Narayanamma, a daily-wage labourer in Kamarasanahalli, Bangalore Rural district, faced a lack of public transport in her village during the pandemic. She mobilised her community, drafted a letter to BMTC workers, and successfully advocated for a bus to stop at her village twice a day. In JC Badavane, a Buzz Beehive group led by Lakshmi took the initiative to save money collectively to support an Ajji (grandmother) abandoned by her family. Since November 2023, they have been providing her with Rs. 2000 every month, allowing her to rent a home with additional support from a government scheme. In the last financial year, Buzz community anchor volunteers raised Rs. 18 lakhs./ €20010 for Buzz Women, India. These are just a few of the many inspiring stories we hear daily.
From the beginning, we were clear about one thing: we didn’t want to just deliver training and disappear from the villages. Our goal has always been to create a visible impact in the lives of rural women. We wanted to foster lasting change in women’s lives, ultimately enabling them to break free from the multiple forms of poverty. To this end, we decided to remain a constant force in their lives, even after training, by nurturing women’s leadership through Buzz Gelathis or Community Anchors—changemakers from within the community.
A Buzz Gelathi exemplifies that change is both possible and achievable. She is a role model, a trusted guide who helps her community tackle challenges and find local solutions. Chosen democratically by her community after completing our Self Shakti (financial literacy) program, a Buzz Gelathi initiates a ripple of change. We see community leadership as pivotal to community problem-solving.
What does this Gelathi do? The Gelathis are equipped to engage new women and even the men, creating a cascading effect. She supports and motivates women to self-determine, to face their challenges and aspire for a better life, creates trust and on-going dialogue, supports women to collectively find local solutions for community problems, and gathers collective courage to define priorities, initiatives and solutions. They ensure community members actively co-create solutions rather than passively receiving ‘help’. She exemplifies grassroots leadership with systemic impact, creating the capacity for communities not only to identify and solve their own problems but also to grow stronger, more resilient, and more self-sufficient over time. Stories like Narayanamma and Lakshmi show us that women envision their role as bigger than even we did when we designed the intervention. They figure out how to be present in a way that makes sense for their contexts.
But why do these women volunteer? Initially, we didn’t aim to have them volunteer. We paid them a fee of Rs.2000 or €20 per month in the early years but quickly realised that this approach was unsustainable. From our experience and conversations, we’ve seen that the Gelathis, since they’re selected by the women in their community, feel a sense of responsibility and pride themselves on it. They all come across as 'learners' who previously didn’t have the opportunities to learn and showcase inquisitiveness. They also like being present and being there for others because they’re thinking beyond themselves - they imagine for and with the communities.
This journey has not been without its challenges. It was difficult initially to pitch this program and get supported monetarily because it was difficult to show partners ‘how’ and ‘why’ women would volunteer. We knew it would work because we knew the women. This has also been our biggest strength. Since our model is structured in a way where the volunteers are chosen from among the communities and among the cohorts Buzz has already worked with, it allows for us to build a relationship with her which is crucial because a leader needs her ecosystem built around her that’ll stand with her consistently.
Today, our impact assessment shows that 63% of the gelathis have demonstrated leadership skills, 57% have supported their communities to solve issues, and 86% have reported an increase in confidence. Our goal is to build a movement of thousands of volunteers driven not by money but by the intention to grow and foster positive change.
There are over 11,000 volunteers in our network. What do these women have in common? Each of them embodies growth and positive change. They view themselves as active members of a movement rather than simply "volunteers" of an organisation. Our first Buzz-trained woman, Devamma, chose to donate to Buzz so that more women could benefit. Our AvalaBuzz board members insist on attending quarterly board meetings to impact other women’s lives. These meeting
s allow them to connect with like-minded women, express their creativity, and strategize for the movement. It is the Community Anchors who reach out to our Buzz Field Associates for support and updates regularly because they want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They show us that change happens through ripples.
We believe that instilling personal change in women is simple. Besides the right tools, they need one essential thing: someone to stand by them consistently and remind them, “You’ve got this. You have the inner strength for change.” With 11,000 volunteer community anchors—and soon, many more—this encouragement and support will only grow stronger. The ripple will only grow.
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