Over the years, there has been consistent expansion in women empowerment but there is a section that needs attention considering the present scenario i.e. rural areas. Women should have self-esteem, certainty, and the opportunity to pick their necessities and prerequisites but many fall under the category of underserved and underprivileged.
Some organisations are working to provide this section the upliftment they deserve and to celebrate their existence. From providing skill training in different verticals to making them self-sufficient, these organisations help women envision a bright future.
Here are the five Indian organizations who deserve appreciation this Women’s Day for impacting the lives of rural underprivileged and underserved women.
1. Smile Foundation
Smile’s skill training programmes are designed specially in accordance with the current industry requirements to provide the underprivileged women equal opportunities to work for fast-emerging sectors of India such as hospitality, retail, IT, etc. Short term courses for six months in computers, spoken English and soft skill have given many women a ray a positive hope to live a financially secure life. The beneficiaries are also trained on their overall personality development so as to aid them in adjusting better to their work surroundings.
2. PanIIT Alumni Foundation
The Nation Building arm of Pan IIT Alumni works towards providing skill training programmes for underprivileged youth in India. PanIIT provides skill training and vocational courses for women, such as Assistant Nurse Midwifery (A.N.M) a curriculum in nursing skills, which has been designed keeping in mind women who want to pursue a career as a nurse in the healthcare services; ITI manufacturing to skill them in the field of manufacturing so that women can secure equal opportunities. Their short-term courses have impacted over 18,000 underprivileged youth and over 1 lakh lives so far.
3. Nidhi Foundation
Nidhi Foundation is a NGO that aims to work with the women in the urban slums and villages and believes that helping women develop their inherent latent potentialities would bring about holistic development for the society at large. Unnati is a community-based initiative with the aim of empowering women to become entrepreneurs and teach sewing and stitching within the precincts of their community. This programme is “inclusive” in character, implying that Unnati is implemented for the economically poor irrespective of caste, class, religion, or creed.
4. Saksham
Launched in 2010, Saksham focuses on another kind of NEET – ‘Neither in Education, Employment or Training’ – for youth, especially girls from urban and rural disadvantaged areas. The programme equips them with free, market-oriented vocational skills and job and entrepreneurial training, This not only helps them access employment and pursue entrepreneurship options, according to their capability, aptitude, and choice, but also makes them representatives of a gender-equal society.
Through these training programmes, women can pursue entry-level jobs as customer care executives, general duty assistants, floor executives, data entry assistants, store assistants, cash, and front office management. Saksham’s skilling project has reached out to over 12,000 youth with over 7,000 of them being placed in respectable jobs and other livelihood activities to date.
