By Vama Rajpal | Fundraising Manager
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:
Report Duration:June 2019 – August 2019
Various Activities conducted during this quarter
Theory lecture about hair colour and conducted coloring competition, where students did hair coluring on the people from the area
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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