For many rural households, livestock is more than an additional source of income. Cows, buffaloes, goats, and poultry contribute to household nutrition, provide regular earnings, and act as important financial assets. But when livestock health suffers, so does the livelihood of the family.
This is where women’s empowerment in rural India becomes core. Providing women in rural India with skills in livestock care does not only improve animal health. It also creates local livelihood opportunities, strengthens access to services, and gives women a greater role in household and community decisions.
The Pashu Sakhi model brings these ideas together by training local women volunteers as community-based livestock resources. The experience of Mithlesh from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, shows how this approach can change a woman’s ability to earn daily bread for herself and her family as well as for the community around her.
Why Livestock Matters for Rural Livelihoods
Small and marginal farmers often depend on livestock for dairy, food, and manure as a source of income when agricultural earnings are uncertain. For landless households, activities such as dairy and goat rearing can be particularly important.
However, livestock-based livelihoods can be vulnerable when farmers have limited access to animal husbandry and veterinary services, quality feed, and information about preventive care.
An unfit animal can mean lost milk production, lower market value, or the potential loss of an important household asset. Traveling long distances for basic treatment also costs farmers time and money.
The answer, therefore, is to help families manage livestock better, access timely services, and build the knowledge needed to improve productivity.
What Is a Pashu Sakhi?
A Pashu Sakhi is a trained woman who provides basic livestock-related management within her community. She acts as a link between livestock-rearing households, government veterinary services, and other resources available to farmers.
Depending on her training and role, she can support farmers with:
- Basic animal health and preventive care
- Deworming and vaccination awareness
- Balanced feeding and nutrition
- Identification of common livestock diseases
- Care of young and pregnant animals
- Referral of cases requiring professional veterinary attention
- Access to government schemes and livestock services
The model is particularly valuable in villages where formal veterinary services may not be easily accessible.
The S M Sehgal Foundation has implemented Pashu Sakhi initiatives with corporate support, including HDFC Bank’s Parivartan program. The work has included training women in animal care, vaccination, deworming, nutrition, and livestock management, while also connecting them with government departments and local communities.
But another important dimension to the model is that a woman herself becomes a livelihood resource.
From Livestock Care to Women’s Economic Empowerment
For rural women, gaining technical skills can open doors that were previously difficult to access.
Training can give a woman the confidence to step outside her household, interact with farmers and government officials, make decisions, and earn an income through her skills. Over time, a service that begins as community support develops into a sustainable livelihood.
This is particularly relevant in rural areas where women may have extensive practical experience but limited access to formal training or independent income.
The story of Mithlesh illustrates this transition particularly well.
Mithlesh’s Journey: From Livestock Caregiver to “Doctor Didi”
Mithlesh, from a village in Mathura district, had spent most of her life caring for her family and their livestock. Feeding animals, cleaning their sheds, and looking after their daily needs were part of her routine.
Yet she did not initially realize these activities as skills that could become a livelihood.
She had no independent income and had never received formal training in animal healthcare. Social expectations limited her mobility and participation in community activities.
That began to change when the Village Development Committee identified her as a potential Pashu Sakhi under the HDFC Bank Parivartan Project. Mithlesh underwent structured training in livestock health management, including vaccination, deworming, disease identification, balanced nutrition, and care of pregnant and young livestock.
The training went beyond technical knowledge. Mithlesh also learned about communication, ethics, and recordkeeping. She received an animal health kit and began working with the project team and the Animal Husbandry Department.
Gradually, she started visiting households and providing basic livestock services.
Today, the woman who once rarely stepped outside her home is known in her community as Doctor Didi.
Building Trust Takes Time
Women’s empowerment does not happen simply because a training program has been completed.
For Mithlesh, one of the biggest challenges was earning the trust of the community. Some people were sceptical about a woman providing livestock management services. She also had to overcome her own fear of making mistakes and the social restrictions around traveling to other hamlets.
She responded by starting with people she already knew, including women connected through self-help groups. She provided services such as deworming and mineral supplementation, explained what she was doing, and referred complicated cases to veterinary professionals.
Each small result helped build credibility.
As farmers noticed improvements in their animals, they became more willing to seek her advice. Her regular follow-ups and willingness to acknowledge when a case needed professional attention helped strengthen that trust.
Eventually, the same community that had questioned her abilities began seeking her services.
Her experience reflects a wider lesson in rural women’s empowerment: skills become transformative when women are given the opportunity, community support, and the space to use them.
Ninety Animals, One New Livelihood
Within a few months, Mithlesh had assisted nearly 90 animals across her village and neighboring hamlets.
Her work also gave her an independent source of income. Even though her initial earnings were modest, they allowed her to contribute to household expenses and build personal savings.
That financial contribution brought a less visible but equally important change.
Her voice began carrying greater weight in household decisions, particularly those related to livestock. She was no longer viewed only as someone managing animals at home. She had become a trained resource person whose knowledge had economic value.
This is where rural livelihood development and women’s empowerment intersect.
Turning an Opportunity into an Enterprise
Mithlesh’s journey did not stop with livestock services.
During her visits to households, she noticed another problem. Farmers often had difficulty accessing reliable cattle feed and livestock supplements. Many had to travel to nearby towns, spending more time and money.
She recognized a promising opportunity and embraced it with optimism.
With support from the project team, Mithlesh established a Pashu Aahar Kendra, a village-level enterprise, providing feed, mineral mixtures, and other livestock inputs.
The enterprise complemented her work as a Pashu Sakhi. Because farmers already trusted her advice, they were more willing to purchase quality feed and supplements from her.
The result was a useful cycle:
Livestock knowledge → better animal care → improved access to inputs → stronger livestock productivity → additional income for the Pashu Sakhi.
This also created convenience for farmers who no longer had to travel as frequently to purchase essential livestock inputs.
When Women’s Livelihoods Strengthen the Community
The value of the Pashu Sakhi model goes beyond individual income.
In another intervention covering 15 villages in Puranpur Block, Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, 15 women were trained as community-based livestock resource persons. Farmers in these villages had previously traveled 15–20 kilometers for basic veterinary treatment.
Following the intervention, the trained women collectively reached 313 livestock farmers, providing primary treatment and guidance at the village level. Their work also supported better nutrition through the use of mineral mixtures, calcium, and liver tonics.
The women also helped facilitate livestock insurance for 11 cows and 29 goats in collaboration with government departments.
The intervention therefore addressed several issues at once: access to animal care, livestock nutrition, financial protection, and women’s livelihoods.
From Women Beneficiaries to Community Resource Persons
This shift in identity is perhaps the most important part of the Pashu Sakhi story.
A rural woman who may initially participate as a beneficiary can, with the right training and support, become someone others depend on for knowledge and services.
The foundation’s broader work also demonstrates this potential. Foundation programs empower women volunteers and Pashu Sakhis to promote improved animal husbandry practices, including better nutrition and basic animal healthcare, helping rural households to enhance their livestock well-being and livelihoods. The impact is therefore two-sided.
Women gain:
- Skills and technical knowledge
- Greater confidence and mobility
- Independent or supplementary income
- Recognition within their communities
- Opportunities for entrepreneurship
Rural households gain:
- Easier access to basic livestock support
- Better awareness of animal nutrition and preventive care
- Improved livestock management
- Links to government services
- Potential improvements in livestock-based income
Strengthening Rural Livelihoods, One Woman at a Time
The Pashu Sakhi model offers a useful perspective on sustainable rural livelihoods. Rural development does not always require creating an entirely new occupation. Sometimes, it means recognizing an existing skill, adding knowledge, and creating an opportunity around it.
Women like Mithlesh already possessed familiarity with livestock. Training helped turn that everyday experience into a community-level service.
Her next goal is to expand her services to more villages, organize regular animal health days, and broaden her Pashu Aahar Kendra to include products for goats and poultry.
That ambition captures what meaningful rural women’s empowerment can look like: not simply providing support to women, but helping them become skilled, earning, and trusted contributors to their local economy.
When a woman becomes economically stronger, her household benefits. When her knowledge improves livestock health, farmers benefit. And when the community begins to see women as capable resource persons, the change goes well beyond one livelihood.
The Pashu Sakhi story is, ultimately, a story of how skills, trust, and opportunity turn rural women into drivers of stronger livelihoods and more self-reliant communities.
About the Reviewer
Mr. Naveen Pratap Singh
Senior Program Leader, Agriculture Development
Specialization in Soil Microbiology (G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar); development professional with experience in leading agriculture development initiatives in rural and remote areas. Works on promoting regenerative and natural farming approaches, introducing modern agricultural techniques, and strengthening sustainable agriculture practices. Experienced in livelihood enhancement through innovative agriculture solutions and allied activities, program development and management, and social mobilization.
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