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MoWo founder Jai Bharathi and Minister for Women and Child Welfare Satyavathi Rathod at the launch of ‘Women Motor Training Centre’ in Hyderabad.

Who Is Jai Bharathi? She is an architect and an avid biker who is on a mission to encourage more women to learn driving, be self reliant and use this skill to increase their chances of getting employed and earn a livelihood. She has been riding across 20 cities on her bike.

Moving Borders Tour which went on for more than 40 days was organised by the MOWO in association with Shell Foundation and the UK government and aimed to raise awareness about gender-inclusive mobility and encourage more women to pick up the skill of driving.

Shipra Nayyar, Business Development Advisor, Shell Foundation, says only 11 percent of all drivers in the country are women. But that is changing as a number of social enterprises have started focusing on women - both as passengers as well as owner-drivers of commercial vehicles.

On a cloudy yet pleasant day, Nagamani pads up to protect her knees and wears a helmet. But she isn’t getting ready to bat at the nets. The cheerful 60-year-old is out to ride a motorbike along with 20 other women at Swami Vivekananda Ground at MIG Colony in Lingampally.

VIJAYAWADA: Jai Bharathi, a Hyderabad-based bike rider, who is on a mission to encourage women to pick up driving skills so that they can have more employment opportunities, arrived in Vijayawada on Thursday after covering more than 11,000 kilometres across the country.

It’s one thing to be a superbiker and cruise cross-country, and another to teach women to pick up driving as a life skill. Jai Bharathi would know this well.

Under this campaign, Jai Bharathi, founder of MOWO is touring India on her motorbike from October 11th for a period of over 40 days and coveringover 20 cities to create awareness and encourage women to learn driving to increase their jobopportunities. Today, Ms Bharathi reached Kolkata on the current leg of her tour.

Among the long list of poverty elimination programmes in rural areas, one of the most popular among women in Narayanpet district is learning how to ride a two-wheeler. After assessing the livelihood opportunities it provides, women in dozens have been thronging the training centres each week.

Women from villages in Telangana are now being encouraged to learn driving under the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) - a programme by the state's rural development department.

Hyderabad-based Bikerni Jai Bharati Addepalli who has founded MoWo Social Initiatives plans to empower one million (10 lakh) MoWo-ians not just in India but also other countries in Asia and Africa.

Moving Women (MOWO) Social Initiatives Foundation has launched ‘Moving Boundaries’, a campaign to encourage women to pick up driving skills and remove roadblocks to increase their job prospects.

She is a woman on the wheels travelling across the country with the mission of encouraging women to learn and excel in driving skills for improving their employment opportunities. Meet Jai Bharathi, a biker who is based in Hyderabad has already covered more than 11,000 kilometres before she reached Vijayawada yesterday.

“Women all over the world face restrictions on their mobility. They are unable to travel long distance to acquire decent education or take up jobs which involve complex or unsafe commute resulting in a restricted pool of job opportunities for them,” says Jai Bharathi

The focus is on enabling women to not only learn driving but also own electric vehicles to generate income which in turn can also reduce carbon emissions from transport. ‘Even Cargo’, a social enterprise providing training, employment, and electric vehicle ownership to women drivers is also supporting this campaign.

With an aim to promote various skill development programmes for women, GHMC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mowo Social Initiatives Foundation, a non-profit organisation, led by Jai Bharathi Telangana Women Motorcyclist at GHMC head office on Friday. Mayor Bonthu Rammohan exchanged the MoU which was signed by Hari Chandana Dasari, Zonal Commissioner, GHMC, Serilingampally division.

Bharathi reached Kolkata on the current leg of her tour. Starting from Hyderabad, she has covered Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur, Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Guwahati and would now be covering Ranchi, Bhubaneshwar, among others.

GHMC Mayor Bonthu Rammohan exchanged MOU with Mowo Social Initiatives Foundation, (not for profit organisation) led by Jai Bharathi, Telangana Woman Motorcyclist which was signed by Hari Chandana Dasari, Zonal Commissioner, Serilingampally Zone, GHMC.

The campaign seeks to promote awareness on the importance of women acquiring the power of driving and travelling safely to expand their horizons in all aspects of their lives.

On November 16, Jai Bharathi reached Guwahati taking forward her campaign message. Addressing journalists in Guwahati, Bharathi said that the ‘Moving Boundaries’ campaign aims to let women know the importance of learning to drive, which in turn will provide them with various employment opportunities.