HomeNet South Asia Trust

Meet SABAH Bhutan, one of HomeNet South Asia’s long-standing affiliates working to strengthen the livelihoods of women home-based workers across Bhutan.

What makes SABAH stand out is its focus on turning traditional skills into sustainable livelihood opportunities. From weaving and product development to market access, SABAH works closely with women to help their skills translate into income.

Recently, SABAH supported women HBWs through financial literacy training and trained ‘Master Weavers’ in new approaches to kit-making and contemporary design.
We’re proud to have SABAH Bhutan as part of the HomeNet South Asia network.

#HomeNetSouthAsia #SABAHBhutan #HomeBasedWorkers #WomenEmpowerment #FinancialLiteracy #SkillsDevelopment #Bhutan

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2 days ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

For us, addressing violence against women is central to advancing the rights, dignity, and safety of women home-based workers. Through our three-year grant project, we are working with three partners in Nepal: Women for Human Rights (WHR), SAATHI, and SABAH Nepal.

On 18 September 2026, WHR conducted a violence awareness training for women home-based workers in Harisiddhi, Lalitpur, through Master Trainers. WHR works to advance women’s rights and empowerment, with a focus on access to justice, support, and social protection. A long-time affiliate of HomeNet South Asia, WHR also works to strengthen the rights and recognition of women home-based workers.

The training covered different forms of violence, women’s rights, and available support and assistance mechanisms, helping participants better recognize violence, understand their rights, and access available support.

To extend this work beyond individual training sessions, our training manual is available in six languages, with additional translations underway. It provides practical information and resources for trainers and communities to continue conversations around violence, women’s rights, and support mechanisms.

#WomenHomeBasedWorkers #WomensRights #ViolenceAwareness #HomeNetSouthAsia #WomenForHumanRights

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1 week ago | [YT] | 0

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Hands that work from home also deserve recognition.

This International Translation Day, we’re celebrating language's power to connect people, cultures, and stories, while recognizing the hands behind the work, wherever they work.

Because every contribution deserves to be seen, understood, and valued.

#InternationalTranslationDay #Translation #HomeNetSouthAsia #HomeBasedWorkers #WomenEmpowerment

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1 week ago | [YT] | 0

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Highlights from our Bangladesh Visit!

Last week, HNSA Regional Coordinator Janvi G. Kanakia, Senior Programme Coordinator Richa Macsuedon, and Communications Associate Bivisha Prajapati travelled across Bangladesh to meet home-based workers (HBWs), community leaders, and our incredible affiliates working alongside them. The purpose of this visit was to culminate grassroots activity to push for the ratification of the ILO C177 for the recognition of home-based workers.

From Dhaka to Rajshahi, Mirpur, Jamalpur and beyond, we listened to stories of work, resilience, organizing, and everyday life. One place that continues to stay with us is Char Majher Diar — a remote riverine island where we met subcontracted women workers who stitch, tailor, and embroider, making as little as 1800 takas for 30-40 days of work on a bedsheet or blanket. With limited access to the mainland, life and work in this community come with their own unique challenges.

In Dhaka, we visited communities where many HBWs work from very small rented spaces, often balancing their livelihoods with the realities of their homes and neighborhoods. We also met community organizers and leaders advocating for better conditions, from electricity and roads to fairer wages and improved working environments.

What stood out most was the collective strength of these communities, and the determination of HBWs, especially women, to speak up and create change.
These stories are only a glimpse into a much bigger journey. We’ll be sharing more images, blogs, and reports soon.

A heartfelt thank you to our affiliates LIE, CUP, PDAP, Unnayan Sangha, and BLF for welcoming us, supporting the visit, and taking us into the heart of these communities.

#HomeNetSouthAsia #HomeBasedWorkers #Bangladesh #WorkersRights #WomenWorkers #InformalWorkers

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1 week ago | [YT] | 0

HomeNet South Asia Trust

On 15 September, HNSA joined India-focused non-profits, funders, and development practitioners at Charcha to exchange ideas on successful collaborative initiatives serving poor and vulnerable populations.

HNSA Chairperson Renana Jhabvala spoke about women’s economic empowerment as an indicator of a society’s success, highlighting that investment in education alone is no longer enough. We need better pathways that enable women to participate meaningfully in the workforce. This question of creating pathways from opportunity to economic participation resonated across many of the conversations at Charcha.

A recurring framework throughout the day was Samaaj (Society), Sarkaar (Government), and Bazaar (Market)—and the role each plays in creating inclusive, sustainable solutions that can reach scale.

Through sessions hosted by partners including SEWA Bharat, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), 10x Impact Labs, and Atlassian Foundation, we explored how AI and LLM technologies are already impacting sectors such as governance, secondary education, skilling, primary healthcare access, and agriculture.

The conversations also surfaced some fundamental questions: How do we create reliable, friction-free services? How can technical innovations multiply with government support? And how do we balance the costs of implementing AI at scale with sustainability, rising costs, and sovereignty?

A conversation with Divya Khemani (Meta) brought us back to an important principle: technology implementation for the sake of it serves nobody, so tread carefully.

We leave Charcha with many thoughts to take forward — on data management, ground-up innovation, and, most importantly, keeping the voice of the worker central.

#Charcha2026 #HomeNetSouthAsia #WomenEconomicEmpowerment #InclusiveDevelopment #FutureOfWork #SamaajSarkaarBazaar

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Dr. Janvi G. Kanakia, our Regional Coordinator, joined the panel at the Sustainable Global Value Chain Forum in Singapore on 11 September, bringing the voices and experiences of home-based workers into the conversation on sustainable and responsible value chains.

The panel included many distinguished speakers, including Sanchita Saxena (University of Berkeley), Aarti Kapoor (Embode), Renukaprasad B (Good Business Lab), Shylaja Devi Vasudevan Nair (Head, Sustainability, SD Guthree).

“What was remarkable about the discussion was the various vantage points of business, academia, workers’ movements, and corporate/sustainable innovation that came together on one stage and spoke honestly about gaps and potential solutions. At HomeNet South Asia, we value this stage to spotlight the workers' voices from South Asia in the discussion and hope to influence shifts in the long run.”

In her speech, Dr. Janvi highlighted three key gaps faced by home-based workers: limited legal recognition and social protection, weak implementation of existing laws, and lack of worker voice in decision-making.

She also outlined three priorities for change: portable social protection, worker-led research and advocacy, and stronger collaboration and shared responsibility across value chains.
Sustainable value chains must also be decent value chains, with home-based workers recognized, protected, and heard.

#HomeNetSouthAsia #HomeBasedWorkers #GlobalValueChains #DecentWork #WorkersRights #CentreforResponsibleBusiness #CRB

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Making AI practical for our network!

On 25 August and 3 September, HomeNet South Asia, together with 10x Impact Labs, held two AI training sessions for leaders from our affiliate home-based worker organizations.

From AI fundamentals and prompting to fundraising research and donor mapping, participants explored practical ways AI can support their work.
And we’re listening to what they had to say!

Participants valued the interactive activities and practical exercises, while asking for more hands-on practice, work-specific examples, and more accessible language in future sessions.

Good news: three more sessions are coming! We’ll keep learning, experimenting, and building practical AI skills together.

Thank you to 10x Impact Labs and all our participating leaders!

#HomeNetSouthAsia #AIForGood #HomeBasedWorkers #ResponsibleAI #CapacityBuilding #10xImpactLabs #AITraining

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1 month ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Who makes a garment before it reaches the shop floor?

For many garments, part of the work happens in homes through sewing, embroidery, embellishment, finishing, and other piece-rate tasks carried out by home-based workers.

Research by HomeNet South Asia and HomeNet Pakistan looked at the experiences of 110 women homeworkers in Karachi and found some stark gaps in working conditions.

• 70.9% did not use safety equipment such as gloves or masks.
• 82.7% reported eye strain or headaches related to their work.
• 63.6% reported back pain.
• 56.4% reported neck or shoulder pain.
• Before COVID-19, 72.7% said the products they worked on were sold in international markets.
• Yet during COVID-19, around 90% of those asked said they did not know which brands they were producing for.

The work may happen at home, but it can still be part of a much larger garment supply chain.

Recognising home-based workers means recognising the work that happens outside the factory, and the working conditions that come with it.
These are some of the questions our Regional Coordinator, Dr. Janvi G. Kanakia, will be exploring further as a panelist at the Sustainable Global Value Chain Forum in Singapore on September 11, alongside the wider conversation on home-based workers and their place in the supply chain. Stay tuned!

Based on: Homeworkers in Garment Supply Chains: Research from Karachi, Pakistan, HomeNet South Asia & HomeNet Pakistan, 2022.

Full report: hnsatrust.org/resource/homeworkers-garment-supply-…

#HomeBasedWorkers #GarmentSupplyChains #WorkersRights
#SupplyChain #WomenWorkers #HomeNetSouthAsia

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1 month ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

LOOKING BACK: WHEN A SIMPLE RECORD MADE WORK VISIBLE.

For home-based workers, keeping a record of work can help answer some very practical questions: What orders did I receive? What type of work did I do? What was the piece rate? How long did the order take? And how much did I earn?

Under HNSA’s wage card initiative, affiliates developed and distributed wage cards to home-based workers in different regions of Pakistan, Nepal, and India. Each card recorded common information such as order type, work type, and wage rates.

The study found that before the initiative, only around 35% of respondents were keeping track of their orders, with most using a diary. After the introduction of wage cards, approximately 88% reported using them to track their orders. Around 95% said they understood the information being recorded.

The value of the cards also differed across the four clusters:

🇵🇰 HomeNet Pakistan: Workers used the cards to record finished goods, remade pieces, and wage loss from rejected pieces.

🇳🇵 SABAH Nepal: 500 cards were distributed, with 368 workers consistently filling them. Workers reported that recording their time, type of work, and income was helpful.

🇮🇳 SAVE Tirupur: 1,018 workers received cards, and the study found that their use helped workers better understand the average income they earned from home-based work.

🇮🇳 SEWA Bharat Delhi: About 70% of the 100 workers who received cards were using them to understand piece rates, time taken to complete orders, frequency of orders, and income.

The study's finding was clear: when used systematically, wage cards can help workers understand their orders, the time required to complete them, and the income they generate. It also creates useful records for partners and contractors when calculating payments.

Read the full report here: hnsatrust.org/resource/study-wage-analysis-home-ba…

#HomeBasedWorkers #WageCards #WorkersRights #FairWages #HNSA

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1 month ago | [YT] | 1

HomeNet South Asia Trust

Home is where they work. But who's making sure it's safe?

Across South Asia, millions of home-based workers stitch, weave, roll, and assemble from the same four walls where they cook and sleep. There's no safety officer walking through that door, no inspection, no formal workplace at all. There are just the risks: fire, heat stress, poor ventilation, ergonomic injury, and now, increasingly, climate disaster.

As extreme weather events grow more frequent and severe across the region, protecting informal workers and economies isn't optional; it's urgent. Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is the fundamental right to not get hurt doing your job, and for home-based workers, that right is still catching up to reality.

That's why our affiliate in Bangladesh, LIE (Labour at Informal Economy Society), has been working directly with women home-based worker leaders by training them in fire safety, disaster response, and heatwave protection, and turning that training into action: tree plantations, emergency water systems, community OSH plans, and stronger social protection access. Trainings like these matter because they ensure workers know how to act and respond when disaster hits, not just recover after the fact.

LIE has long been one of our most committed affiliates on the ground, and their work continues to set the standard for what informal worker protection looks like in practice.

Because safety shouldn't depend on where your workplace happens to be.

#HomeNetSouthAsia #HomeBasedWorkers #OccupationalSafetyAndHealth #InformalEconomy #WorkerRights

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1 month ago | [YT] | 1