People at low education levels have little chances of securing a job in the formal sector; they are looking for options to generate income to sustain their families. Local communities especially the rural women, find themselves inept at supporting their family due to absence of any professional skill.

Caritas India under Udhayam programme realised this need and decided to empower the people of target villages especially youth, women and disabled. In this direction, a tailoring training centre for women was initiated which is run by Salem Social Service Society (SSSS) at Koneripatti of Athoor Block in Salem district, Tamil Nadu.

One of the core objectives of empowerment is on skill enhancement and employability of the target village people. Successful training interventions will address the skill demands which derive from the specific socio-cultural and economic environment with a focus on the need to participate in economic and social processes. The programmes need to be designed to have high local relevancy and in-built flexibility.

Supported by Caritas India, the centre is functioning since May, 2017 to train 15 women of which 60% belongs to dalit community. Under the guidance of the full-time instructor Ms. Uma, the women are learning nuances of tailoring like names and functions of parts of sewing machine, cutting, stitching and designing. More than learning technical skills, they are learning time management and inter personal relationship in the centre.

To enhance participation, the trainees pay minimum fee of Rs. 100/- per month which is used for meeting out partial salary payment of teacher.

“I am able to balance between my family and the training without any hassle”, says Mr. Pavitthra one of trainee at the centre.

“The reason behind attending this training is to prove my family that I can also contribute to the family in terms of money”, shared Ms. Princia.

Ms. Kalaivani, 28, a young widow and mother of 2 children says that this training has raised her confidence level. “I am stitching uniform for government school boys and girls. I take the order from the schools in the local vicinity and stitch 50 sets per week and earn @ Rs.20/- per uniform. Through this I am able to make around Rs.3000/- per month.” She is a happy mother who can provide good life to her children. Like other trainees, she also expresses her wish of extending this training to six months so that she can become an expert and establish her own independent business.

“Skill training can raise the economic and livelihood opportunity of people with no access to formal education and training”, shared Dr. John Arokiaraj, Caritas India Tamilnadu State Officer after interacting with the trainees. This initiative had opened opportunities for the people from poor socio-economic backgrounds, irrespective of their education, who rarely enter formal training because of expensive fees and high opportunity costs caused by long training durations. Rural women who often suffer from social access barriers, young mothers, persons with disabilities, adults who want to upgrade or learn new skills can make use of such opportunities to venture into a meaningful career, he added.