Income to Influence: The Livelihood Project of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Boosting the lives of rural women.

So what actually alters when a woman in a rural village begins to have her own income?

One can easily imagine that money is the answer. However, when you visit such communities, take time to listen to women, you get to realise that the transformation is much deeper. Income is only the beginning. Confidence, voice, dignity, and influence follow.

The livelihood programs financed by CSR are transforming the lives of women silently in rural India. These changes do not necessarily make it to headlines, but they are strong. Over the years of conducting impact assessments at DevInsights, there has been one similar observation: once women obtain access to stable livelihood opportunities, their worlds tend to expand in a manner that cannot be depicted through the use of numbers.

They don’t just earn. They decide. They speak. They lead. But how does this transformation happen? Let's take a deeper look.

When an Occupation Becomes a Crossroad: CSR has been shifting to long-term development in India slowly. One of the most significant investments has been made in livelihoods led by women-either in agriculture, livestock, food processing, handicrafts or small-scale enterprises. At first glance, these interventions may appear to focus mainly on skill training and income generation, but their real impact goes much deeper. It is the manner in which economic involvement redefines the identity of women and how women are perceived by others. Livelihood programs that are gendered and based upon a collective model, such as Self-Help groups or producer collectives, open the door to something much more stable than temporary income.

Agency becomes a portal to livelihood: In most projects, women initially participate with hesitation. They are silent participants in meetings. They attend training courses without uttering much. However, with time, something different occurs. Women begin to spend money independently. They enquire in the meetings. They break the traditional beliefs regarding household financial control. The statistics indicate the increase in financial literacy and savings, taking leadership roles, not just in the family but in society as well. Therefore, women are legitimised by their economic contribution. Their voices start bearing a load.

Within the House, Small Yet Strong Change: The home itself is one of the most revealing areas of change. With the stabilisation of women's income, the role of a woman in the family varies. They are now involved in making decisions that could not have been made without them. Women report that they are consulted on the education of children, medical costs, food preferences and savings arrangements. In some instances, women-headed kitchen gardens and backyard poultry activities. Through these activities, women not only raise incomes but also influence the lives and lifestyles of their households. Better education, improved hygiene, and healthier lifestyles begin to take root. These are silent results, yet they have an enormous impact.

In Participants to Leaders: The most motivated transformation that has been documented in the impact assessment is the transition of participation to leadership. The women who were afraid of talking in meetings have developed Self-Help Groups. They negotiate with buyers. They reflect their groups within village and block-based forums. Others even engage freely with the institutional leaders, government officials, and politicians. It is not an overnight and accidental development. It occurs when livelihood programs are constructed in a manner that transcends income, and it consciously forges collective powers. In such situations, leadership does not have to do with titles. It’s about presence. About being heard.

Markets, Mobility and a New Sense of Self: The issue of market access usually becomes a milestone of the empowerment process in women. When women's business ventures are linked to a bigger value chain, it is not only earnings that are affected. The income is more predictable. Negotiation skills improve. And, perhaps, most of all, women start perceiving themselves as professionals. In certain projects, remote village women create goods that are consumed in urban markets, which they might not ever see. Yet their work travels there. They are no longer restricted to the village. They no longer occupy informal and invisible spaces. They are part of the economy. That change, symbolic as well as economic, alters female views of their future.

Accessing the Most Marginalised: Most of the CSR livelihood projects deliberately target women who have the most marginalised background, tribal groups, landless households, and resource-poor farmers. In this case, the change may be particularly radical. Women tend to present their experience in very personal words when livelihood support is coupled with skill-building, collectivisation, access to financial services and even institutional linkages. The first time in her life, she felt independent. Feeling respected at home. Having the confidence to talk in front of people. These are narratives that have been realised by using deep interviews and group discussions to make the numbers alive. They remind us of the fact that empowerment is not just on paper.  

From Dependency to Dignity:  In the series of CSR impact assessments carried out by DevInsights, one theme keeps reappearing again and again: dignity. Women do not define themselves as beneficiaries anymore. They identify themselves as providers to their families, their bands, their societies. Life turns into a goal of self-esteem and ambition. Profits are spent wisely in the education of children, on better food, on better housing, small property. Such decisions are a sign of confidence and long-term orientation. They reflect agency.

Beyond Survival: Livelihood is not only about existence. It is about choice. About confidence. About control over one’s life. The women whose journeys are recorded based on CSR impact assessment are not just beneficiaries of development programs. They are proactive players and are making their own destiny.

And most of all, they stop waiting until the opportunity presents itself. They are creating it.