SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women

What is SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women?

SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women is a facility of the Ministry of Women and Child Development under the Samarthya sub-scheme of Mission Shakti. SANKALP stands for Supportive Action for Nurturing and Knowledge-Based Advancement, Last-Mile Delivery and Potential Realisation of Women, and HEW for Hub for Empowerment of Women.

According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the hub exists to bridge the information and knowledge gap about the schemes and facilities available to women, and to guide them to actually avail those benefits and entitlements. That is the problem it is built around: a large share of women who qualify for a scheme never claim it because nobody told them it existed or what the form required.

SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women therefore works as a single-window system for guiding, linking and hand-holding women into the institutional and schematic arrangements meant for them. It absorbed the role of the earlier Mahila Shakti Kendra and Mahila Police Volunteer arrangements when Mission Shakti's revised norms took effect.

Three levels of operation

• National level: policy coordination and monitoring for the Ministry.
• State level, a State Hub for Empowerment of Women, coordinating with state departments.
• District level, a District Hub for Empowerment of Women, which is the level a woman actually visits. It is preferably located within the District Magistrate's office, so it sits alongside the officials who administer the schemes it refers women to.

A second job: monitoring Mission Shakti

SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women also acts as the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for all components of Mission Shakti: One Stop Centres, the 181 helpline, Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas, Palna, Nari Adalat and the maternity benefit scheme. It works in convergence with Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and coordinates initiatives with other ministries and departments.

Who is eligible for SANKALP Hub for Empowerment of Women?

You can use a hub if:

• You are a woman. According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the facility is open to all women irrespective of their age — girls, working women, homemakers, widows and senior citizens alike.
• You want information on any central or state scheme, law or entitlement, not only those run by the Women and Child Development department. Hubs cover legislation, Acts and schemes across departments.

There is no income ceiling, no caste or category restriction, no requirement that you be employed or married, and no documentation needed simply to ask a question.

Who cannot apply / is not eligible

• Men cannot use the hub as beneficiaries, since it is a facility for women.
• No individual can apply to SANKALP for money, a grant or a job. The scheme funds hubs at state and district level; it pays nothing to individuals. Any cash a woman receives comes from the scheme she is referred to, not from SANKALP.
• Voluntary organisations and NGOs cannot apply directly for hub funding. Hubs are sanctioned to state and union territory governments under Mission Shakti, which then run them, usually through the district administration.
• Emergencies do not belong here. A woman facing violence or in immediate danger should call 181 or 112, or go to a One Stop Centre. The hub is an information and convergence facility, not a crisis service.

What does a Hub for Empowerment of Women actually do?

• Disseminates information on central and state government schemes, legislations and Acts relevant to women.
• Guides and hand-holds a woman through the specific application she needs to make, which office, which form, which documents.
• Refers and links her to the department that runs the scheme, and follows up.
• Runs awareness campaigns, seminars and workshops at district and block level.
• Conducts capacity-building programmes for functionaries and community workers.
• Monitors implementation of Mission Shakti components and facilitates inter-sectoral convergence.

Mission Shakti norms provide the hubs with dedicated funds for training and for vehicles, specifically to support last-mile outreach, that is, so that hub staff can travel to blocks and villages rather than waiting for women to reach the district headquarters.

What documents are required?

How to apply for help at a Hub for Empowerment of Women

1. Locate your District Hub for Empowerment of Women. It is preferably housed in the District Magistrate's or Collector's office; ask at the collectorate reception, at the District Women and Child Development office, or call 181.
2. Walk in and describe your situation: what you need is a pension, a loan, a skilling course, a scholarship for your daughter, a maternity benefit or help with a legal entitlement. No appointment or referral is needed.
3. Ask the hub staff to identify the schemes you qualify for, both central and state, and to tell you the exact eligibility conditions.
4. Get the document checklist for each scheme identified and arrange the documents; the hub will tell you which office issues each certificate.
5. Ask the hub to help fill and submit the application, and to record the referral so that it can be followed up.
6. Return with your acknowledgement number for follow-up if the department does not act, and ask the hub to escalate through the District Magistrate's office.

Help and grievance redressal

• Women Helpline: 181
• Emergency response: 112
• Child Helpline: 1098
• District Magistrate's office, which houses the District Hub, for escalation
• Mission Shakti portal: missionshakti.wcd.gov.in

Every service at a Hub for Empowerment of Women is free. No official or intermediary may charge a woman for information, for a referral, or for help completing a scheme application.