Accounting for the Unaccounted is a project, supported by the NID – Ford Foundation Grant, that focuses on women’s financial empowerment through self-help groups (SHGs) in Delhi NCR. The project examines how community driven responses strengthen financial literacy and autonomy among women from lower income, low literacy households. Grounded in gender sensitive design, it maps structural inequalities that restrict women’s access to decision making and financial independence. Through participatory research with NGOs and field engagement across urban and rural settlements, the team used workshops, storytelling, and co-creation to surface lived realities. Design led tools such as games, cue cards, and art based future mapping enabled accessible financial conversations and systems thinking around hidden barriers. The project shows financial literacy extends beyond numbers, reshaping power dynamics within families. Emphasizing empathy, culturally resonant communication, and community dialogue in design, it advances gender equality by proposing self sustaining SHGs that grow organically, align with UN Development Goal commitments through participatory research and systems thinking.