NCW, Airbnb seek to empower women in the North East

The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday partnered with hospitality company Airbnb to create livelihood opportunities for women in the northeast region as a step towards their empowerment.

The partnership under NCW’s capacity building cell – an initiative to focus on skill development-oriented programmes, will be initially started in three states – Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh – on a pilot basis.

According to NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma, the state commissions will initially choose 10 women from these three states who will be given training on how to start a homestay, get financial assistance from banks, generate technology-enabled livelihood opportunities in tourism and hospitality and other skill oriented initiatives.

The trained staffs will later teach other women and their homestays will be featured on the web-page of Airbnb. “It will also promote digital inclusion and the creation of women-led tourism and hospitality enterprises, thereby paving the way for their economic and social empowerment. With this inclusive development, we hope to together provide women in the North Eastern States a platform to become micro-entrepreneurs,” said Sharma. Chris Lehane, Global Head of Policy, Airbnb said: “India’s northeast, with its immense tourism potential, is a priority market for Airbnb and we are very excited about the partnership with the NCW”.