CFTI has over the years of work understood that tailoring is a profession that can be taught easily to any woman or a group of women irrespective of her education and tailoring is a profession that has nothing to do with climate, caste, creed, or geography. “Clothing” is a basic need and it will forever continue to be. Women can earn money and has a continuous source of income. Hence CFTI proposed to open a small tailoring training unit and each topper from this unit will be granted a sewing machine by us. During this pandemic, many families have lost their bread earners to Covid-19. Many women prefer tailoring over, working as a housemaid or a housekeeping staff in cottages, and hotels. This is a profession where they do not have to go out for work. Women can work at their own convenient time and even can manage their daily domestic chores.

CFTI & Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers worked together for Women Empowerment. CFTI submitted the proposal to open a tailoring unit for underprivileged women in the impacted villages under the impact zone of Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers (R.C.F) Alibag. The communities staying here are dependent on farming, fishing, construction labours & stewards where most of the women were housewives with little or no educational background. With the intervention of the Centre for Transforming India (CFTI) & help of Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers (R.C.F) a tailoring unit was set up at Veshvi village in Alibag Taluka

The process of enrolling the women in the program was planned very well such as enrolling two women from each village so that they can get business from their nearby places with less or no competition for their venture after the course completion. CFTI distributed sewing machines to successful trainees to start their own businesses. Feedback from all the trainees was studied in different aspects such as how they knew about the training program, training time, teaching methodology, technical guidance, and Overall learning experience. It was encouraging to note that all the respondents of Tailoring training were satisfied with the training time, place, methods, and content. The training venue was comfortable with all physical facilities which helped participants to learn effectively. The technical guidance provided by trainers during the training programme was useful and effective. These women got to know about the tailoring program through their relatives, teachers & social media.

Impact on trainees through the training program

Nikhat Hafiz Saiyyad is an S.Y.B.Com student living in a small village called “Shaikhache Gaon”. When CFTI started its initiative “Skilling Women Through Tailoring”, Nikhat approaches us and successfully completed her tailoring training. She strongly believes that clothing is the basic need of every human being and it’s never-ending. Nikhat said that “This is one of its kind initiatives by CFTI. There are many other training centers that charge Rs.20000 to Rs.30000 for the tailoring course whereas CFTI provides this course for a nominal charge of  Rs 1000/- and gives each and every successful trainee, a free sewing machine also the syllabus is far more superior than any other institute”.She further said that, “Because of the corona, job opportunities were very less but now I am a skilled woman & I can start my own business as I am a trained tailor and can support my family and education of my siblings”.

Nisha Nitesh Patil got to know about the CFTI’s tailoring program from her friends when her husband lost his job. This training course helped her gain the skill of tailoring where she can work from her house while managing her household activities. Nisha said that this course helped her to get knowledge of tailoring from basic to expert level and using this skill she started making suit salwar, gowns, tops, faul Picco, blouses where she is earning 2000 Rs to 2500 Rs per week. After the CFTI’s training program she felt independent & self-reliant where she is earning a decent amount of money and provided financial support to her family.

On the basis of the above findings, it can be concluded that the tailoring program organized by the Centre for Transforming India (CFTI) with help of R.C.F was very beneficial & made a significant impact in transforming the lives of these underprivileged rural women to set up a profitable venture for themselves & become self-dependent. The sense of self-reliance & increased family income will raise the living standards & make them capable to provide a good education for their children.