Skills Development and Women Empowerment
2. Skills Development Program – Tailoring
Funded by Accenture
Vidyanikethan initiated the skills development program, which primarily includes free training in tailoring, for women from low income communities about 10 years ago. Till date, the program has trained about 500 women over the years.
Profile of participants
- Women aged between 20 years to 55 years including young mothers and unmarried adults in their early 20s.
- These are those women who belong to families earning a livelihood by working in informal sector such as daughters or wives of painters, drivers of autos or buses, electricians, petty shop owners and migrant families.
- The women belong to not just different districts of Bangalore but also different states of India such as Bihar, West Bengal, and Rajasthan
- The approx. monthly income of the participants is about Rs. 10,000/- upwards. Most of the families have single earning member.
Reasons for participants keen to join the tailoring course
- Opportunity to earn a skill that is of interest to them, and which has potential to save money and to earn by taking orders
- To spend time productively as they have more time on their hands
- To get employment in a tailoring shop or garment sector companies, where most of the employees in the factory are women. Over 4.25 lakh people work in garment factories (Hindu newspaper report)
- Want to be financially self-reliant and independent
Basic agenda of the course
- Measurement, cutting, tailoring to finish
- Garments that are useful for the family – children, ladies – blouses, salwar kameez
- Incorporating fashion and apparel trends – palazzos, pants, different types of salwars
Impact of the skills development course in training
- Learning a skill of their choice, and that too one that has potential to help them to save money and earn, has given a lot of satisfaction to the women
- The participants feel a sense of achievement after the course as they got the opportunity to learn garments that are useful for them and their families
- The combination of theoretical and practical sessions on tailoring has given them the confidence to tailor new patterns not just for themselves but for others as well
- The participants have stated that they are saving money as they are stitching most of their own and their children’s garments
- They are getting appreciation from their personal and social groups and gradually getting tailoring orders
