Swan Women’s Association Network, or simply called ‘SWAN Federation’ is an umbrella organization for more than 6,000 rural women in Una district of Himachal Pradesh. Presently, these women are members of 425 Self Help Groups, spread across 50 Panchayats of the district. With the organizational base still in the growing stage, the numbers are soon expected to swell.  

The name of the Federation is derived from the seasonal river Swan, which traverses the entire length of the district, almost dividing it into two halves. The river, which finds mention as ‘Sombhadra’ in ancient Indian scriptures, has a very significant impact on the social, cultural, geographical and ecological aspects of the area.

Swan river has a network of 73 tributaries and innumerable water channels that criss-cross the fragile soil structure of the lower Shiwalik areas of the Himalayas. Since ages, this river has been termed by locals as the ‘river of sorrow’, for the reason that during monsoons, it denudes fertile land, draining away fertile top soil and depositing sand and gravel brought from the higher reaches.

However, it is the Swan river system, which has sustained the civilization ever since humans first set their foot here. The river helps recharge the ground water aquifer of the district. This life-giving aquifer is the biggest ground water reserve in Himachal Pradesh and sustains the water requirement of human beings and domestic animals besides supporting the crop irrigation needs. In all, the livelihood activities of the rural folk, which are mostly agrarian, are closely knit with the Swan river system.

The Self Help Groups of the SWAN Federation have been formed to undertake an entire gamut of activities, all related to rural empowerment through women. Micro savings, collective procurement and distribution of farm inputs and produce, demonstration and dissemination of better technologies, credit linkage for micro enterprises, marketing of farm produce, addressing social issues besides family health, sanitation, children’s education and other local concerns form a part of the Federation’s activities.