MUKTI organizes skill development training workshops for women entrepreneurs

MCDF (Mukti Community Development Fund) has organized an apprenticeship program at Sakher Mor, Nagendrapur region of Sunderban. This program is running a wide range of creative learning courses aimed at women empowerment Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to develop women entrepreneurs in rural India. This training program has been started from 2nd August 2016 and will be running till the end of October 2016. Some of the skills that the participants will learn during the workshop are the making of hand-made jewelries, jute bags, and clay products. Registration for the courses include small fees to cover the cost of training and providing all raw materials necessary to the attendees during the training. MUKTI’s objective is to make rural life in Sunderban area more sustainable through women employment that can suffice the additional needs of every household. Mr. Chanchal Pal, who is the trainer in this program said, “20 women can be accommodated in the current program, but if the demand is greater, we can run more frequent training workshops like this in future.” There is an opportunity to get bank loan collectively or individually for the attendees that can be used as start-up funds to start their own business.
To promote interest in the local village womenfolk for joining the workshop, MUKTI has decided to put up for sale the finished products from the training program. MUKTI will include these products in its own exhibits across many areas in West Bengal. Apart from MUKTI exhibits, the trainees can also sell their hand-made products directly during many fairs and festivals that take place throughout the year in the state of West Bengal. The ability to sell their own products directly to customers may attract better profit margins for the village people and might encourage mass production of some items in future.