Projects
Empowering Women
She who dares, flies. We hope to be the wind beneath her wings
We asked ourselves – why would a mother abandon or abort her own child? With the passage of time, we have come to realise that it is not mothers who want to abandon their babies, but they often have no choice in the matter. We realised that when a woman has her own income, she has more power over herself and her family. This led us to having our first livelihood training program in 2001.
We soon realised that having livelihood training was not enough. Women who came were being ostracised by communities and prevented from exploring financial independence. There were others who could not even imagine a life beyond the one they had. It's no wonder that female labour force participation is 21% and falling in India. We needed a comprehensive solution of motivation, skill development, opportunity creation, community development, role modelling and most importantly building confidence.
Story of Nilofer
My story started when my father sold my textbooks to buy notebooks for my brother. I was uneducated and dependent on my husband and I sought to do something with myself. When I heard that Aarti Home was starting a tailoring program, I enrolled myself. I had a big backlash from my community - As I came home with Rs.50 every day, people started asking me if I was selling myself. Sandhyamma came to our basti and spoke with our community elders. I persisted inspite of the resistance while many of the women who enrolled with me dropped out. I soon became a good tailor and joined the collective. My salary of Rs. 8000 a month was far more than what my husband made. Then, I insisted that my daughter and son be educated. Seeing my independence, the women in my community began to come to me for help - some times for money, some times for advice. I now had a greater say in the community and insisted that all girls go to proper schools. My daughter has completed her graduation and my son is a practising male nurse. I am proud of what I have achieved for myself and my family.
​Our Programs encompass motivation, skill building, employability skill building, creating cooperatives, giving and enabling financial support and counselling.
Skill Building: One of our main focus areas is skill development programmes to increase the income-generating potential of women. The skill development programmes are geared towards destitute women with very little or no formal education.
We have developed curriculum and master trainers across Fashion Design and Tailoring,
Beautician Training, Hand and Machine Embroidery, Handicraft Training including toy-making, Body Massage, Fabric Painting and Block Printing.
Employability Programs: Our employability programs are geared towards educated women and girl students to enable them to enter workforce by giving them skills like basic computer skills, social skills, resume writing and building work ethic
Women Empowerment Program: In collaboration with WEP, we have been running WEP centres and building skills amongst young women to not just to be more confident but to lead social change
30,000+
Women Trained in Employability
6,300+
Women Trained in
Skill building
5,100+
Women Trained in
Legal Awareness
35,000+
Women found
Financial Independence