In 1997, Hyderabad branch of WWF was initiated in response to a challenge thrown to WWF in one of the tripartite review meetings of Government of India to replicate its integrated credit and health experiment of Tamil Nadu to the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. As a result a spearhead team from WWF organised minority women in the slums of Hyderabad, Secundrabad and Ranga Reddy Districts. Access to co-operative banking and training gave new lease of life to these neglected communities living in poverty.