Employability Programme for youth in slums

Unemployment is one of the major problems faced by youth in India. Saath has been working with the urban slum poor since 2005 . While working with them Saath noticed that there are many youngsters who have dropped out of schools to earn livelihood. But they don’t have enough skills, so to resolve this issue Saath started employability programs, not only in Gujarat but also in Jharkhand, kalyan and Bihar. 

Objectives of the Programme:

• To train disadvantaged youth, aged 18-30 years, between 180 - 300 hours and ensure they are placed and try to support of them in relevant jobs with assurance of minimum wages and opportunity for career advancement

• To introduce minimum three innovations that would directly impact retention, skill enhancement, and program sustainability

Report Duration:June 2019 – August 2019

Various Activities conducted during this quarter

1. Hair Colouring Competition @ Behrampura

Theory lecture about hair colour and conducted coloring competition, where students did hair coluring on the people from the area

1. A 3 Day Business Enterprise

A 3 Day Beauty & Wellness workshop organized by our Alumni group of Juhapura. As part of a recent alumni network building exercise, Saath is facilitating formation of groups by conducting various session on Journey of Participants after the training program, importance of building groups, benefits of group etc. Through this activity, a group of 6 alumni students came together to host the 3 day B & W workshop. Enterprise in Juhapura right before EID. The group made a net income of Rs.3,000/- .All the enterprise building components like marketing, drawing a rate card for all the various services, venue, mechanism of profit sharing, token system, material procurement etc. were taken up by the girls themselves.

1. 14 Day Color Work Training for Women @ Behrampura – in association with Asian Paints

Through rigorous mobilization and 2community meeting, Saath initiated a batch of Color Work in association with Asian Paints as part of the Non-Traditional Livelihood Program.

A total of 28 women of age group 18-35 years enrolled themselves in the program. An expert from Asian Paints was assigned to conduct this express 14 day Training at Behrampura Centre.

24 women cleared the exams and are now eligible to be part of Asian Paints women painters’ squad or work independently as women painters. 

1. Business Development & Cost Analysis & Return on Investment session with Beautypreneur program participants

As part of the entrepreneurship program with Beuaty & Wellness entrepreneurs, with support of Godrej, we conducted a 3 day session with BPs where-in information sharing on current market trends, analysis of trends, utilisation of client database , costing and return on investment through the program was discussed.

1. Retail Management & Tally Training Program

Total of 20 students are undergoing the training for Tally course at the above mentioned two centre. During the training, pre and post counselling is taken up. This mainly helps in facilitating Placement after the completion of training.

1. Exposure Visit with Women @ Work program participants

An exposure visit to Science city was organized with Women @ work program adolescent girls. Over 43 Girls participated. The visit provided a very good platform to understand various science concepts, experience the theories first hand and broaden their horizon. Girls were accompanied by STEM Trainer, Life skills facilitator and W @ W program manager.

Success Stories

Meet Sumaiya (Name Changed)

Sumaiya is an incredibly inspiring young woman, a painter, and former participant in Saath’s Nirman program. She lives with her single mother and older brother and has just completed 12th grade. She is only 19 years old, but her accomplishments and ambition outnumber her years.

Sumaiya first became involved in Saath through Nirman’s Beauty and Wellness training program. She completed the training but was not drawn to the salon life. Wanting to pursue something more unique, she decided she was going to learn how to paint buildings. Painting is an extremely male-dominated career in India, so this was a bold step to take, but the challenge excited her. In the Nirman program, she learned the tedious skills of paint removal, priming, and expert painting techniques. In addition, she was taught financial literacy and safety. As she began working, she was a quick success; her uniqueness as a female painter garnered special attention-- so much so that she was written about all over the news. India TV, 9 TV, Times of India, AajTak, all massive Indian news platforms, reported on how Sumaiya was breaking centuries-old tradition. Being the inventive woman she is, she decided to solve some issues on the business side of the painting industry. Previously, contractors such as the government would hire people to paint and then pay the full cost was at the end. Sumaiya has started examining projects and providing cost estimates for paint and labor beforehand, which is incredibly appealing to such contractors. 

Saath’s program greatly impacted Sumaiya as an individual as well as a professional. Before the program, her future was a mystery. She did not know what her skills were or what path she wanted to pursue. By learning painting, she recognized her creativity and ingenuity and began to see these skills as tools to support her family and save for her education. Sumaiya’s family used to worry about how they were going to support her, but now they are beginning to wonder how she can support them instead! Her self-confidence has grown, and when she sits with clients explaining costs, materials, and the intricacies of the painting process, she recognizes her mastery. As a woman in this field, she still faces obstacles, but those only motivate and inspire her to try harder. All her free time is spent studying and working-- constantly in pursuit of growth. 

She has a long list of hopes for the future: continue her work, go to college, open her own firm, train more women, get more contracts, and be on the top of her game. But most importantly, she wants to set an example of an independent, ambitious, and influential woman. She sees the restrictions on girls, her friends even, and knows the difficult struggle of escaping the traditions and poverty of her community. She hopes that her friends are inspired and, through the help of Saath, follow her path to financial and personal independence.

• Progress Report June - August, 2019 (PDF)
  
• Success Story of Sumaiya (name changed) (DOCX)

After All it’s The Experience That Matters The Most!

Yes, it was indeed a pleasure to learn that we were selected at Saath Charitable Trust for the internship under the Yes Bank Fellowship Programme. And it came to us no less than a pleasant surprise. The reason being it is so popular and enthusiastic organization that you’ll have a proud story and an extraordinary experience at the end of the internship, you can boast off!

Today, it’s almost three months and not even once we felt subdued here. I (Abhishek Arora) along with my fellow delegate, Udit Bengani consider ourselves bestowed that we got a chance to associate with this organization. And more than everything, we are glad that we got a learning of a lifetime while working with the super supportive and caring mentors.

Our day starts with typical morning briefing session with the mentors wherein we submit the report of the previous day, chalk out the strategy for the present day and start ticking off the pre-designated daily targets we have been assigned at the very beginning of the month.

Our module comprises of daily field visits which can be grueling and tiresome at times, but is very cliché and meagre when we compare it to the lives of those whom we tend to change for a better tomorrow. We work here as a team and constructively manage the social media handles of the organization such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and WordPress. We wish to spread out our success stories to masses.

We started with observing the activities which are conducted at the centre. We capture amazing stories and publish them in both digital and print formats. We interview the faculty and other associates along with the beneficiaries. We play with kids. This has inflicted a broad change to our mindsets and made us realize that our brains have been conditioned and stereotyped over the period of time and We are thankful to these kids brought us back to the real lives full of innocence, creativity and valor.

In the course of life, we come across people who are less fortunate. But still we strive hard to make their lives better instead of cribbing about their fortune.

Here at SAATH, our search continues for such beautiful stories and how we are contributing our part.

Success Story

 During our journey, we came across another such awe-inspiring story of Tasminaben (name changed). Oh! What a wonder-woman she is. Though her face speaks a thousand words of the ups and downs and struggle, she’s cheerful and tells her tale with a smile. So, here is what she has to say,

Like all of us, she was once a kid, who always dreamt of being married to a loving bridegroom. But she never knew, that her marriage will become a nightmare and she would be kicked out the house in the state of pregnancy after inhuman grueling. She had been another victim of the male chauvinism.

She came to Ahmedabad in 2002, in search of better job opportunities. And started a beauty parlour of her own along with her continuing graduation. Then one day, out of blues, she was pulled out of the school and was forcefully married to a conservative builder. And thereon, her life became a living hell. Day and night, she was abused both physical and mentally, she reached out for help, but was left for dead.

There we came in as a savior. We gave her a new life. Taught her skills to be a better beatypreneur. Fought for her rights. And above all, instilled faith in her. After getting trained for almost a year, now she earns sufficiently well to sustain herself and her kids. She has got her own house. And most importantly, she is fearless now. Today, she is optimistic about the future of her daughter and wants her to be a doctor.

This is how we rejuvenate lives. Contribute and be a part of this noble cause. Hence, restoring the faith in humanity. We are keenly looking forward to a helping hand, so that we can extend ours. Hence, we shout in unison, We are what we are, and we are proud of what we Are!

Training at SAATH’S Livelihood Program;

We follow a selective training process for the livelihood course enrollment, and usually we see that, the ladies are coming from lower social strata. We provide them various kinds of help such as emotional or financial. First of all, a the member undergoes training at the Salon-I , Followed by Beautipreneur, And at last she undergoes intensive training programme at homepreneur.

1. Beauty and Wellness
2. Livelihood Resourse Centre
3. Nirman
4. Udaan
5. Women @ Work
6. Youth Force
7. Business Gym
8. R-Weaves
9. Urmila

OUR Experience and Learnings;

We understood the functioning of the whole livelihood setup at Saath. And it is to be noted that they are doing a commendable job, in this respective field of work. They are going out an extra mile for the benefit if the underprivileged women.

The ladies, who are usually unskilled at the time of admission, are trained intensively, have to attend various workshops, they are personally attended to and made to undergo professional course of learnings at our centres. All their basic demands and fulfilled, and all the required amenities are provided to them at the minimum cost. They are thoroughly given future guidance.  One batch comprises of 30 girls. And additional seminars such as on the topic of Spoken English are occasionally conducted. The loan is provided to them in two classifications being 1,500 and 7,500 INR. Also, additional help is provided to them for generating overheads and additional income.

 This is how Saath is committed to make a change and the change is now visible!

                                                                                                    Abhishek Arora

                                                                                                    Udit Bengani

• Experience of Interns (PDF)