THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
The corona pandemic has pushed all of mankind to the wall and has extracted life energies out of each human being, with the exception of a few die-hard spirited persons like Jyoti Shetgaonkar, an audit community resource person under the Goa State Rural Livelihoods Mission.
After she was selected, Jyoti was trained as a block resource person and now awaits orders for the same. “I don’t want to settle for less in life and nothing can stop me from extending my services to the people in need,” asserts Jyoti, who has voluntarily donned the role of a Covid warrior, constantly responding to the needs of her community.
Admitting that she was disturbed by the number of deaths among the young population in her ward, Jyoti states, “These youth were the earning members in the family and their sudden demise left their parents in shock and denial. The family was shattered and had no earning source. Here’s where I realised that the women should be equipped with livelihood skills so that they can face the economic challenges.”
Stepping out to help such needy families, Jyoti worked towards bringing the collective women force together so that they can take better care of their children. She worked on the ground, distributing steamers, sanitisers and groceries sponsored by ‘Stree Shakti’. She also generated livelihood opportunities for women by providing them material to stitch masks and placed orders too.
“I distributed 3000 masks free in my ward, but those who stitched them were paid Rs 7 per mask,” says Jyoti, providing them information on various government schemes. With support from Goa Livelihoods Forum, Jyoti managed to work with a large network of women and helped them to set up shops. Doing cashew farming is lucrative for the women, she found out. Today, she handles 60 self-help groups and 40 village organisations in Korgao.
“The Covid training offered by DRDA and GIPARD has been immensely helpful in reaching out to the community,” states Jyoti, adding, “It is a 5-day course hosted by highly trained resource persons. There were some challenges like lack of electricity which hindered regular attendance, but I tried my best to optimize the learnings and give back to the community.” Jyoti has also organized vaccination awareness drives under the Adarsh Gram Seva Sangh banner.
