For the past few years, ACM GIDF has been working on empowering rural artisans especially women, across the nation. Various livelihood programmes have been initiated for the welfare of these people who work in groups and in our rural artisans training programme regular workshops, awareness camps etc. are conducting to nurture the overall development of the Self Help Group members.

This month, a two day awareness camp along with the Central Board for Worker’s Education (CBWE), under the Ministry of Labour & Employment was conducted in Kolathakkara in Omassery Panchayath, Kerala on the 4th & 5th. Members of the gram panchayath and officers from CBWE were invited for this session. 40 selected artisans from the location had participated and the topics discussed were related to the importance of sustainable livelihood, family budget, family life and entrepreneurship qualities. At the end of the 2 the session, course certificates and wage compensation were distributed to the participants.

Under the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY), GIDF aims to empower youth from cities by training them in various vocational skills. Now operational in Delhi, the project aims to train underprivileged youths in market-driven courses like Retail (Sales) to enable them find a place in entry level opportunities in various industrial sectors. The programme was inaugurated by Honourable Chief Minister of Delhi Smt.Sheila Dixit along with Dr. Kiran Walia (Honourable Minister of Social Welfare) & Mr. P. K. Tiwari (Chief Secretariat) at Delhi Secretariat on the 21st of September, 2011. The event was attended by various NGO’s including GIDF, who were selected to implement the project in various locations of the capital. Beneficiaries were also given away ID Cards at the function. The 3 months course in Retail(Sales) is followed by 100% placement assistance & GIDF has currently started its training center in Badarpur, Mehrauli & Azadpur.

The Foundation is focused on diversification of livelihood options through skill and capacity building, based on locally available natural and human resources.

Apart from the various other skill development initiatives that GIDF has undertaken in the past few years in various states of India, it had recently conducted a 15 days training session, free of cost, as a part of its E-Shiksha Programme in the Madhya Pradesh. Last month our team conducted a research in the nearby villages of district Guna, M.P. in search of beneficiaries who were looking forward to being trained in a certain vocation, with which they could start their own small scale business.

After thorough research, Dharnavda was selected & around 30 girls enrolled themselves to be trained in art of beauty culture, as they felt that this will help them start something on their own. Most of the girls that were selected for the programme are school dropouts. They are the ones who could not complete their basic education due to various social problems in their community like illiteracy, gender biasness etc. So, in order to help them give a new motive to their life, we initiated this programme in collaboration with UNICEF.

The training sessions started on the 1st till the 18th of December, 2010. A trained beautician conducted the training & taught them the art of hair cutting, facial & threading. They also learnt the basic methods of bridal make up, manicure & pedicure. During the training sessions, the girls showed keen interest and attended all their classes regularly.

We now also plan to take them to the next level by helping them form Self Help Groups, where they will be divided in groups of 10-12 & be shown ways of saving money & starting their own small time beauty parlor.

The Foundation is focused on diversification of livelihood options through skill and capacity building, based on locally available natural and human resources. In the past year we started the skill development training programme known as the Special Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (Spl. SGSY) Programme, which aims to provide training to the under privileged youth in various vocations like basic electrical, stitching & tailoring, Welding etc. On completion of the training, the candidates are also going to be provided with placement assistance related to their courses. The programme has been initiated by GIDF in 8 locations, namely Agra & Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Dibrugarh & Tinsukia (Assam), Raisen & Sagar (Madhya Pradesh) and lastly Jodhpur & Jaipur (Rajasthan). In each location we have shortlisted 2-3 blocks & in each of these blocks we provide training in 3-4 different courses, which is provided to the beneficiaries absolutely free of cost. Each batch has around 30-35 students which includes girls & even people falling under the minority category. Till date we have successfully been able to train around 500 candidates in various vocations & our aim is to cover around 7200 youths in the next 3 years. Not only that, we have also been able to place around 40 candidates in companies situated in their respective districts itself.