Skilled force

Talking to the daughter of her sweeper three years ago, Sushma Singhvi saw just how keen she was to work and earn a living.

The Gunjan Foundation gives vocational training to girls from slums

Talking to the daughter of her sweeper three years ago, Sushma Singhvi saw just how keen she was to work and earn a living. Singhvi decided to teach her and girls like her pick some skills. She began teaching them how to make candles. Today, Singhvi heads Gunjan Foundation, an organisation that gives underprivileged women vocational training. 8220;The foundation works towards empowering women. We provide them vocational training which polishes their craftsmanship,8221; says Singhvi.

The foundation has its own vocational centre at Shahpur Jat, where the girls are trained for two to three months and learn to make a variety of products. 8220;The merchandise that these girls learn to make include candles, bags, flowers and stuff toys among other things. The foundation then takes charge of marketing these goods,8221; says Singhvi, who has buyers such as Rio Grande in Greater Kailash-1.

The foundation was started in 2003, but the first two years after its inception were dedicated to spreading awareness, through seminars such as 8216;Mind Pollution8217;, which talked about restoring traditional and cultural elements in the process of becoming modern. A book on it will be released early next year.

But when it comes to spreading awareness among underprivileged women, it is the distribution of pamphlets in slums and word-of-mouth that works. 8220;When one girl realises her dream and understands the importance of financial independence, the word automatically spreads and more people want to be a part of the programme,8221; says Singhvi who started her career compering programmes like Patrika, Sahityaki and Bal Jagat on Doordarshan.

In the past three years, 40 women have enrolled under the programme and now earn up to Rs 400 a week. With Diwali just round the corner and with orders for candles hovering over 3,000, the girls have a lot to do. 8220;The girls are paid for every item that they make and the amount then depends on the kind of hard work they are willing to do,8221; says Singhvi.

But the real work begins even before the girls join work. The first big job is convincing their families. 8220;Usually it8217;s the brothers of these girls who are very traditional and don8217;t them to go out of their homes. And the mothers of these girls worry that their daughters8217; marriage prospects will be hit if they work,8221; says Singhvi.

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But now that these girls are trained, they are putting their skills to good use, holding workshops in colleges, teaching interested students the craft that they have learnt.