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This article is about Social Saheli, a flagship initiative of PLUC.TV, implemented in partnership with the Self-Employed Women’s Association, that brings together women’s livelihoods, clean energy, and grassroots storytelling. By turning smartphones into tools of work and visibility, the programme is quietly reshaping who gets seen, heard, and paid in India’s rural energy economy.
When her elder brother died, Manguben took control of her family’s future, turning her grief into resolve. After training as a Solar PV Technician, she excelled in her exams and now handles multiple roles — from harvesting salt under the scorching sun and supplying clean energy to her community. From the white salt flats of the Rann of Kutch to rooftops shining with solar panels, her journey is marked by resilience and reinvention. She is not alone. For many rural women like Manguben, Social Saheli, a long-term women’s livelihood and storytelling program, has transformed how women’s labour, renewable energy, and visibility come together on the ground.
Social Saheli is the flagship initiative of PLUC.TV, and is currently being implemented in collaboration with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Originally conceived as a programme to help rural women strengthen micro-enterprises through digital storytelling, Social Saheli trains participants like Manguben to document their work using smartphones and share it via online platforms. This visibility helps women access markets directly, build credibility for their labour, and reduce dependence on intermediaries.
The initiative has since expanded into the clean and solar energy sector. Across multiple districts in Gujarat, women from local self-help groups are being trained as solar workers, technicians, and local energy champions — roles that have traditionally been male-dominated and inaccessible to them. The training is practical and income-linked, rooted in daily realities: installing solar systems, maintaining equipment, and explaining energy use to their neighbours. Alongside this, they are learning how to document their work using their phones — filming, narrating, and sharing their experiences on digital platforms.
What sets Social Saheli apart is that storytelling here is not simply used as social advocacy or awareness-building. Instead, It functions as a form of economic infrastructure: a way for women to be seen as legitimate workers, to circulate proof of skill, and to create income opportunities linked to their labour. Participants learn both technical skills, whether in enterprise or energy work, and narrative skills — producing their own videos, photos, and first-person accounts.
As the programme unfolds across multiple districts, Social Saheli offers a grounded model of how women’s livelihoods can be strengthened at the intersection of labour, technology, and visibility — showing how who gets to tell the story can directly shape who gets to work, earn, and be recognised.
Watch Social Saheli episodes here and follow @socialsaheli on Instagram to learn more about the initiative.
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