A Siddi tribe woman from Jambur village of Junagadh, Gujarat, Hirbai Ibrahim Lobi, has been honoured with the Padma Shriaward 2023.
Social Work
She spent a large part of her life in the uplift of Siddi tribal women and for the education of children.
Since childhood, Hirbai used to get information about women’s development schemes in Siddi through the radio.
She first joined with Agakhan Foundation and then launched a campaign to make women self-reliant by associating with BAIF, a farmer’s organization. So far, she has taught more than 700 women to open bank accounts and save money.
AKF brings together human, financial and technical resources to address some of the challenges faced by the poorest and most marginalised communities in the world.
She has played an important role in bringing women forward and also taught them farming. She provided employment to women with the help of social organizations through radio.
She has established several kindergartens with the spirit of providing basic education to the children of the community.
Apart from this, she established the Mahila Vikas Foundation in the year 2004 and has worked tirelessly to make Siddi women self-reliant. Due to these efforts of Hirbai, the women of Jambur helped their families by working in the grocery shops and tailoring.
Till now she has been honoured with various accolades, but when she got the first prize of USD500, she put all the money into the development of the village.
