From artisans to street vendors to home-based garment workers, around 85 percent of India’s workforce is employed in the informal sector, contributing over 50 percent of the country’s GDP. Women play a critical role, with more than 17 million Indian women engaged in home-based work and 12.48 million involved in non-agricultural activities. Despite their vital contributions, women working in the informal sector remain largely invisible to formal systems that provide access to finance, social protection, and economic opportunity.

Through a broader initiative supported by The Coca-Cola Foundation, we are collaborating with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) to change this reality. Together, we are creating innovative financial solutions that accelerate SEWA’s goal of enhancing financial resilience and formal credit access for their members.

SEWA, founded in 1972, has been a pioneer in organizing women working in the informal economy across India. SEWA has created a strong network of grassroots leaders, cooperatives, and federations that work to strengthen women’s economic rights and livelihoods. Their approach, which combines solidarity, advocacy, and services like microfinance, healthcare, and skills training, has empowered millions of women to lift themselves out of poverty. SEWA’s deep-rooted presence in communities, its proven models for collectivizing informal workers, and its understanding of gendered vulnerabilities make it the ideal partner for this initiative.

Getting to know women in the informal economy

To ground our collaboration in real experiences, we conducted a series of focus group discussions with SEWA’s field staff and grassroots leaders across multiple districts in Gujarat. These conversations, along with field visits to meet SEWA members and their groups, helped us better understand the systemic barriers women workers face in building financial resilience and accessing climate-responsive support. The insights gathered directly informed the design of our three project pillars — visibility through digital profiles, strengthening savings practices, and unlocking inclusive finance.

1. Creating visibility through alternative data

Women in the informal economy are routinely excluded from formal financial systems, not only because their income-generating work goes undocumented, but also because existing savings group structures lack systematized, verifiable data. While many women actively participate in group savings and demonstrate financial discipline, this behavior rarely translates into formal credit access due to the absence of standardized records. To address this gap, we are working with SEWA to build digital profiles that capture both livelihood activities and financial behavior, laying the groundwork for access to tailored financial services.

We are working with SEWA to document women’s economic and work activities and savings habits through the creation of member profiles. These profiles aim to bridge the data gap that has historically excluded informal workers from accessing credit, insurance, and social protection.

2. Financial resilience through savings and increased financial capability

Self-help groups continue to play a vital role in supporting women’s day-to-day resilience. Many women shared how they rely on pooled weekly contributions to manage immediate needs like medical expenses or crop losses. However, we found that a lack of financial education and awareness of formal savings options often drives their continued reliance on these informal systems. Without the knowledge or confidence to engage with formal institutions, women are unable to grow their assets or plan for long-term financial security.

Another insight that emerged clearly from our discussions was that just saving is often insufficient. As climate shocks become more frequent and severe, women’s livelihoods are increasingly vulnerable. Many shared that even disciplined saving wasn’t enough to help them recover from major disruptions. This underscores the need for both strengthened financial capability and access to more robust, climate-responsive financial tools. In response, we are working with SEWA to build financial literacy at the grassroots level and raise awareness around the importance of diversified, secure savings mechanisms.

While savings groups remain an important entry point for many rural women, our focus is on deepening their understanding of why and how to save, both within groups and through formal financial channels. Together with SEWA, we are developing training content and delivering a Training of Trainers program that equips grassroots leaders to educate their communities on the importance of building stronger savings habits. These sessions go beyond group formation, covering essential skills such as budgeting, goal-setting, financial planning, and managing risk.

3. Recovery through climate-responsive finance

For women working in the informal economy, climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is a daily reality. In regions impacted by droughts, floods, or erratic weather, women’s livelihoods are often the first to be disrupted. Several women shared how sudden crop losses or factory closures pushed them into financial crisis. They emphasized the urgent need for flexible, responsive financial products that can support recovery and rebuilding. The findings reaffirmed that while the challenges are significant, the women themselves have created strong networks of support that can be further strengthened with the right interventions.

SEWA’s Livelihood Recovery and Resilience Fund (LRRF) is a pioneering effort to provide flexible, affordable credit to women vulnerable to climate and economic shocks. As climate risks intensify, this fund offers an essential safety net for women working in fragile livelihoods. Our role is to support SEWA in strengthening the fund’s operational model, helping make processes clearer, more efficient, and more accessible so that more women can not only access capital but also use it to build more climate-resilient and sustainable enterprises.

The impact we want to make

This project centers on the principle that all women are entitled to dignity, recognition, and the autonomy to make informed choices about their livelihoods. Despite their critical contributions, women working in the informal economy have been pushed to the margins, their contributions overlooked. Through this partnership, we’re working to change that narrative and create a future where women are not only seen but empowered to take control of their financial futures.

This initiative will not only impact the women we directly engage with but also has the potential to reach SEWA’s broader member base of over 2.7 million women across India. By documenting their work, building their financial resilience, and providing access to climate-responsive finance, we can help unlock the full potential of informal women workers on a massive scale.

Together with SEWA and the communities we serve, we are building pathways to a future where every woman informal worker has the opportunity not just to survive but to thrive.