When women rise, their families rise with them. Their financial literacy and independence are great drivers for change. In Banashankari, Saamuhika Shakti enabled women to form self-help groups (SHGs), create bank accounts and build a savings practice. These SHGs are also eligible to become part of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) through which the women get several government benefits. In Banashankari, 10 such SHGs came together to form an Area Level Federation - making them eligible for greater benefits under the NULM. Through this, the women in the community are now gaining confidence and have started their own businesses as a part of the micro entrepreneurship programme.

Kumudha is a dry waste collection centre (DWCC) operator in Bengaluru. The savings from a self-help group (SHG) that she and her employees are members of partly funded the setting up of the DWCC. She says she wants to employ more women, and her dream is to help them develop the courage to learn the skills to open similar centres of their own and become entrepreneurs like her.

Among Saamuhika Shakti’s work with the informal waste pickers is the goal to ensure the community’s  kids have access to education, know about their rights, and have the agency to create possibilities where none existed before. One way to nurture this is by providing children a safe space to voice their opinions and needs in various ways. In public schools where Saamuhika Shakti partners work, the students drop in notes about things they need or want in their school into a 'Suggestion Box' managed by the students themselves. The notes are opened monthly and discussed with teachers. Children have so far posted letters asking for better study tables, notebooks and even a playground. And in one neighbourhood, wishes are coming true, with authorities identifying and building a small playground for the children.

Buttons partly made from plastic waste, collected by informal waste pickers in Bengaluru with whom Saamuhika Shakti works, are now featured on H&M garments made in India and sold worldwide. These buttons are traceable down to the source of the waste along with names of the workers, social security, salaries, and working conditions at the aggregation centre.

In the absence of toilets, women in the community needed to travel by bus, pay a significant part of their wages to use a toilet -  leading to undignified remarks and safety issues. With the work of Saamuhika Shakti partner WaterAid, many waste-picker communities have been able to build toilets and manage their maintenance, creating safe, clean spaces for all. Here’s the story of the difference being felt by one such community.

How do the people who collect, sort and find value in your waste define the terms used to talk about waste? With Saamuhika Shakti partner Hasiru Dala’s help, waste pickers from across Karnataka documented their understanding of some important terms related to waste management in their own words.

Social media influencers are great partners when it comes to creating conversations that matter on the internet. As thought leaders followed by many, they are able to plant the seeds of change in perception of waste pickers, orchestrated by partner BBC Media Action.

Our partners BBC Media Action, created a chat show series with actress Bhoomi Shetty and recyclers from Bengaluru's informal waste picker community, enabling a discovery and gratefulness for what these invaluable recyclers do, how they live and how citizens can join them in their work.