Apraava Energy, India’s leading integrated energy solutions provider, in partnership with the CII Foundation and the CII Centre for Women Leadership (CWL),identified15 women leaders from Rajasthan under its ‘Empowering Champions of Change’ program. Through this initiative, the women will receive leadership trainingthat further strengthens theircapabilities and enables them to lead district-level initiatives aimed at addressing socio-economic inequalities.Collectively, they aim to positively impact more than 15,000 people from marginalised communities across the state.
The grassroots women leaders represent the districts of Baran, Jhalawar, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur, Barmer, Jalore, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jaipur, and Phalod in Rajasthan. Their work focuses on critical community issues such as domestic violence, livelihoods, re-enrolment of school dropouts, and adult literacy, among others.
Commenting on the initiative, Deepa Sebastian, Chief Human Resources Officer, Apraava Energy,said, “Grassroots women leaders are powerful agents of inclusive growth. In Rajasthan, Apraava is proud to support and strengthen these changemakers by building their leadership capabilities and enabling community-led solutions to local challenges. This initiative supports our long-term commitment to creating meaningful social impact and advancing inclusive development in the communities we serve.”
Shivani Kumar, Executive Director, Centre for Woman Leadership (CWL), said, “This initiative is building a new generation of grassroots women leaders in Rajasthan. By investing in women changemakers across underserved and remote regions of Rajasthan, we are helping build a strong pipeline of leaders who can design and implement solutions rooted in local realities, enabling sustainable development.”
Apraava launched the ‘Empowering Champions of Change’ initiative in 2024 in Assam to recognise and train women changemakers driving grassroots transformation in their communities. The program has since been extended to Madhya Pradesh. As part of the initiative, 15 women changemakers each from Assam and Madhya Pradesh aim to collectively impact more than 30,000 people from marginalised communities across the two states.