2007-2008 Women Empowerment
SHAKTHI 2007 is an income generation activity for women. The goal of this project is to break the cycle of poverty experienced by women who work in the "beedi" rolling industry of Tamil Nadu.
The working conditions for the women who work in the industry are sub par at the best, and by only making INR 40 a day, the women are not able to support their children's education and in turn, future "beedi" rollers are born.
The project provides training on tailoring and loans for women to get their own sewing machine to improve their livelihood.
The training begins with the Entrepreneurship Development Program that lasts 10 days followed by tailoring and garment making skills training and production training that lasts 90 days.
After the training, loans are provided to every trainee to buy single needle power sewing machine. The trainees sew garments sent from the Common Facility Centre that hosts gathering machine, over-locking machines, Cutting machines and single needle power sewing machines. When the completed garments arrive, they are tested for quality, packed and then marketed as approved by District Industries Centre (Tirunelveli), Government of Tamil Nadu.
The trained women earn around INR 100 to INR 150 per day depending on their skill, speed and time invested. They also earn proportionate dividends through an annual profit sharing plan of the whole operation.
Thanks to Geneva Global, USA for providing the much needed fund to start this operation.