GiVa Financial & Employment Referral

Full story

When the person who earned dies, grief arrives with an empty wage envelope. Rent, school fees, medicine, and food do not pause. In many of the households GiVa meets, there was one primary earner in informal work: a driver, a vendor, a domestic worker, a small shopkeeper. There is no HR department, no paid bereavement leave, and often no clear savings.

Relatives may help for a month. Then the surviving spouse or adult child is expected to "manage." Without guidance, people accept the first unsafe job, sell a small asset too cheaply, or fall into debt. Children may leave school. The loss of a person becomes the loss of a future.

GiVa Financial and Professional Referral does not pretend we can replace a lifetime of earnings with a donation. We offer something more durable: a careful conversation about the household's real costs, a referral to work or skill pathways that fit the person's health and dignity, and a link to counselling so decisions are not made only in panic. Where Shakti or Gyaan programmes inside NiVan can help, we connect families there. Where local employers or training partners can help, we make that introduction and follow up.

This campaign funds case workers who sit with families after the immediate funeral period, modest bridging support only where it prevents a harmful shock, and the time it takes to make a referral that is real, not a pamphlet left on a table.

Your gift says to a widow, a father, or a young adult: your grief is seen, and your next livelihood is not something you have to invent alone. That is how GiVa builds community rather than one-time aid.

The need

The death of a breadwinner often collapses household income overnight. Surviving spouses and adult children, many in informal work, face rent, school fees, and food without a plan or professional network. Panic decisions lead to unsafe jobs, debt, or children leaving school. Intervention is necessary in the weeks after last rites, when counselling and practical referral together can stabilise a family before poverty hardens around the loss.

How your gift helps

Funds pay for livelihood case workers who map a household's income, expenses, and skills, then make genuine employment or training referrals. A portion supports follow-up so referrals do not end at the first phone call. Modest bridging assistance may cover a short, verified gap such as a month of school fees while work is being arranged. Remaining funds train staff, maintain partner lists, and coordinate with Shakti and Gyaan where those programmes fit. Donations buy guidance and connections, not a substitute salary forever.

Expected impact

We aim to walk with 50 families after the loss of a breadwinner. Expected outcomes include 50 household livelihood assessments, at least 30 employment or training referrals completed with follow-up, and 20 families connected to Shakti, Gyaan, or other NiVan pathways. About 15 households may receive short, verified bridging support such as school-fee continuity. Success is measured in referrals that lead to interviews or training seats, children who stay in school, and families who have a next-step plan rather than only a funeral behind them.