NCW, Airbnb to create livelihood options for northeast’s women

New Delhi, June 11 (IANS): 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”.