Shabana Azmi’s NGO Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS) started as a project to help uplift rural India. The actor and her team have now taken it a notch higher as they are awarded the Gold Certificate by international validating agencies, including GuideStar India, United Way, Charities Aid Foundation, Fair Trade, the United Nations Global Compact and the government of India. “[The recognition] builds the NGO’s reputation among donors and helps to attract more funds,” says Azmi, who had temporarily remodelled the organisation to provide aid and masks for the pandemic-stricken.

Taking the original plan, to garner more work for artisans in the international markets, forward, the organisation is now in between team discussions to “globally register the company, Samridhi [a project with rural women artisans], which was started last year during Covid”. “ Our masks have reached the UK and USA, but to reach out properly while adhering to compliance, planning is in process.