sessions twice a week via Viber, a voice messaging software, to homeworkers who have reported feeling depressed and vulnerable during this time of uncertainty and crisis. 

Similar to India, in Nepal, the relief package announced by the government for informal workers was insufficient despite the prolonged lockdown. SABAH Nepal selected 200 vulnerable homeworkers for food relief distribution. The relief package included rice, lentils, cooking oil, salt, sugar, tea, spices, beaten rice, potato, flour, hand wash, soap, masks, and a mobile recharge card. 

Under the livelihood support initiative, SABAH Nepal also provided raw materials, free of cost, to 72 homeworkers who are now working 45 hours a week and have been able to sell 3600 face masks in the local markets. To further support homeworkers, Sabah Nepal has diversified its products by making processed food items that are dried, pickled, frozen or ready-to-eat. They have also launched a mobile application called “Mero Pasal Sabah Bazaar” to enable homeworkers to post their products and sell to a wider audience. 

*Photo Credit: All photographs are credited to HNSA and its cluster partners SAVE, SEWA Bharat- Delhi Branch and SABAH Nepal

*The Hidden Homeworkers Project has been co-funded by the European Commission.

Pawan Kashyap

Business Associate

Pawan works at Traidcraft India as Business Associate. He is a development professional with 4 years’ experience of working on livelihood having expertise in sustainable agriculture supply chain, social enterprise development & Women, economic empowerment.

He is an MBA in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Social Service (Rural Marketing as specialized subject). Previously he has work with BIRSA, a social organization on Forest Rights, Livelihood & Sustainable agriculture in Jharkhand

Subodh Kumar

Sr. Business Associate

Subodh works at Traidcraft India as a Sr. Business Associate. He is a young development professional with 6 years of experience. Subodh is an Agriculture graduate from Allahabad Agriculture Institute, Allahabad, Master’s in Development Management from Tata Dhan Academy, Madurai and Post Graduate Certificate in International Organization Management from the University of Geneva. Prior to joining Traidcraft, Subodh has worked with TechnoServe India and Aga Khan Rural Support Program India. Subodh holds expertise in Institution building, capacity building, sustainable agriculture, value-chain development, and market linkages of the various agriculture crops. He has worked in various states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

Priyashri Mani

Associate Consultant

Priyashri Mani is the Associate Consultant (Women’s Economic Empowerment) in Traidcraft India. She has 10 years of experience in the development sector working with marginalised communities in the areas of livelihood, women’s empowerment, and indigenous people’s rights. She has a Masters’ degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) University of Sussex, UK and a Bachelors’ (Hons) in Sociology from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi University.

Jyoti Prakash

Market Engagement Expert

Jyoti Prakash works with Traidcraft as Market Engagement Expert and has more than 15 years of experience in strategy formulation, implementation and management of “Livelihoods, Enterprise development & Market Engagement” projects. His professional strengths include conceptualising and facilitating implementation of innovative strategies and methodologies in the areas of Livelihoods , Enterprise promotion, Market Engagement, Value Chain Development, Institution Building and Development Research.

Rohan Preece

Manager – Business and Human Rights

Rohan Preece is the Manager – Business and Human Rights at Traidcraft India. He has around 15 years of experience across private sector, government and third sector contexts in India, including work with youth, in India and the UK. He has worked on gender-related monitoring and evaluation and documentation assignments for a range of organisations including Save the Children India and, while at Praxis-Institute for Participatory Practices. In his work with Partners in Change, he led a number of projects on business and human rights and corporate responsibility. His work contributed to the establishment of Fair Finance India, a civil society coalition that engages constructively with the financial sector. He has experience of addressing human rights issues in factory settings and in supply chain settings in India and of working with grassroots organisations. His sectoral engagement experience in India encompasses the financial sector, textiles and apparels, footwear and electronics. He holds a MA (Hons) degree from the University of Cambridge and a University of London MA in education and international development.

Dipankar Sengupta

Supply chain expert

Dipankar Sengupta is the supply chain expert at Traidcraft and has a PGDABM (Post Graduate Diploma in Agribusiness Management) from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a PGDRD (Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Development) from Xavier Institute of Social Service. Before joining Traidcraft he worked with Rallis India where he focused on creating agri-solutions. His work experience includes assignments at Bayer CropScience Limited and Tata Chemicals.

Maveen Pereira

Director programme

Maveen Pereira has over 35 years of development experience working at different levels from grassroots to senior management.  As the Director programme, Traidcraft Exchange, she leads strategic planning, program development and management across South Asia and East Africa. Having worked directly with workers, small producers, she has a sound knowledge of the challenges faced by them in their bid to access markets sustainably.  She helped launch the first Fair Trade label in India – Shop for Change – using a multi-stakeholder approach. Prior to joining Traidcraft, she was faculty in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is a graduate from TISS and holds a PhD in Sociology from University of Mumbai.