In the first wave of the COVID pandemic in India, domestic workers reported that they were the first to lose their jobs. By the Second Wave of COVID in India, domestic workers in Delhi-NCR who participated in a data study with the Martha Farrell Foundation reported job and income loss at scale, and desperate conditions of their families for food and survival, making them more vulnerable than ever to sexual harassment in the workplace and gender-based violence.

In the aftermath of the first wave of COVID-19, Martha Farrell Foundation partnered with PRIA as Knowledge Partners for the project 'Sapne Mere, Bhavishya Mera' to empower domestic workers with space, voice, and agency. Funded by the Netherlands Embassy in India, the project aimed to set up a women-led Resource and Support Centre in Harijan Basti for informal migrant women in particular Domestic Workers. Within six months, the project scope extended to Bichpadi Village in Panipat, Haryana, where a second Resource and Support Centre was set up with and by women domestic workers.

The women domestic workers in both locations named their Centers 'Swabhiman' or self-respect. Since its setup, the Martha Farrell Foundation has actively worked to capacitate women domestic workers in both centers with knowledge, skill, and space to be able to access their rights as women, as citizens, and as workers. Today, the community spaces ‘chaupals’ which now stands tall as ‘Swabhiman Kendra centres’ is where women and girls are learning about digital and financial rights. It has not just become a co-working and learning space but a hope for when to seek and claim their digital and financial resources. Currently, the Swabhiman Centres are functioning in Raksera and Bichpadi villages of Haryana.