Women who may have limited access to traditional educational resources are now using smartphones to learn the art of sewing through Usha Silai Mobile App. The women are making the best use of platforms like Google Meet, Zoom and WhatsApp to discuss sewing content and community issues. Take a look!

The tutorial videos for the app are created by master trainers from Usha Silai School, providing them with an additional source of income. The trainer performs each step while explaining what they are doing. This includes measuring the cloth according to the garment they are making, cutting the fabric, and stitching. The videos are then dubbed and edited.

The Usha Silai App represents not just empowerment but also development, breaking language barriers in the digital landscape. Available in 12 regional languages, this platform ensures universal access to sewing and tailoring, promoting inclusivity in the learning process. The app's offline mode helps users in India with limited internet accessibility to download content and view it whenever they want.

Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by USHA Silai School and NDTV has entered its eighth season. The aim is to empower more women across rural India by teaching them sewing skills and helping them open new doors of opportunities for themselves. The initiative encourages rural women to become financially independent and entrepreneurs by taking up sewing and training others in their respective communities.
Since 2011, the USHA Silai School initiative has trained more than 12 lakh rural women through over 33,000 Silai schools, spanning over 20,751 villages across India.
The women earn Rs. 4,000 – 5,000 per month on an average, with the highest recorded monthly earning being Rs. 84,000 in a month. This earning works as a catalyst towards building their self-confidence, reducing gender inequities, and raising their stature within their families and in society at large.
From West Bengal's transgender tailors to Telangana's tribal seamstresses and Meghalaya's embroidery revivalists, Usha Silai School's Kushalta Ke Kadam partners with NIRDPR and state governments
In Odisha's mining heartlands, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited teams with Usha Silai School's Kushalta Ke Kadam and Gram Utthan, empowering tribal women turning them into entrepreneurs
From Madhya Pradesh's stigma to Bihar's child marriages, Usha Silai School's NDTV-backed Kushalta Ke Kadam empowers women like Kalpana and Shabnam to stitch dignity and self-reliance
Usha Silai Schools give second chances to women like Srinagar's Marifat, who rebuilt after widowhood; Madhya Pradesh's Jyoti, escaping abuse to run her own center; and Rajasthan's Vimla, rising from child marriage to tailor and teacher. Through nine-day training, they gain sewing skills, confidence, and income proving one stitch mends lives and inspires communities.
A new wave of corporate-community partnerships is equipping rural women with skills, income and confidence
USHAs Silai School Programme empowers women across India by turning sewing into independence. Women become trainers and leaders, transforming their lives and communities through skills, confidence, and income