She then founded and has been executive director of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) for over 20 years, supporting poor rural women in entrepreneurial schemes.

She is also well known for disaster relief work in Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

She started SSP in 1993, aiming to put rural poor women at the center of decentralized and democratic methods of self-management.

[4] SSP functioned as a self-education network within SPARC until it (in association with the Government of Maharashtra) redesigned and implemented a widespread community participation strategy across 1200 villages in the earthquake-hit districts of Latur and Osmanabad.

[7] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) presented her with the Momentum for Change Award 2016 and the following year she won an Equator Prize from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).