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USHA And UNFPA Extend Support To Rural Women In Life Skills And Entrepreneurship

USHA And UNFPA Extend Support To Rural Women In Life Skills And Entrepreneurship
New Delhi: 

Over the years, the USHA Silai School programme has been skilling women in rural India by teaching them how to stitch and sew. The programme is generating employment for thousands of women and making them self-reliant, confident and empowered. With an aim to strengthen their skills and help them earn even better, USHA International collaborated with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly known as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. UNFPA is a UN agency that is already working on improving reproductive and maternal health across the world. USHA and UNFPA are taking life skills education to rural women. Equipped with life skills, women are able to manage their social dynamics, facilitate economic aspects and also live healthier lives.

Also Read: Here Is How USHA And SIDBI's Partnership Is Helping Gouri Debnath Of Tripura Earn A Better Income

According to Mary Rupa Tete, Vice President, USHA Social Services, life skills help individuals to adapt to changes and also cope up with different challenges that they are facing in their everyday life. She said,

USHA Silai School programme was more technical in nature and did not have a component on life skills. This was when UNFPA approached us. We thought it would be a good opportunity to provide a good life skills module to the women. The module has really benefitted the women. UNFPA worked rigorously on it. They made a lot field visits and did a lot research and testing before actually finalizing the curriculum.

Ms Tete further said that the curriculum has helped them understand their own self. She said that they are able to organise their work better, balancing both- family and business, dealing with male members of the household and with vendors outside. They are able to handle situations where they get less support from their family or community, she said adding that they are also getting better at negotiation, seeking better prices while purchasing raw materials and selling quality made products.

While talking about the work done by UNFPA, Sriram Haridass, UNFPA Representative, India said by exploring the right and choices for the organisation expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead a healthy and productive life.

The UNFPA's rich, global experience in developing content for life skills training, and their interventions in many different parts of the world for different types of women beneficiaries, made them the ideal partners. The collaboration between Usha and UNFPA was to develop life skills content for the women of rural India, which would add 16 hours to the Classical Silai School training these women entrepreneurs were getting from USHA.

With the addition of the life skills content, the Classical Silai School training module has been extended to nine days from the earlier seven. Once trained, these women will be able to manage their time effectively, understand and meet customer requirements, develop an understanding of community dynamics, and most importantly, have the tools to fulfil their own aspirations – personal, familial or professional. And so began the life skills training programme in Odisha, along with Rajasthan, Bihar and MP. At these training, the Silai Heroes will be trained as Master Trainers – some of the training being virtual in COVID times. After they have been trained, there will be post-training visits and handholding, while the women find their feet as master trainers in their own right. Once they have been completely trained, they will pass on these life skills to new learners, while also teaching them the stitching and sewing learnt at the USHA Silai School.

A successful entrepreneur needs to be mentally, physically and emotionally healthy and has strong technical skills, a willingness to learn, with an ability to reinvent oneself. The life skills training aims to develop values, attitudes and behaviours that will enable the Silai school women, entrepreneurs, to articulate and realize their aspirations, enhance their entrepreneurship and enable other girls and women in their communities to capitalize on available opportunities.

The plan is for the UNFPA to develop 100 master trainers consisting of Silai School women entrepreneurs, USHA sewing trainers, Usha Program Coordinators and NGO coordinators. These Master Trainers will train 3,000 Silai School teachers on life skills across a three-year period – a widening base, that will reach more and more women, turning them into confident, empowered individuals.

Also Read: USHA International And CRPF Family Welfare Association Join Hands To Skill And Empower Women

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Adopt a Silai School

Do you want to be a part of the huge change that Usha Silai School is bringing about in the lives of millions of rural women? With just a simple click of a button, you can now contribute towards the opening of an Usha Silai School or support various other aspects of the school.

About the Initiative

About the Initiative

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.

 

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In Pics

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching
Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Rebari girls grow up learning traditional embroidery, which along with their new found sewing skills developed at Usha Silai Schools, is helping them earn a living.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Usha Silai School has empowered many rural women to support their family and send their children to school.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

The Usha Silai School, established in a small nondescript village that goes by the name of Kottai, is helping empower people from varied communities.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

The all-inclusive Usha Silai School Programme covers the entire nation from hamlets tucked between hills to villages cast by the sea.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Vegetables farmers from the Mizoram hills earn very little given the topography of the area. Usha Silai Schools have played an important part in this region by skilling women to financially contribute towards their households.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Usha Silai School learner Lucy has trained seven other women in her community, helping them to become financially independent.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Women like Kaviben from the nomadic Rebari community are finally laying down their roots as they begin to gain financial independence and thereby stability through Usha Silai School.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Usha Silai School, located in the Gujarat's Bhuj village, is enabling rural women to earn as much as Rs. 2,500-4,000 each month.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Usha Silai School, in association with a Gujarat based NGO called Kala Raksha, is trying to bring about a Silai revolution in Bhuj.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

Besides training other women from their community, many Usha Silai School learners have become entrepreneurs in their own right.

Kushalta ke Kadam: Aiming for Independence Through Stitching

With sewing becoming easily accessible and lucrative, the silai schools are also helping revive traditional motifs and designs.