Empower 30 Grandmothers in Uganda get Skills

HERE IS THE REPORT

Introduction
The project is focusing on equipping grandmothers and adolescent girls from low income families with vocational skills in Tailoring, Knitting and Weaving so that upon completion they will be able to set up their own income generating projects and be able to earn a living.
One hundred and four (104) trainees are undergoing training in Tailoring, Knitting and weaving and out these there are 30 grandmothers. The is going to go on for a period of 6 six months
Because of limited resources we decide to put together the grandmother and adolescent girls for training

Overall objective of the project
The overall objective of the project is to equip the adolescent girls and grandmothers with vocational skills in Tailoring, Knitting and Weaving so to enable them set up their own projects

Highlights of the Project
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• Painting and renovation of the rooms and premises and organizing it to make it ready for training was done. . All the necessary renovation, facilities, refreshments and support was ensured in the training centre.
• Procurement of furniture which included Benches, Stools, Working Tables and offices desks
• Recruitment of Qualified trainers was done on the basis of their skillfulness, experience and education. etc.
• Identification and registration of trainees (beneficiaries) was carried out with help of the local leaders basing on the set criteria. The assessment was very effectively carried out and the most deserving and appropriate trainees from extremely low income families were selected.
• A briefing meeting which involved the trainees, their parents/ guardians/ spouses/relative and some local leaders was carried out to stress the importance of the project ,the regulations, the role to be played by each party and the code of conduct while on training, the time of arrival, time of departure, number of hours to be studied, number of sessions to be conducted each day, the requirement for each trainee and the programmes to be conducted
• Psycho- social counseling session for the trainees was conducted..
• Purchase of some training tools and machines was done
• Assembling of the machines with help of the youth was done
• Training of beneficiaries in Tailoring, Knitting and Weaving is going on at JOPA site in Buwenge town council, Jinja District , Busoga sub region and one training center for the training is being used

UPDATES ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES BEING DONE

Painting of training of premises and training rooms
• Painting and renovation of the rooms and premises and organizing it to make it ready for training was done. . All the necessary renovation, facilities, refreshments and support was ensured in the training centre

Purchase of furniture
• Procurement of furniture which included Benches, Stools, Working Tables and offices desks

Recruitment of trainers
• Recruitment of Qualified trainers was done on the basis of their skillfulness, experience and education. etc. Two full time and two part time trainers were recruited. However their recruitment posed a serious challenge because the salary we budgeted for was far below their expected and it took us some time to get those who accepted a fairer pay. What we are paying them is twice what we had budgeted for.

Registration of beneficiaries
• Identification and registration of trainees (beneficiaries) was carried out with help of the local leaders basing on the set criteria. The assessment was very effectively carried out and the most deserving and appropriate trainees from extremely low income families were selected. However we were overwhelmed by number of those who needed help and we ended up registering one hundred and four(104) beneficiaries, a figure which is far beyond our targeted number

Briefing with beneficiaries, their relative/ spouses/parents and local leader
• A briefing meeting which involved the trainees, their parents/ guardians/ spouses/relative and some local leaders was carried out to stress the importance of the project ,the regulations, the role to be played by each party and the code of conduct while on training, the time of arrival, time of departure, number of hours to be studied, number of sessions to be conducted each day, the requirement for each trainee and the programmes to be conducted

Psycho –social Counseling to the beneficiaries
• Psycho- social counseling was done to the beneficiaries and this was intended to prepare them mentally for the training and to change their attitude towards vocational training. We took them through the social challenges that may come their way in the due course and how they can manage to overcome such challenges, the perception of the people in their community about a married person undertaking training and how they should handle such perception. Four counselors took them through this exercise and by the end of the session they had developed a positive attitude and were all mentally prepared for the task head of them.

Purchase of training tools and machines
• Some Training machines and tools were successfully bought from Kampala and delivered to our site in Buwenge. Eighteen (8) Singer Sewing machines, One(01) Over lock sewing machine, One (01)Design electric sewing, One(01)Electric motor for the sewing machine, Four(04) Knitting machines, Twenty (10)pair of Scissors, Twenty (10)Tape measures, Twenty( 20) Drive belts, One hundred(100) Needles, four (04) Sim lepers, One (01)Small box of Pins, two (02)Bottles of lubricating oil, one(01) Screw driver were bought.
Training of beneficiaries
• This exercise according to our implementation plan was supposed to begin in May but since were through with the preliminary activities, we could not wait, we had to begin immediately because everything was set and ready.
Training of beneficiaries in Tailoring, Knitting and Weaving is going on at JOPA site in Buwenge town council, Jinja District, Busoga sub region and one Training center for the training is being used

Each trainee undergone (5) Training hours each day, and (25) Training hours a week which is above the earlier planned Fifteen (15) training hours a week. Two (02) main groups were formed out of one hundred (104) participants but these are further subdivided during training according to the level of proficiency. Each group attends a particular session. We have the morning session which runs from 8a.m up 1pm and the afternoon session that runs from 2pm to 5pm

The trainees are being trained in all the three (03) important aspects of the course such as drafting, cutting and stitching. The participants are taking keen interest in the Tailoring Training Course. The course content is very helpful in opening individual and group enterprises at their household level.

Training is 90% practical due to the fact that most of the trainees uneducated.
Two hundred and four (104) adolescent girls and grandmothers are successfully undergoing training in tailoring and garment cutting. The level of skills of each trainee is being enhanced to a satisfactory level,

For example after two days of training in Knitting, one of the trainees was able to make a complete sleeveless sweater; almost all trainees can measure, cut and make a piece of attire using a hand needle.
By the end two days they were well vast with all the content in Knitting and weaving and they will ready to start a business of their own.

By the end of the six months all will be equipped with the skills in tailoring

SUCCESSES
• We have managed to executive the above activities success fully in time
• The level of proficiency of the trainee is beyond the expectation of everybody and is very promising
• We have secured the support of the local leaders

Challenges
• The major challenge so far is payment (salaries) for the trainers whom we paying more than twice than had planned. We are incurring the accommodation cost of one of the female trainers.
• Limited training materials, tools and machine. Because of this we were forced to train the grandmother together with the adolescent girls
• Late coming of the trainees since most of them come from for places i.e the walk over 20km. this affects the trains sessions
• Absenteeism of the trainees. Some trainees are married and therefore sometimes they are caught up by family responsibilities and they fail to attend
• Failure to realize donations on the global giving network has limited our activities of Empowering the grandmothers with vocational skills. Since we posted our project we have never received any donation
• Limited space for training. Our training rooms are small they can’ t accommodate the ever increasing number of beneficiaries