Dabur India’s skill development training to empower village women

 India’s leading science-based Ayurveda expert Dabur India Ltd recently announced the expansion of its corporate social responsibility programme in Tezpur with the inauguration of a new vocational training centre for women in Tezpur.The centre, set up at Dhekidol village in Sonitpur district, will seek to empower women in the neighbouring areas providing skill development programmes based on the needs of the community.

The new centre, inaugurated by Air Commodore MK Gupta along with Dabur India Ltd of Tezpur unit head Alok Gupta in presence of the senior citizens of the area, will start with a six-month course on stitching and tailoring.

“Youths, particularly girls, in villages across India are facing serious problems of unemployment and under-employment,” said A Sudhakar, head of Dabur India Ltd, adding that due to limited access to employment opportunities and skills many youths fail to find a way of livelihood.

“At Dabur, we believe that skill development is a powerful agent of social transformation. Providing vocational training, we feel, will not only bridge the gap between skilled and unskilled labourers, but also help the rural women with better employment and self-employment opportunities,” he said.

Sudhakar also said that this centre will be run by Dabur’s CSR arm Jivanti Welfare and Charitable Trust. With the intention of reaching out to the young girls and women in these villages and providing them with an opportunity to grow in life, Dabur has decided to establish this vocational training centre in Tezpur.

The programmes that will be offered through this centre have been devised after detailed discussions with the community members and keeping in mind their specific needs and sensitivities. It will provide a platform to the less privileged girls, supporting them in learning the desired skill sets that will make them employable and empower them to earn their living. Jivanti will also help and guide these young girls in setting up small businesses and become local entrepreneurs.

Dabur and Jivanti have a plan to add a number of vocational training courses, like beautician training, computer education and English language speaking, as part of their efforts to develop a social infrastructure and enhance the quality of life of communities.

Dabur is already running 12 such centres in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. During the year 2016-17, a total of 510 girls have successfully completed training in various courses at these centres.

“Going forward, Dabur plans to roll out a host of development initiatives aimed at improving the livelihood of rural populace, particularly women and children, in the region. These include setting up vocational training centres, adult literacy centres and construction of household toilets.

Moreover, Dabur has been involved with community development work since 1994, endeavouring to bring about an enduring change in the lives of people and to create the right environment for driving the local economy.

Sudhakar said that through our sanitation initiatives, Dabur has, over the past three years, helped construct over 2,800 household toilets and made 22 villages ‘open defecation free’.

It’s worth mentioning that the launching of the vocational training programme comes on the heels of its education-related CSR initiative in Tezpur, under which the company had adopted and revamped a government primary school which includes upgrading the classrooms and building, restoring the sanitation infrastructure for students, besides construction of a concrete boundary wall.