Continuing their association under the flagship initiative Mission Swavalamban, Usha International and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), today announced Phase II of the Usha Swavalamban Silai Schools.
The project aims to set up 700 Usha Swavalamban Silai Schools in some of the Government of India shortlisted aspirational districts / calamity prone areas in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, and Uttarakhand. Usha and SIDBI came together with the shared vision – to skill rural women in sewing and stitching to financially empower them and develop their entrepreneurial capabilities to help them build their own Usha Swavalamban Silai Schools making them ‘homepreneurs’ in the process.
Under Phase I of the initiative, 1000 Usha Swavalamban Silai Schools were successfully set up in 5 states – Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana. 200 schools were up and running in each state in 2019, and were spread across 10 districts, 70 blocks and 952 villages.
Commenting on the launch of Phase 2 of the initiative, Dinesh Chhabra, CEO, Usha International, said, “We are proud to continue our partnership with SIDBI on Phase II of our journey to set up Usha Swavalamban Silai Schools. We are sure these 700 new Silai Schools in the Government of India shortlisted aspirational districts/calamity affected areas will go a long way in making a real impact by training thousands of people, improving their lives and the lives of their families.
It essentially paves the way for a better tomorrow by developing them as entrepreneurs in their own right, and an earning power that helps them meet their aspirations. It underscores our commitment to skill people in order to create a more equitable world.”
Commenting on the occasion, Mohammad Mustafa, IAS & CMD SIDBI said, “We are delighted to take the next step forward towards Women empowerment under our Usha Swavalamban Silai School program. In 2nd phase besides tailoring skills, we shall impart exposure on entrepreneurship and life skills. This aligns with our Mission Swavalamban which intends to spread entrepreneurship culture, family being the focal point. We shall continue to leverage partnership for including the excluded as also serving the unserved. We firmly believe that strengthening villages through enterprise enabler steps is important for national mission of Aatmanirbhar Bharat”
The training will be imparted on various aspects of stitching along with maintenance and repairing of sewing machine by expert trainers of UIL in these Silai Schools. The women entrepreneurs successfully completing the training program will be provided with Usha Sewing machine (leg paddle driven), a certificate, a training-kit, and a Usha Swavalamban Silai School Signage board.
The Silai School program is a pan India community based rural initiative of Usha International Ltd. This social initiative is aimed at empowering women from marginalized sections of the communities residing in the remote hamlets, habitations and villages of India. Initiated in 2011, Usha Silai School program at present has 23,000 Silai Schools across all the states of India, 100 in Nepal and 20 in Sri Lanka and 3 production centers in Bhutan. The primary objective of the Silai School program is to create a livelihood option for women by financially empowering them through imparting sewing and stitching and entrepreneurship skills. The secondary objective is to create a social standing and recognition within her family and community through economic enablement.
