Training Space for 600 Poor Girls in Mumbai

Dear Friends,

It is a joy to share with you that our third batch of job readiness course is on the roll. We have had 45 young women , first generation learners completing the course and finding employability and acquiring skills required for working in the organised sector.

In the current batch we have 25 young women in the last year of their degree in an all women’s college. These are all marginalized and mostly first generation learners who have reached college. They do not have family members employed in the formal sector and do not have exposure to resources and opportunities.

One of the young women in this course had run away with lover at a very young age as no baody valued or loved her in family. Her father used to beat her and her mother severely. The lover took sexual advantage of her but did not marry her and absconded one day. She somehow managed to come back home to be beaten up again and called names. She was married off to the first proposal that came to her, a divorcee. In that relation too she was constantly abused and battered.

She escaped from him to realize her family do not want to take her back. Today she works as a residential maid (house help). Her employers are good to her and have encouraged her to continue studies. She is  determined to complete her graduation and also the job readiness course so that she can find a dignified job and support herself.            

Our aim is to enable the girls with self efficacy that will help them securing an employment in formal sector and will also negotiate in their personal lives.

The course imparts skills in computer, building and making presentations, preparing C.V and facing Interview, Career counseling, negotiations and problem solving . It also covers understanding gender and sexual harassment at work place, basic laws women should be aware of in the employment sector, basic banking and investment .It covers topics like work ethics, group dynamics and formal telephonic conversation etiquettes.

We have a partnership with Indian Council of Basic education and L.J.N.J. college ( affiliated to S.N.D.T. Women’s University) to run this course. Antarang foundation is the partner for carrier counseling and placements.

We thank all of you for your financial support which has made this program possible. Securing a designated training place is going to empower us to hold many more such short term courses for young women and girls.