Naari
Project Title
Women Empowerment through Skills Training Towards Economic Support and Self Reliance.
Project Location
Kolkata & 24 parganas.
Contact Person
Amrita Mitter
Email id- amritamitter@yahoo.in
Project Overview
With two-thirds of the world's illiterate population female and countless girl
children not receiving a basic education, supporting women in developing
countries is vital to helping overcome critical social issues such as poverty
and unemployment.
By supporting women in society and giving them access to equal opportunities
such as an education, jobs and health care, everyone benefits. Infant
mortality rates go down, more children stay in school, incomes increase and
the cycle of poverty can be broken.
In India, women are born into a society that is still having to face social
inequalities ranging from gender-specific abortions, mistreatment from their
spouses, eve teasing, being married off at an early age and in some cases
being denied an education by their families. Through our initiatives in India,
we aim to assist in gender equality through various educational, healthcare
and income initiatives and empower local women by educating them on their
rights the opportunities available to them.
The proposed project by SHIRC is aimed at promotion of women empowerment through gender
mainstreaming. This will be done through promotion of women participation through capacity building
and skills trainings to be independent among 18 selected villages in North 24 pargana & student of our
organization.
Executive Summary
Started in most humble manner in 1978, SHIRC today operates from a full-fledged center in Kolkata and
from 4 other rural centers, and is collaborating with several other agencies. From early identification,
treatment and rehabilitation, SHIRC delivers an integrated service to the speech and hearing impaired
children through parent/professional partnership, home training, preparation for integrated and special
education, vocational training and day care program.
The organization goal is to 'Create access to social and economic opportunities towards empowering
Women and Special Children.' To achieve this goal, SHIRC works by mobilizing and recruiting women
into self-help groups through which the women engage in various socio-economic activities. As an
organization, SHIRC believes that in order to reach the child, the woman as the custodian of the child
has to be accessed first.
The proposed project by SHIRC is championing for the empowerment of women by building their
capacities and competencies. This will be achieved by conducting a three month period skills and
entrepreneurship trainings which will equip them with the necessary skills and experience to manage
their own businesses. The project will empower them to be able to position themselves in strategic
decision making processes that take place at varying levels in social, economic and political issues of the
region and country as large.
The project's specific objectives.
The main goal of the project is promotion of women empowerment through gender mainstreaming.
This will be done through promotion of women participation through capacity building and skills
trainings to be independent. However, other objectives of the project shall include the following:
(i) To Increase the financial abilities of women to enable them purchase food for their families,
Educate their children (girl child focus), Afford better health, clothing and shelter for their
children and Reduce poverty and attain improved standards of living.
(ii) Advance gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women, ensuring elimination of
all kinds of violence against women and children through Full participation in social, economic
and political spectra at all levels and bringing women into the main stream of development.
Targeted primary beneficiaries to this project shall include 90 women who shall be mobilized from
different communities within North 24 pargana district, West Bengal.
Relevance of the project
Women's education and employment are indeed likely to play an important role in the empowerment of
women through the collective efforts of women with favorable institutional support that can promote
the empowerment process.
Women's participation in economic activities, particularly outside the home, is often seen as an
important factor facilitating the economic and social empowerment of women. Not only can
employment be a source of economic independence, it can help give women a sense of self-esteem. As
a result of the expansion of research and the promotion of women's issues, we now have a better
understanding of women's contribution to the economy and society as a whole through the many types
of work they do in all the communities. Taking into account the context of globalization that has become
increasingly noticeable in India since the 1990s. Experiences accumulated from different parts of the
world, now it's clear that those adversely affected by the processes associated with globalization include
disproportionately large segments of women, especially from the weaker sections of society, primarily
through constraining work opportunities and employment levels, which, in their turn are important
determinants of women's over-all situation in society.
In recent decades, there have been significant changes in the occupational and educational situation of
women, although the change has been very low. There is a need for incentives in education and health
organization for the participation of women. The government needs special attention in women's
educational grants and women's health subsidies that change society's behavior on women. Enable the
full participation of women in personal and family decisions, especially those related to maternity.
Gender policies emphasize greater participation of women in the labor market.
Our proposed project is a result of wide and inclusive consultative meetings with all the stakeholders
within the area who identified the needs for any possible action. Women's gender roles have been
stretched beyond traditional limits to meet the new domestic, social and economic needs of the family
and local community. Many women are now taking the main role in domestic decision-making and
working in whatever way they can to provide an income for their families, even where men are present
in the household. Women have been at the forefront of emergency care and social recovery efforts at
community level, often playing active public roles to influence and mobilize support.
Description of the project and its effectiveness.
The project is focusing on capacity building of the women who are socially and economically
disadvantaged. The critical failure in leadership, governance and management and infighting in West
Bengal have created gross poverty and unemployment levels among the women both in urban and rural
communities. These challenges among other issues of underdevelopment have precipitated a vicious
cycle of poverty and hopelessness from which many women and families find impossible to overcome.
SHIRC project seeks to assist these women and other vulnerable to improve their livelihood through
offering tailor-made vocational trainings opportunities and enhancement of local opportunities for
holistic development.
The project targets the young women who will be recruited at different levels of intervention depending
on prevailing needs and role in the community. Objectively, the project prioritizes the most vulnerable
women (the organization targets poor illiterate, marginalized and displaced members of the society.
Priority is given to the completely illiterate poor women, who are accorded basic literacy skills at SHIRC
Centre). These are determined through recruitment evaluation procedures with the assistance of local
authorities.
Project Results Specifically
The organization hopes to offer vocational trainings to the selected beneficiaries in art & craft, Entrepreneurship skills and Butik. These will equip them with relevant necessary skills to enable them be self reliant and increase their chances to access job opportunities hence improve their livelihood conditions by being able to meet their basic household needs. The graduates on satisfactorily completion of their course will be able to start their own businesses thereby creating job opportunities for themselves and other community members as well. The community will easily access the products and services resulting from the project at affordable rates. The project will be able to train more people from the community at different intervals since it will be able to sustain itself from the products sales.
Duration and indicative action plan for implementing the project
SHIRC proposes to implement the proposed project activities in a duration of twelve months as
illustrated in the below work plan.
Sustainability
This project is built from grass-roots and is formulated to benefit the community from women who form the majority of the marginalized population in the region. The empowerment of a core group will ensure that the entire community owns the project. This intervention has a self-protecting mechanism in dealing with conflict situations. Apart from the agencies’ presence in the project area and the goodwill of communities it works with, our project will seek the endorsement of relevant government authorities.