Threads of Empowerment- Gargi Girls Taskforce in Bihars Resilience
Bihar is disaster prone state, with its capital Patna witnessing hazards like earthquakes, lightning, heatwave, cold wave, as well as local disasters like fire, road mishaps, snake bite, dog bite, etc. Needless to say, that responding in case of emergency and applying Disaster Risk Reduction measures in slum areas proves to be a tall order due to poor financial conditions of the community members.
Initiating the BMZ Global Program in the 10 intervention villages of Patna Municipal Corporation and Sampatchak Nagarparishad areas posed significant challenges in organizing slum areas. To address this, a dedicated team of girls from the Patna-based organization was groomed to proactively mitigate risks and foster resilience in the community.
In response to the situation, Caritas India through its partner established the Gargi Girls Groups (G3), composed of 60 dedicated community-based taskforce members, with a focus on providing basic education and 21st-century life skills. The majority of Gargi Girls Group members are high school dropouts from marginalized communities. They received training from the Global Program on Early Warning, First Aid, and Search and Rescue. Subsequently, the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) certified these girls after a rigorous 7-day training session, collaboratively designed and implemented by BSDMA, SDRF, and Yuganter. In an effort to address their economic challenges, sustainable livelihood training in stitching and embroidery skills was provided to empower these girls and integrate them into the program.
Global program facilitated stitching and embroidery training to a total of 60 Gargi Girls Group members. In this drive, experts of the Usha Pvt Ltd imparted pros and cons of the aforesaid skill development training to them. The trainers also visited villages like Dusadhi Pakari and Khairatali Nahar of Patna Municipal Corporation and Sampatchak Nagarparishad respectively to impart training to the participants.
Interestingly, all the members happen to be the active members of Taskforce Committees. Out of which, 10 members have become master trainers who are supposed to impart stitching training voluntarily to the fellow girls in their respective localities. Many girls started to work at nearby boutiques, while some of them engrossed into encrypting beautiful designs on the cloths on their own houses.
Apart from it, they were equipped with android phones to provide them basic education and 21st century life skills. Now, the Gargi Girls Group members are in position to make their both ends meet on their own and at the same time they are quick to respond in case of emergency, thanks to BMZ Global Program.