வாழ்வு
Direct Hardship Relief & Social Welfare
Empower Tamizhagam provides a vital safety net for families facing sudden hardship, disasters, or systemic neglect. We combine immediate, high-impact direct intervention—such as emergency relief and healthcare support—with the technical expertise to unlock long-term government welfare schemes.
Our goal is to ensure that no life is derailed by a temporary crisis, providing the stability needed for communities to move from survival to self-sufficiency.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
We have a deep understanding of local legislative and regulatory policy issues. Our public policy initiatives are broad, forward-thinking, and driven by what is best for citizens, especially the poor and vulnerable sections of society.
ET-Impact works with key legislators, government officials, corporates, and civil society groups worldwide to support sustainable livelihood programs.
TOP 5 IMPACT ACTIONS
1. Access to Govt Programs
- Building awareness among the poor through our teams and online channels.
- Determining beneficiary eligibility for schemes through our Policy Access Platform
- Enabling clarity and process in accessing benefits. Beneficiaries span women, farmers, small business, unemployed and youth.
2. Grassroots Challenges
- Simplifying processes for easier access to government of India and
state-level schemes. - Guiding beneficiaries to the right government
officials & departments. - Conducting field camps along with relevant
decision makers to fast-track beneficiary registration and approvals.
3. Economic Development
- Helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers access loans,
subsidies and financing. - Ensuring Ease of Business by minimizing
regulatory compliance requirements. - Enabling small businesses to avail
of targeted programs and opportunities. - Building an ecosystem
facilitating more jobs for all.
4. Policy Design & Execution
- Providing support for government officials in conceiving and
implementing schemes at the local, state and central level. - Reducing red
tape and encouraging single window processes for faster, easier access
to funds/benefits. - Adopting & adapting successful global policy initiatives.
5. The Best Ideas in the World
- Identifying and implementing the best innovations, technology and
know-how. - Our KnowledgeWorks sessions determine the optimal approach and
acceptance strategies in partnership with developmental agencies, think
tanks, academia and experts. - Frugal innovations across poverty
alleviation, farmers and the underserved.
Our engagement in public policy spans decades with effective design, resolution and impact. Efforts include dialogue, policy changes and institutional transformation across Livelihood, Education, Sustainability, Small Businesses and eGovernance.
- Public policy research, dedicated to in-depth assessment and scientific analysis with the objective of delivering actionable ideas that could transform rural and urban India.
- Third party assessment and high-quality evidence-based research for international agencies with practical and innovative interventions in policy decision-making.
- ET also provides Global Internship/Volunteering programs. Our team consists of individuals who thrive on big challenges, think laterally to solve grassroots issues. All with the human condition in mind.
Over 10x Impact Multiplier From Donations.
You read that right, through our RAP initiatives we foster over 10x outcomes from donations. We deliver scale by unlocking the massive power of public funds, partner NGOs and leveraging the best ideas in the world. A mix of direct assistance, ecosystem enhancement and capacity building are keys to scalable outcomes.
Citizen access to benefits
Governments in India (both centre & state) and NGOs offer multiple programs, grants, support and subsidies. Regrettably, these often go unclaimed due to lack of guidance and awareness among the underserved.
The poor and uneducated are mostly unaware of the benefits they are entitled to. There exists a wide gap between policy design, implementation and access.
There exists a wide gap between policy design, implementation and access.
- To aid over 200,000 rural poor, differently-abled, women and children in Tamil Nadu, India.
- Extend CAB services throughout Tamil Nadu state so the majority of the underserved can access welfare benefits and improve their livelihood.
- Exponentially increase the number of people who will benefit from the program.
- Share our govt program information platform across India.
Citizen Access to Benefits[CAB] tries to bridge this gap and ensure the poor and underserved get fast-track benefits.
- CAB teams engage at the ground level to guide farmers, women, and small businesses, by providing information about their rights and benefits.
- Farmer Livelihood ‘FarmX’ project – reducing costs, access to benefits, credit and markets.
- Any citizen can access eligible govt & non-govt entitlements – insurance, grants, startup funds, subsidies, scholarships, etc.
- CAB works with CSCs (Common Service Centers), government officials, and NGOs to streamline the process for the poor to get better access to benefits.
- Community programs and channeling govt efforts to generate employment, and addressing local issues.
Initiatives over the years:
- One-stop camp organised for the Differently-Abled in Kanchipuram district, TN, India. Based on eligibility – forms were filled, signed by respective govt departments and by the end of the day benefits were allotted. This would have otherwise been an elaborate task for the Differently-Abled and their families.
- Construction of public community hall to decrease the out-of-pocket expenditure of local communities (Tamil Nadu, India).
- Saved Cantonment slum settlement from Defence Colony demolition. Relocation assistance, and intervention with the military.
- ‘Help your Help’ program created awareness amongst employers to guide and pay for their employees with govt insurance schemes at nominal amounts.
DISASTER RELIEF
The southern state of Tamil Nadu (India) is prone to many natural disasters such as cyclones, storms, earthquakes, fires, floods and drought. Every year, cyclones ravage the area leading to loss of lives and livelihoods. We provide disaster assistance to other parts of India, as needed.
Over the years, Empower Tamizhagam has taken many proactive steps to decrease the impact of such natural calamities. ET-Impact assists through funding, communication, logistics, disaster management.
We leverage and focus the ability of local governments, corporates and NGOs to respond more quickly and resiliently to disasters.
How we function:
- Directly provide food, clothing and shelter through our field teams. Conduct mitigation and relief measures
- Operates
as an Information hub – coordinate with other NGOs, govt bodies,
welfare associations to deliver information and food supplies. - Provide transportation and logistics support to organisations and the government for delivery of relief materials.
- Broad assistance to the affected, the homeless and the poor.
Join us, as we prepare for the upcoming monsoons. We welcome and support fundraising events in your neighborhood.
Efforts:
- Provided over 10,000 meals through food / dry rations to families of migrants, day workers, widows, aged, children, differently-abled, slums etc.
- Delivered food and supplies to over 50 burn victims and domestic violence survivors (predominantly women) and family across greater Chennai City and vicinity – Over 5,000 meals.
- Distributed essential supply kits (Food, mask, sanitizers etc) to the front-line workers and poor.
- The cellular communications blackout was one of the biggest challenges during the devastating Chennai Floods in 2015. The Government, NGOs and civil society were unable to coordinate and deliver relief to the most affected people. ET-Impact worked with Airtel cellular network and the govt to ensure power/generators for cellular towers. This had a direct impact on thousands of lives at stake.
PAST EFFORTS
Cleanliness Amenities
ET mobilized the power of design and some awesome folks – to ensure results!
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes as well as the treatment and proper disposal of sewage or wastewater.
Sanitation facilities in rural and semi-rural areas are a huge problem in India. Though there have been numerous programs initiated by the government, NGOs, and other socially active organizations, there has been low impact on the Below-Poverty-Line segment. And open defecation is still a sustaining issue, which is a root cause for various diseases. Awareness and efforts relating to the Government of India Swachh Bharat initiative, have been gaining momentum.
Sanitation in schools is a greater issue especially for budding women, as girls have feminine hygiene needs. They would need proper toilet facilities with privacy which are not available in most rural schools. This embarrassment causes girl students to skip schooling or worse, discontinue their studies – which in turn affects their education.
To address this essential need, the Cleanliness Amenities Program (CAP) has been established by Empower Tamizhagam.
An innovative girls restroom has been built at Iyyappanthangal Government Higher Secondary School, Chennai, India – to encourage
cleanliness and hygiene. This helps young girls face the world with much more confidence. This pilot project is intended to be a blueprint for wider scalability and replicability.
Sanitation, health and hygiene are basic needs of humanity especially among the female population. Empower Tamizhagam spearheaded this initiative joining hands with funding from FERAS an international group (from NIT-Trichy), with support from BeWo. Revolution by Design performed the overall design and building of the school toilets.
COVID RELIEF
We provide urgent ready-to-eat meals during disasters. In the aftermath, the more sustainable solution is to provide food kits that folks can cook at home. A family of 4 can eat for a week on $15 or Rs 1000. This has been our standard kit:
- Rice – 10 kg
- Dal/Lentils – 2 kg
- Oil – 1 litre
- Wheat – 1 kg
- Salt – 1/2 kg
- Chili powder – 100 gm
- Garlic+Ginger – 100 gm
- Onion – 2 kg
- Potato – 2 kg
- Sanitary napkin – 1
- Assorted vegetables
- Loaf of bread
COVID Mobilization:
- Provided ready-to-eat food to the poor and hungry.
- Supplied dry rations to the needy.
- Provided oxygen concentrators to save lives in 2021.
- Addressed essential needs of the poor and needy
- Target areas included Chennai, Cuddalore and Tamil Nadu (India).
- Target segments include migrant groups, seniors, shelters, slums.
- Provided masks, Personal Protective Equipment and essentials to front line workers.
- Work with the government in ensuring benefits are easily accessible to all.
- Funds to front-line folks for essentials and distribution.
- Engaging and empowering the NGO ecosystem.
- Fruits, vegetables & produce supplies to help farmers and citizens.
- Enabled access to essential new government initiatives.
- Ensured government policy changes to enhance public welfare.
Post-COVID
- Rebuilding after COVID – Livelihoods & Entrepreneurship.
- Engaging and empowering the NGO ecosystem.
- Enable access to essential government initiatives.
- Ensure government policy enhances social and economic development.
