From Income to Influence: How CSR Livelihood Projects Are Transforming Rural Women’s Lives

What happens when a woman in a rural village earns her own income?
The answer goes far beyond money.

Across rural India, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-supported livelihood initiatives are quietly reshaping the social and economic fabric of communities. While income generation is often the visible outcome, the deeper transformation lies in how women’s identities, confidence, and decision-making power evolve. Through systematic impact assessments, these changes—often overlooked—are being documented, analysed, and understood in meaningful ways.

Evaluations of multiple CSR livelihood interventions conducted by DevInsights (DI) reveal a consistent pattern: when women gain access to sustainable livelihood opportunities, they do not just improve household incomes. They gain voice, agency, and influence—within their families, communities, and local institutions. Women's empowerment, in this context, is not an abstract goal but a lived, measurable reality.

CSR, Livelihood, and the Pathway to Women's Empowerment

CSR has increasingly moved beyond charity toward long-term, sustainable development outcomes. Among the most effective CSR strategies is investment in women-led livelihoods—including agriculture, allied activities, food processing, livestock, handicrafts, and micro-enterprises.

Impact assessment findings consistently show that livelihood is the foundation of empowerment. Economic participation gives women bargaining power, social recognition, and the confidence to engage indecision-making processes. When CSR initiatives are designed with a gender lens and implemented through community-based models such as Self-Help Groups(SHGs) and producer collectives, they become powerful instruments of change.

Livelihood as the First Step to Agency

In many CSR projects evaluated by DevInsights, women initially enter programs as beneficiaries. They participate in skills training ,join SHGs, access small loans, or engage in income-generating activities. At this stage, the engagement is often cautious and limited.

However, impact assessment data reveal a gradual but profound shift. Over time, women begin to:

• Manage income independently

• Participate actively in group discussions

• Question traditional norms around financial control

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Across multiple livelihood projects, key outcomes include:

• Improved financial literacy and confidence in handling money

• Increased control over earnings and savings

• Greater participation in household and community decisions

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Livelihood provides women with something deeply transformative: economic legitimacy. When women contribute financially, their voices carry weight.

Transformation Within the Household

One of the most compelling insights from CSR impact assessments is the change within households. As women’s incomes become more stable, their role in family decision-making expands significantly.

• Children’s education, particularly girls’ schooling

• Healthcare choices and preventive health practices

• Nutrition, food diversity, and household consumption

• Savings, investments, and financial planning

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In several livelihood interventions assessed by DevInsights, women-led kitchen gardens and backyard poultry initiatives have directly improved household nutrition. Impact assessment findings indicate higher consumption of fresh vegetables, eggs, and protein-rich foods, leading to improved dietary diversity—especially for children.

Here, livelihood intersects with health, nutrition, and human development, demonstrating how CSR investments create multi-sectoral impact.

From Participation to Leadership

CSR livelihood programs are not only strengthening women’s economic roles—they are nurturing leadership.

Impact assessments show a clear progression:

• From silent participants to confident speakers

• From group members to SHG leaders

• From local producers to community representatives

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Women who once hesitated to speak in meetings are now:

• Managing SHGs and producer groups

• Negotiating with buyers, suppliers, and institutions

• Representing collectives at village, block, and district-level platforms

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This transition from participation to leadership is one of the strongest indicators of women empowerment captured through impact assessments.

Expanding Horizons: Market Access and Mobility

A defining feature of effective CSR livelihood projects is market linkage. When women’s enterprises are connected to larger value chains, the impact goes beyond income enhancement.

Impact assessments conducted by DevInsights highlight that market access:

• Improves income stability and predictability

• Enhances bargaining power and negotiation skills

• Builds a sense of dignity and professional identity

In some cases, women from remote and marginalised communities are producing goods that reach urban and metropolitan markets—places they may never have travelled to, but where their work now has visibility. This symbolic expansion of reach reshapes how women perceive themselves and their place in the economy.

They are no longer confined to local, informal spaces; they are part of broader economic systems.

Empowering the Most Marginalised

Many CSR livelihood interventions specifically target women from historically marginalised communities—tribal households, landless families, and resource-poor farmers. Impact assessments consistently show that when livelihood support is combined with:

• Skill development

• Collectivisation through SHGs

• Access to finance and markets

• Institutional linkages

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Institutional linkages

Women describe feeling:

• “Independent for the first time”

• “Respected within the family”

• “Confident to speak in public spaces”

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These qualitative narratives, captured through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, add critical depth to quantitative indicators and strengthen the evidence base for gender-responsive CSR programming.

Why Impact Assessment Is Central to CSR

CSR initiatives often focus on outputs—number of beneficiaries, trainings conducted, or assets distributed. Impact assessment shifts the focus to outcomes and long-term change.

Through rigorous methodologies, impact assessments help answer key questions:

• What aspects of livelihood interventions work best for women?

• How do income gains translate into agency and leadership?

• Which models are sustainable and scalable?

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By applying structured frameworks such as the OECD DAC criteria, impact assessments ensure that CSR livelihood programs are:

• Relevant to community needs

• Effective in achieving empowerment outcomes

• Efficient in resource utilisation

• Sustainable beyond project timelines

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Most importantly, impact assessments ensure that women’s voices are central to learning and decision-making.

Livelihood as Dignity, Not Dependency

A recurring theme across CSR impact assessments is the shift from dependency to dignity. Women no longer see themselves merely as beneficiaries of support but as contributors to household and community well-being.

Livelihood becomes more than a means of survival. It becomes:

• A source of self-respect

• A pathway to confidence

• A foundation for aspiration

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Women invest their earnings in children’s education, improved nutrition, better housing, and small assets. These choices reflect long-term thinking and agency, core indicators of empowerment.

From Survival to Self-Determination

Livelihood is not just about earning an income—it is about living with choice, confidence, and control.

The women whose journeys have been documented through CSR impact assessments conducted by DevInsights are not passive recipients of development programs. They are active agents of change, shaping better futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.

And perhaps the most powerful impact of all?

They are no longer waiting for opportunity.

They are creating it.

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