Airbnb home-sharing to help women in rural India
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Airbnb has signed a new agreement that could help women in rural parts of India generate extra income through home-sharing.
The digital company has penned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), opening up the possibility of home-sharing to its members, whom are typically from under-privileged communities.
Through the partnership, Airbnb will work with SEWA members to help them share their homes, thus creating additional economic opportunities for women in rural areas, as well as and promoting tourism in less-visited parts of the country. The initiative will initially be rolled out in Gujarat before expanding to other states.
“The partnership is an important step in Airbnb’s commitment to enable economic empowerment for female entrepreneurs and promote digital inclusion in rural areas,” said Thao Nguyen, Airbnb’s director of policy partnerships for Asia Pacific.
“Our mission is to democratise travel and through the partnership, we can help promote economic opportunities across diverse communities, help revitalise the rural economy and help prevent distress migration to urban areas, particularly among women and the youth.”
The MoU will also see Airbnb hold training sessions for SEWA members, equipping them with the skills needed to share their homes, before promoting them via its digital channels. In future, Airbnb and SEWA plan to expand the programme by partnering with state governments, academic institutions and other organisations.
“By partnering with Airbnb, we hope to create meaningful, productive and sustainable livelihood opportunities through the new age economy for our two million women members across 14 states of India, especially the young members who would benefit tremendously from digital inclusion,” said Reema Nanavaty, SEWA’s director.
“Through the partnership, we will help our members become powerful micro-entrepreneurs, best placed to promote sustainable and responsible tourism in India and bridge the gap between urban and rural communities by exposing them to the rural way of life through Airbnb hosting.”
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