Capacitating CSOs & empowering women & girls through social entrepreneurship

Working for gender equality with women empowerment has become essential for Indian society to ensure the sustainable development of the country. In Jharkhand, approximately 50 per cent of the working population, between the age group of 15-49 years, is women. It has high level of illiteracy among girls and women, and policy makers are still struggling to create enough employment opportunities for them. Hence, there is a need to promote entrepreneurship and to foster skill building among girls and women thereby creating employment opportunities. AIILSG is implementing Girl Power Project to train 5000 women and provide them required skill-training and technical support for becoming financially independent and successful entrepreneurs

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he Girl Power Project of AIILSG is 5 years long project, which is being implemented in 10 districts of Jharkhand covering 20 blocks namely Dumka, Deoghar, Koderma, Hazairbagh, Khunti, Gumla, Ranchi, West Singhbum, East Singhbum and Saraikela. The project aims to create a network of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and women, which will act as a platform to promote women’s rights. The network includes one Advisory Group, which will give overall direction to the project in terms of CSO capacity building and social entrepreneurship. The project will build capacity of CSOs, including women led CSOs, to empower them on social entrepreneurship.

Women will be imparted skills of creating and supporting social enterprises. Based on the inputs from CSO partners, 5000 women are being selected for the project, where they will be trained on various skills. Further on, the project will roll out Entrepreneurs Support Centre Programmes within the targeted CSOs to sustain the action on the long run. Since, developing skills is ineffective without a ready marketplace to sell the products, an innovative nodal centre of Jharkhand Mahila Social Entrepreneurship Market Connect (JMSEMC) will be set up to coordinate the project. A web portal has been developed to showcase the products. Moreover, policy dialogues are encouraged with CSOs and women led entrepreneurs in India and the European Union. At the end of the year, Mahila Social Entrepreneurship Awards will be presented to CSOs who have performed par excellence.

Activities in detail

The Girl Power Project was inaugurated on September 15, 2020, by Badal Patralekh, Minister of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Government of Jharkhand. In September 2020, the CRPs (Community Resource Persons) were briefed about conducting the Baseline Survey in 10 districts. After data collection, different products were identified and training modules based on unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled women beneficiaries were prepared.

A total of 15 training modules have been developed. Out of 15, 11 are technical and 4 are non-technical. The identified products in the technical training module includes organic farming, poultry, goat rearing, dairy, fish rearing, mushroom cultivation, lac production, mahua, bee keeping, bamboo craft, and silk processing. Four non-technical training modules that have been developed are soft skill development, government schemes, enterprise & marketing, mainstreaming gender.

After preparation of the curriculum, pilot testing was conducted for each producer-based curriculum to perfect it. For customisation purposes, a group was formed which consisted of one CSO, 12 entrepreneurs, three technical experts and the project team. The module was presented and discussed in detail. The training module was then modified based on the feedback received from the group.

In September 2021, a capacity building training was organised for 39 women beneficiaries & CSOs on mushroom cultivation and value addition at Churchu block, Hazaribagh district. The CSO Jharkhand Mahila Utthan has a presence in the district and is managing the project beneficiaries there. Three days long training program was organised to orient women beneficiaries on the basics of mushroom cultivation, following which, they could become entrepreneurs.

On the occasion of Diwali in 2021, the JMSEMC organised a two-day marketing event on October

31, and November 1, 2021. Designed as a platform for women artisans/entrepreneurs for displaying a range of festive products for sale and promotion, this event played a major role in connecting the buyers with women entrepreneurs involved in making a range of handmade products like diyas, candles, flowers, paper lanterns, incense sticks, bamboo products, lamps, lac bangles, and others items. In order to attract customers, the artisans displayed varied decorative products. The primary objective was to give an exposure to the women artisans who otherwise have limited access to markets.

Furthermore, the team organised one day meet with CSOs at Visvesvaraya Sanitation and Water Academy (VISWA) on November 24, 2021. The meeting was attended by members from 14 CSOs. Various points pertaining to capacity building of the women beneficiaries were discussed by Dr RK Gupta, Project Director, Girl Power Project. The team also organised a meeting of Women Network for Social Entrepreneurship-Jharkhand (WNSE-J) members on November 26, 2021 at Hotel Royalsion, Ranchi. In the meeting, the members were briefed about the project activities conducted and the future activities that had been planned. A one day exposure visit to Parinaama Development Foundation was organised in November 2021 for women who had received the training on mushroom cultivation in September and October. The aim was to show them institutions for mushroom production and best practices in the business. Mushroom farming is an enterprise of high profit at low investment and farmers of Jharkhand region can successfully obtain the yield of paddy-straw mushroom and oyster cultivation throughout the year.

Seven-day Training of Trainers (ToT) programme was organised at Rama Krishna Mission Ashram, Ranchi for the CSOs/Service Providers associated with the project. In the training session, the participants were trained on 11 technical and three non-technical curriculums. The program was designed to train representatives of 20 selected service providers, who will then become master trainers and will impart training to women and girls in their respective areas of operation.

In addition to mentioned activities, ten Entrepreneur Support Centres have been planned in order to handhold women and girls to become successful social entrepreneurs. Approximately 1000 women are expected to avail the benefits of the centres over the project period. These Entrepreneur Support Centres will be attached to ten selected CSOs/SHGs, who have the infrastructure and manpower to conduct these activities. Last year in December, the team set up an Entrepreneur Support Centre in Khunti district with the support of SN Singh, Secretary, Centre for Entrepreneurship. An awareness programme on the project activities was also organised at Entrepreneur Support Centre, Khunti district. Around 20 women participated in the programme, out of which, some are already working in poultry, goat rearing, duck rearing and mushroom cultivation, but are unaware of the technicalities. In January 2022, second district support centre was established at Bero Block of Ranchi district. In the coming months, the team will set up eight more such centres in selected places for training and technology dissemination.

On December 27, 2021, a CSO-Advisory Group meeting was held online. Dr Gupta welcomed all the members after which Ravi Ranjan Guru, DDG, AIILSG, Delhi gave the inaugural speech. Summing up the meeting, Pashim Tewari, Technical Director, AIILSG, Delhi remarked how women entrepreneurs will provide employment to more women thereby spreading empowerment.

In addition, Training of Trainers (ToT) programme for 80 CSOs/SHGs and capacity building training for women beneficiaries have been planned for this year.

Women making incense sticks at RK Mission Ashram, Ranchi

Role of GPP

The Girl Power Project funded by the European Union and implemented by All India Institute of Local Self Government in Jharkhand is fulfilling the objective of strengthening Indian civil societies to perform their role as independent agents of change. The project is looking forward to achieve the target of training 5000 women and creating 1000 women social entrepreneurs with the help of formation of 20 CSO Entrepreneur Support Groups, 10 Entrepreneur Support Centres, 20 Certificate Courses, Marketing shows, Best Practices Forums, and Women Network for Social Entrepreneurship in Jharkhand.