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

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.

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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.

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