The Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union: providing relief during COVID-19

The Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union affected the lives of thousands of vulnerable people in Jaipur during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Leveraging its institutional and community linkages, the union was able to effectively liaise with and support informal, migrant and domestic workers dealing with the loss of their livelihoods, and form partnerships with others and the government to better deliver urban social protection measures.

The following video interviews highlights the value of the role played by an organisation skilled at community organising and with a decentralised set-up, allowing it to quickly respond to the changing situation and scale up its activities.

Rental housing and COVID-19 relief: lessons for expanding the scope of urban social protection 

This video presents the conditions of rental housing for domestic workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union intervened to provide relief.

It discusses how security from rental expense shocks and evictions was provided and delves into the limitations of the COVID-19 relief and the possible role of the state and other stakeholders for strengthening social protection measures. 

Cash transfers and COVID-19 relief: inclusivity and effectiveness with support from non-state actors

This interview with a representative of Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union describes how it was involved in extending the access of a state cash transfer relief programme for informal and migrant workers to domesic workers.

Drawing on this experience, it reflects on the challenges of this process and how the union could leverage its institutional and community linkages. It also highlights both the necessity and inadequacy of these relief entitlements.

Cash transfers and COVID-19 relief: lessons from non-state relief programmes

A representative from the Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union describes the various cash transfer relief programmes implemented by non-state actors for domestic workers during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By comparing these initiatives with government-led cash transfer programmes, valuable insights can be gained on identification, entitlement and delivery to inform a more worker-centric cash transfer model for urban social protection.

Domestic workers' access to COVID-19 food relief: lessons for building better food security policies

In this interview a representative of the Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgar Union describes the various modes of food relief implemented by the state and the varying extent to which they could be accessed by domestic workers.

RMKU emphasises the role that employing different modes of delivery play in achieving effectiveness and inclusion in a complex reality.

The experience also highlights the potential for partnerships between non-state actors, such as the union, and the government as a means to ensure that government programmes reach those in need, including individuals with intersectional and temporal vulnerabilitiess shaped by mobility and workplace insecurity that are not recognised in government registers.

Empowering community: how a union tackled COVID-19 food insecurity for domestic workers

A representative of the Rajasthan Mahila Kaamgaar Union describes the necessity for food relief among domestic workers and how it went about meeting this demand.

The interview highlights the value of community organising and having a decentralised organisational set-up, both of which empowered the union to immediately and continually assess the situation and respond to it at the scale of the city.

This also made other non-state actors, which had the resources for relief measures but didn't have the reach, seek out the union to identify and deliver relief to those who actually needed it.