MWAS was established by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 2007 to empower and uplift destitute Muslim women, especially widows and women living below the poverty line.
The District Collector heads the MWAS of the district. He/She is assisted by a Women Planning Officer and a Minority Officer from the government. Six Prominent Muslim representatives from the district are also part of the governing body.
In 2010, a meeting of MWAS Secretaries in Madurai led to the formation of FeMWAS (Federation of MWAS). Recognizing that individual districts faced challenges in achieving their goals, the secretaries decided to create a unified body to support and connect each MWAS. FeMWAS was established to serve as a bridge between individual societies and the government, facilitating communication and collaboration.
Donors can donate up to a maximum of 10 Lakhs every year (directly to the Respective Societies bank account) to the MWAS of a particular district. It is recommended that they inform the representative of the respective district so that it can be verified that the amount has reached MWAS. Donations must be made from local Indian Bank accounts.
The Government does a matching of twice the amount deposited for a district as a matching grant every year.
So for example, if a district collects say 8 Lakhs the Government matches it and deposits an additional of 16 Lakhs to the MWAS bank account totalling the amount to 24 Lakhs.
During the year 2022-2023, a sum of Rs.249.13 Lakhs has been sanctioned to these societies as matching grants. For the year 2023-2024, a sum of Rs.433.11 Lakhs has been allotted for the scheme.
The donations can be deposited in 2 aliquots (before 31st March & 30th September; preferably March- for financial assessment reasons).
The beneficiaries are selected by the representatives through their muhallas and local organizations to identify the genuine needy beneficiaries. Destitute women from the district are required to fill in an application form and this is submitted to the district representatives. They are responsible to perform due diligence to verify and validate the genuinity of the application.
Almost 99% of the women fall under the zakah category and hence donation can be from zakah.
The application is then submitted to the District Collector and after the application is approved by the government the funds are directly deposited to the bank account of the beneficiary.
Beneficiaries are looking for financial assistance towards improving their standard of living, children’s education, seed money towards starting a small scale business. In addition, skill oriented training in the field of tailoring, embroidery, shoemaking, handicraft and other need-based training is given free of cost.
