The State Cottage and Village Industry department has been honoured with United Nations Public Award for 2013. United Nations honours outstanding public welfare works at international level under various categories every year.
This award will be conferred on the State's Cottage and Village Industry department for its novel initiative of rural 'haats'. It was decided to hand over the management of rural 'haats' to women's self-help groups, set up for women's empowerment and to help establish their access to resources. The decision to hand over the management of rural 'haats' to women's self-help groups increased their economic self-reliance and their participation in social decisions due to which they continued to become stronger and continued their activities during the project period. Rural 'haats' were started, which are in existence even 11 years after its launch, without external cooperation. Savings of some of these SHGs is more than `90,000.
The management of rural 'haats' has proved to be very effective in women's empowerment. Innovation in the form of rural 'haats' was entered in United Nation's award category, "Initiative to make public delivery system gender responsive". United Nations found this entry worthy of award after keen examination. United Nations will bestow this award on Principal Secretary, Cottage and Village Industry, Kanchan Jain at Bahrain's capital Manama on June 27.