Women must be put in a position to solve their own problems in their own way. And the Indian women are as capable of doing it as any in the world.
Motherliness, hardwrok, sacrifice , intelligence, and sense of responsibility are the characteristics of Indian women. Systematic onslaught on these qualities , primacy to her physical attributes are degrading women to commodity value rather than upholding the grand ideal of Hindu wonmanhood “ the mother “ the first Guru of the family.
Based on this Vivekananda Kendra running Vocational Training Center,(VKVTC) in various places of india, one is in Tamilnadu as part of Rural Development program, One is in Pimpalad, One is in Karabi-Along area in Assam and 4 in Arunachal Pradesh which started in 1997 in Seijosa, to train women to be economically self-reliant.The six-month course consists of training in carpet-weaving , tailoring , Gale(Traditional Arunachali woman-wear) making, etc. In addition primary reading and writing skills, cooking, health and hygiene, story-telling, patriotic songs, etc. are also taught. The selection of trainees is through centers.
Focus : Strengthen human resource intensive technology. Socio-economic empowerment, capacity-building, Natural resource management, Mother and child Health care, Education , Nutrition, Collective action for common causes, skill development in areas women are already skilled in value-addition to products.
Nature of Training : Multi-dimensional -vocational, Educational and Cultural
Skill: Tailoring ,knitting, crochet, Pickle, Jam and sauce preparation, packaging, bee-keeping, marketing.
Adaptability : Design and produce products as per requirement.
Habit Formation : Daily routine, Health, hygiene, Nutrition Literacy, reading , writing , counting.
Languages : Hindi and English.
Confidence Development : Yoga, Martial Arts
Horticulture : Develop Kitchen gardens.
Community Perspective : Conducting Value Education classes for children, story-telling , women's Awareness camps, community festivals celebrations, etc..
Marketing : Become job creators and not job seekers.
Details : Residential well Furnished training centre;trainees(girls) are drawn from interior villages.
Impact : Socio-Economic and Cultural :
- Sourcing the finished products from trained girls who produce it in their own homes. Family income is substantially augmented as many a family subsists below the poverty line.
- Improved standard of living including health, hygiene.
- Capacity to withstand cultural shocks – brought in by Westernisation disguised as modernization is increasing
- Standing by one's own Sevadhrma in the face of alien pressure.
- Ushering in concept of Development through Culture.
- Development hundreds of families as production centers in the nearby villages and usher in prosperity.
- Education : Start balwadis pre-primary training centers
- Strengthen youth activities
- Impart more community- based training.
For more information visit Vivekananda Kendra Arunjyoti : http://www.vkarunjyoti.org
