Hero for Humanity (Empowering Women Affected by COVID-19 Through Livelihood and Enterprise Support)

The Hero for Humanity programme is a testament to how targeted, compassionate action can restore dignity, self-reliance, and opportunity to those most affected by crisis. By focusing on widowed women who lost their partners to COVID-19, the initiative moved beyond immediate relief to enable long-term economic empowerment. Through structured, phased support first stabilizing households and then nurturing entrepreneurship the project built a resilient ecosystem for livelihood restoration. It didn’t just address survival, but enabled women to thrive, build businesses, and become active agents of change in their communities. Crucially, the programme worked to dismantle systemic barriers such as gender bias in employment, limited access to capital, and social stigma around widowed women. In doing so, it directly advanced the goals of poverty reduction, gender equality, and economic inclusion—as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “This programme didn’t just help me survive; it gave me the tools and confidence to stand on my own, to dream again.” — Beneficiary from Odisha