MOWO Social Initiatives Foundation

MOWO (Moving Women) started with the belief that mobility offers women freedom and empowerment. MOWO is a revolutionary initiative aimed at empowering women to be independent by offering them two and three-wheeler training and related livelihood opportunities. We train women in driving two and three-wheelers, liaise with organisations to create more employment opportunities for women in mobility and work on policy advocacy which will eventually lead to more women occupying our roads. Based in Hyderabad, India, so far, we have reached out to women from self help groups and young girls from government colleges, trained them in riding two-wheelers, with required driving licenses, and placed a few of them in logistic delivery jobs. Vision: To create a safe and reliable commute option “For and By Women” and in doing so, empower women to become self-reliant and confident. Mission: Creating a generation of confident women who are equipped with mobility as a skill for empowerment and employment & thus make our roads safer for women. The Story Behind MOWO Women all over the world face restrictions on their mobility and occupy public spaces much lesser. While cultural restrictions are a big contributor, the ever-present lack of safety is another factor. While most women put up with everyday verbal harassment, incidents of assault are constant reminders of the lack of safety for women on our streets. With MOWO, we wanted to work towards making our roads an equal space for women. As this article on UN-Habitat rightly states – “Creating safety involves much more than just responding to violence. It is important to create the conditions by which women are able to move about safely and without fear of violence or assault.” MOWO is an effort towards creating this sense of safety for women in India.Our dream of social transformation of moving women which is a ripple right now will grow into a wave soon. We intend to change how women access public spaces.