Some days, Tetari Devi’s mental math even takes her by surprise.

In Naraina village, Chandauli, her petty shop is a hub of activity. Women stop by for her advice on which bangles match their outfits — her shop boasts a colourful accessory collection — while children and men browse the snacks, namkeens (savoury treats), and cold drinks.

It’s almost always busy, and Tetari thrives in the bustle, chatting easily with customers. When she isn’t breaking the ice, she’s bent over her ledger, scanning the month’s expenses.

Tetari loves being in charge — and she’s living her dream.

“My husband always promised he would open a shop for me,” she recalls. That was before she lost him last year. Her world came to a standstill; Tetari was now staring at a future that involved raising three young children with no income to bank on.

Just a week later, her father-in-law passed away.

Dire circumstances pushed Tetari into the fields, working as a farm labourer for just Rs 150 a day. She was unhappy, weighed down by grief and uncertainty. But today, there’s a spring in her step — a sign that she’s found her spark again.

How?

The bridge between her past and present was built by ‘Leap 300’, a programme that helps families trapped in generational poverty become self-reliant in 300 days. Tetari joined a year and a half ago, and the transformation has been more than just financial.

“I didn’t know how to go to the market or how to talk to customers. But they taught me,” shares the now 33-year-old. “Now, I earn Rs 10,000 every month.”

Can you really end poverty for someone in 30 days?

In many homes across India, financial precarity is an uninvited guest. The Leap 300 team saw it often — pulling up a chair at dinner, raising its eyebrows if someone dared take an extra roti (flatbread), delivering sharp retorts when a family member voiced their aspirations, and wearing a mask of scepticism at any promise of a better future.

Vinod Raghuwanshi is part of the team that has developed the Leap 300 app, which claims to have helped 375 families out of poverty. He explains there are three ways of tackling the problem.

“One way is to skill people until they become employable; the other is providing them with assets that can transform their lives; and the third is helping them create a sustainable livelihood for themselves.” The end goal is to help families like Tetari’s reclaim their agency.

The first step is narrowing down on the families that need intervention.

Elaborating on how selection is done, Vinod shares, “We refer to NITI Aayog data on the ultra poor or aspirational districts. The district is then divided into blocks, with Leap 300 team members visiting each village to do a recce, get a lay of the land and engage with the communities.”

These conversations help the team gauge the status of the different households; which ones are run by single women, which ones are run by widows, which ones depend on farming for........

© The Better India