By shafkat | Project Leader
Objective: Empowering young girls and women by providing necessary skills to become a qualified beautician which will ultimately help them to stand on their own feet.
Location: 4K, Tiljala Road Kolkata-700 046 (Tiljala Slums)
Courses delivered:
How is the Training Curriculum different ?
The subject is taught in detailed consisting of theory and practical classes
Full opportunity is given to each candidate to practice.
Classes are held five days are week so that the candidates get maximum time to understand the syllabus.
Each batch gets five months duration to complete the course
Girls are allowed to come and attend the classes or any course subject related queries dealt with even after the course is completed.
Girls are allowed to come to the training centre to practice even after the completion of the course.
There is no qualification bar to do the course which makes it very different and easy accessible for the girls
Full support is given to each and every candidate with regard to internship or placement.
Once they start learning, they start earning with very little income with less effort and investment.
The candidates are taught to compete as per the market requirement.
Participant Background:
Girls from the slum and shanties, railway lines squatters of Kolkata. Skill Building Training & Empowerment Center– the first training salon with modern amenities and facilities at par aligning to Industry Standards in the community. No other salon or training center in the radius of 5 Kms. Women have always been subjected to household work. In India, the context of women working is a very challenging issue. Tiljala SHED is working in the shanties for the past three decades to up lift the status of women in the society. Societal restrictions are very strong for women in the area of our operations but Tiljala SHED have been able to break the stereotype and young girls and women have been receiving this training for the past one year which brought few females to learn the skill and earn their income and respect in the family. Now these trained professionals are earning and contributing to the family which has eventually bought respect for the female gender. They are independent and taking their own decisions in the family. Early marriage, domestic violence, drudgery, poverty, illiteracy, poor health, multiple pregnancies and childbirth remain the chief risks to girls born into the most deprived and patriarchal communities in Kolkata. Through training girls can be empowered to become economically active, to make decisions about their own lives and to delay marriage. The trainees are aged 17 and above. They are no longer in education having dropped out through poverty or through low attainment. Coming from a culturally conservative community their options for work are limited. Vocational training in hair and beauty offers these girls a source of income for life.
Impact:
Livelihood option for the girls who never step ahead from the community circle. This intense training has changed their aptitude and style. Now they are the community leader who are empowering their families and neighbourhood. All of them are first generation earners and looking forward to sustaining their family. Girls who were uneducated ,who had no identity of their own, who were not able to earn a rupee are now independently earning a decent income with pride and confidence.
Madhu is the topper of the first Batch and is now earning between Rs.5000 to Rs.7000. She is now working as a junior trainer in a training center and also working as a freelance to her private clients.
Raushan
Raushan, age 22 years is one of the bonafide and dedicated student of the Saloni Beauty Training and currently pursuing Graduation from South City Girls college. Her mother passed away few years back and since then it has been very difficult for Raushan. Her brother and sister work to run the house. Father is a small time local tailor and earns a small income of Rs.4200 per month. Her sister does all the household work. Raushan does some part time teaching to fund her studies. But the income is very low and not enough to support her studies.
Raushan is committed to end poverty of her family after she came to know about Saloni Beauty Training centre run by Tiljala SHED, She immediately joined. After the first class, she was sure that this is the only way for her which is going to take her and her family out of poverty. She also believed that she can excel in this sector. The beauty of this course offered here is they not just trains one in advanced course but also guides one how to become an entrepreneur and attract customers and make income. The trainer is very good and professional and knows a lot about the sector and she guides very well to the students. She encourages to do freelancing as they will have their independence and at the same time they can earn good money. After completing the basic course, she started to build up clients in her area and slowly and steadily through words of mouth spread about her parlour service.
Initially, she was searching for a job in a parlour but they offered only Rs.3000 per month and the duty was from morning till 8 p.m. It was completely exploitation as working for almost 10 hours continuously and getting paid for just Rs.3000, so she decided not to work in any parlour. This is the case of all the parlours in Kolkata. Freelancing gives her opportunity to work as well as continue her studies. She is still coming to the training centre to learn and practice more and to sharpen her skills.
She aspires to open her own salon in the future and wants to become a full time entrepreneur. Tiljala SHED beautician course is totally unique and different from the market. As the course is free, so she could afford and join. Her attendance is 95%. The course is designed very well and proper notes are being maintained by the trainer along with ample practical opportunities. The products are free and they don’t have to pay anything extra for using the products for practical. The course focusses on effective communication with the clients.
She also learned henna from this course which is already helping her to generate small incomes for her. There should be more training Centres in the middle of the slums where the girls can easily come and learn. It is well maintained and nicely decorated just like any high end parlours in the city with all modern equipment. However, more equipment should be bought and upgrade the parlour. Tiljala SHED has changed the destiny of many girls as breaking the taboo is the most difficult task in Indian tradition and that too from a Muslim family. 10 or 20 years back they could not have imagined to pursue this course but due to efforts of organizations like this, it is possible for the girls to go out and make a change. Tiljala SHED readily talk with guardians and takes them into confidence to allow the girls to pursue the course.
Raushan is currently an Assistant Trainer at the Tiljala SHED's Saloni Beauty Training & Empowerment Centre and also has an exclusive list of clientele which she caters personally for additional income. She earns an average of Rs.9000 per month and in the festive and Bridal season the income almost gets 1.5 times higher.
With this project we were able to transform girls like Raushan, Madhu, Ayesha, Varsha and many others like them to become independant and be the first generation female earners in their family. They earned their respect in their family and they are now also included in the decision making inside the family matters. Economic empowerment has made them powerful and strong.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
