Livelihood Promotion of Marginalised Slum Women

The Women of Karimadom Slum identified an opportunity in the field of catering service. They raised it during our referendum meeting with women. In the city of Trivandrum there are almost 105 caterers, who receives party orders. Every caterer hires a team from outside for serving the dishes during the events. Among those serving groups most of the groups engage men.

The women group identified it as an opportunity, and recommended for training in catering serving. Five days of training was organized for helping a group of 25 women from the slum to take up catering serving as their profession.

The training program was inaugurated by Fr. Thomas P.D (Director, Trivandrum Don Bosco Veedu Society) on 13^th March. The first two days of the training was handled by Mr. Georgezen (Micro- Entreprise Specialist, Adhani group). He mainly focused on the formation of the group. The two days of training helped in building leadership skills among women folk. He also handled lessons oncommunication, time management, delegation and decision-making skills, which are essential skills required in managing a group.

On the third of the training, a leader was elected, and the election was held democratically. The women folks were asked to formulate rules and regulations for the smooth functioning of the group. The rules and regulations were validated by the experts from Don Bosco Veedu Society.

Catering serving requires hands on experience; the fourth day was exclusively kept for experience sharing by the leading caterers from Trivandrum including Mr. Rajan (Varnam Catering), Mr. Hussian (President, Kerala catering Association), and Mr. Mathew (Secretary, Kerala catering Association) interacted with the women folk, and discussed about the opportunities associated with the catering services. Mr. Mathew stressed on the importance of personal hygiene while serving the food.

On 17^th March Mr. John (Rtd. Hospitality Manager, Sheraton Hotels) handled a session on the topic “Fine Dining Etiquette for Servers”. The session was a theoretical learning experience for the women folk, before their taking up the venture.

Valedictory function was organized; director, Fr. Thomas P.D collected feedback from the participants.

The women were positive about their learning experience. “I strongly believe that the new venture that we are going to start will help us to find a living” says Mrs. Nadeera.

On 13^th February 2018, Tuesday, Motivational camp named “PULSE” was conducted for the women in the society. The camp was inaugurated by Fr. Thomas P.D, Director, of Don Bosco Veedu Society. Mr. Georgezen, Entrepreneurship Specialist of Adani Foundation handled the one day motivational class. The main objective of the camp was “Knowing Self”. The programme was fully activity oriented; the participants were given opportunity to reflect into their daily routine in order to organise their life better.

Activities for Knowing Self

Daily Routine Analysis: In the motivational camp the participants were grouped, and they were asked to prepare a daily routine. Each group presented the daily routine, and identified the leisure time spent by each of the unemployed women in the slum.

Interest Analysis: The participants were given opportunity to identify their interest in developing their skills. This activity gave them opportunity of identifying their hidden skills for their social and financial development.

 The camp helped the women folk to know themselves better and also every individual was helped to identify their skills.

The feedback was collected from the participants. Mrs. Mini, one of the participants said: “The camp was a turning point in my life. With this one day camp, I was able to understand that I have been wasting a lot of valuable time. From today onwards I decide to spend my free time effectively through some engagements”