She Dares, a project for a community

By Carolina Pistochini, Communication and Training Manager

11 Jun 2021

Education, the most powerful weapon to change the world

When our general manager in India, Mr. Mahendra Triphati met Mr. Jitendra Pratap Singh Bhati, they immediatly understood that they had the same concept to social sustainability: " Only empowered and self reliant families lead to prosperous and sustainable society".

She dares arises from that assumption: to create an opportunity for learning and change for those people who are marginalized.

People’s Awareness Network Society(PANS) is a not for profit organisation working in the field of women empowerment, child education and vocational training. They are a team of professionals and more then 100 passionate volunteers.

The project proposed by PANS is championing for the empowerment of women by building their capacities and competencies. This will be achieved by conducting a one year long formal education training which will equip them with the necessary skills and experience to manage their own businesses. The project will empower to position themselves in decision making processes within their own families, their village and community in social, economic and political issues.

A rural area where every seed must be protected

The project area is a typical rural setting where women and girls are mainly involved in household chores, having no say in the family affairs. Excluded from receiving higher education and entirely dependent on their male counterparts, they have to bear the brunt of most of the evils like dowry, domestic violence etc and are not allowed to step out of their houses.

In rural communities, the status of women is not effectually recognized. In some communities, they experience discriminatory treatment. They are deprived of certain rights and opportunities and are required to wholeheartedly dedicate themselves towards household duties.
On one hand, they should care on their shoulders household chores, child development, taking care of needs and requirements of elderly family members and so forth. Whereas, on the other hand, they are subjected to various forms of abuse and mistreatment.

Earning enhanced livelihoods opportunities is the major priority of the rural individuals. Rural women and girls, are engaged in the production of handcraft and artworks and try to market them. When they are not able to make any profit in their rural communities, migrate to town to sell their products.

For rural women, performing dual roles is not a difficult task but it is essantial to effectively manage the time. With this developed skill they are able to supplement family income and enhance their status and acquire empowerment opportunities.

The project

She Dares is focusing on increasing the competences of the women who are socially and economically disadvantaged and belong to farming community of Rajasthan.
COVID19 lockdown has created gross poverty and unemployment levels among the men and women in rural communities.

She dares project seeks to assist these farming communities of Rajasthan to improve their livelihood through offering tailor-made vocational trainings opportunities and enhancement of local opportunities for holistic development.

The project targets the young women who will be recruited at different levels of intervention depending on prevailing needs and role in the community. Objectively, the project prioritizes the most vulnerable women who are completely illiterate. The project is designed to be all inclusive, with the ability to create a viable platform for intergenerational dialogue.

We seeks to offer vocational trainings to the 50 selected women within communities in Ramsar Palawala, Jaipur, Rajasthan for a period of one year which will include 10 months of formal education, 3 months of vocational training and post training support for establishment of businesses of the village.

Each step of the project has been designed as a cycle that lasts 3 months:

Cycle 1 - Setting up knowledge centre, Formal Inauguration of the program in June. Commencement of classes for 50 women, enrolment in open school examination.
Cycle 2 - Successful completion of mid Semester examination of all the candidates, need assessment survey and commencement of vocational training
Cycle 3 - Completion of vocational training, Formation of Self Help groups, linking with bank accounts, setting up local business, industrial tie ups for long term business sustainability of the businesses.
Cycle 4 - Support for entrepreneurial projects and impact assessment

Goals of the project

To identify the role of women in the farming communities and their potential
To motivate women to attain basic formal education.
To identify and deliver skill training which can be adopted as a vocation for increasing income of households.
To Increase the financial abilities of rural women to enable them purchase food for their familiesin order to reduce poverty and attain improved standards of living.
Advance gender equality, equity and the empowerment of women, ensuring elimination of all kinds of violence against women and children through Full participation in social, economic and political spectra at all levels and bringing women into the main stream of developmen
To evaluate the impact of the project on the children’s education of the beneficiaries.