Ela Ramesh Bhatt

1977 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership from India. Ela Bhatt is a respected leader of the international labor, cooperative, women, and micro-finance movements. In 1972, she founded the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade union currently with more than 1.2 million members. SEWA grew continuously increasing its membership and including more and more different occupations within its fold. The beginning of the Women's Decade gave a boost to the growth of SEWA, placing it within the women's movement. In 1977, SEWA's General Secretary, Ela Bhatt, was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award and this brought international recognition to SEWA. Bhatt and other SEWA leaders dedicate their time to influencing national and international policies in support of informal and self-employed workers around the world.