Skillful Collaboration: Usha Partners With Indian Armed Forces To Empower Women

Usha Silai Schools are known for their skill development programme in sewing and tailoring across the country. Now, they have extended their impact by establishing community centres in Army residential areas. These centres offer vocational training courses to the families of Army personnel, creating hubs for skill development, knowledge sharing and community bonding.

As a result of a partnership between the Indian Army and Usha International Limited, countless women who live in and around the Army unit in Beas, Punjab have been given vocational training, sewing machines, and entrepreneurial support.

For nearly six decades, the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) has dedicated itself to the welfare and empowerment of the families and dependents of Army personnel. AWWA organises vocational training courses across military stations in the country.

The primary objectives of the Indian Army's association with the Usha Silai Schools are to empower army wives with skills, provide alternate sources of income, particularly in remote or conflict-prone areas, and enable beneficiaries to explore entrepreneurship and contribute to their family's financial well-being.

This shared objective has also forged a valuable partnership between the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Usha in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where the CRPF Family Welfare Association (CWA) provides skill development to CRPF wives, bringing within them a sense of accomplishment.

In collaboration with USHA, the CRPF has set up training and production centres in 19 different CRPF bases to empower the wives and widows of CRPF personnel. So far, 543 women have been trained and certified from various centres in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, and Tamil Nadu, to name a few.

Another rewarding partnership has taken place in Uncha Amirpur village of Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, where Usha in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation 'Sewaj Neesim Foundation' has started an initiative themed 'Vardi Ka Samman' that is respecting the uniform.

From everyday home accessories to bags and wallets, the initiative 'Vardi ka Samman' is helping women craft a range of items and make use of resources that are available around them.

As part of the initiative, women turn old uniforms from the armed forces into different products like laptop bags, tote bags and side bags.

Usha experts guide the women through the process of gathering and cutting to stitching, thereby harnessing their skills. Upon receiving uniforms, the team carefully checks for any medals, insignia, and name tags and removes them with due respect, before commencing the upcycling process.

There are around 85 Usha Silai Schools across Uttar Pradesh where trainers from the NGO Parivar Society impart tailoring skills to women from low-income families. This instills a spirit of entrepreneurship and provides much-needed income to help them run their households.

Usha's collaboration with the Sewaj Neesim Foundation is creating empowered communities in rural India and giving these uniforms a new identity, purpose, and dignity along with symbolising service in a different form.