HWF has been imparting skill and vocational trainings to youths and women since its inception coupled with capacity building on entrepreneurship skills, so that the trainees acquire marketable skills and compete in the market. Under the instant project “Innovative Approach in Creating livelihood opportunities through skill building” and supported by FVTRS, total 170 rural under literate / school dropout youths were imparted with vocational and skill trainings in following 5 trades whose detailed description is given below
Vegetable cultivation
Under this skill training program total 45 widow women were imparted trainings on various aspects of vegetable cultivation. The skill training program was carried out in 3 batches of 3 months duration, each batch comprising of 15 trainees. The sole purpose of this skill program was to impart technical knowledge to widow women on the vegetable cultivation so that they could undertake vegetable cultivation either in their backyard of their house or in small piece of land and not only earn additional income for their household but also to have access to fresh green nutritious vegetables at their home.
This program not only helped gain sustainable livelihood source for the trainee widow women but at the same time ensured that they got nutritious food through green fresh vegetables which helped them gain healthy life and get rid of gynic issues, like anemia etc. The trainee participants after completion of the training program had started cultivating vegetables and have became financially self reliant by selling the same in local markets and earning decent incomes for their household.
Garment making
Through support of FVTRS, the organization has implemented skill training program of 45 days duration on Garment making for widow women from South Kashmir region. This training program on Garment making was carried out in 3 batches comprising of 15 trainees in each batch. All the 45 trainees belonged to minority community and were either half widow or widows and were dependent on family members for their subsistence.
The primary aim of conducting skill training program on Garment making for the aforesaid women trainees was to impart them with technical trainings so that they gain marketable skills and become self reliant by securing their livelihood. All the trainee participating women were imparted with comprehensive knowledge on every aspects of garment making like cutting, stitching, designing, value addition, etc with emphasis on practical hands on making garments of different specifications and styles. All the 45 trainees have successfully completed the training and are earning a decent income of average 8000 to 10000 per month. Through this skill training all the participating widow trainees have now become self reliant and are no more dependent on others for their survival, which is the biggest achievement of this program.
Driving
The tourism sector in Kashmir provides employment opportunities to thousands of youths. The tourists come here and visits many exotic places in the valley and for this purpose they need taxi vehicles and or skilled drivers for their respective vehicles. Thus the demand for skilled drivers is very much. Keeping this aspect in mind Human Welfare Foundation has from long time felt the need to introduce Driving skill training for rural youths from its operational area who are otherwise incapable to join private driving classes owing to their costly training fees
Under the instant training program total 30 rural youths were imparted with training on driving skills through 2 batches of 90 days duration each. The trainee youths were oriented about the traffic rules, basic motor parts and their functionality, minor fault finding and repairing, with more emphasis on practical trainings. All the trainee youths had successfully completed their training on Driving and HWF had assisted them to obtain their driving licenses from Road Transport Department. All the trainee youths had after completion of their training obtained employment and are working as taxi drivers and aims to purchase their own vehicles very soon.
Four wheeler mechanics
Under this program total 30 rural youths were imparted with technical training on four wheel mechanics in 2 batches for duration of 3 months each. The trainee youths were imparted with knowledge on types of engines, their functioning, and essential motor parts like piston, cylinder, transmission system, braking, suspension, electrical, breakdown, fault finding and repairing etc. The trainee youths were given both theoretical and practical sessions with more emphasis on practical sessions on actual machines. The participating trainees were apart from training on motor mechanics were also oriented on Entrepreneurship development trainings so as to ensure that they learn entrepreneurship skills which will be useful for them in future if they happen to start their own garage
All the 30 participating training has successfully completed the training program of 90 days duration and majority of them have obtained employment in garages while the rest have started their own small repairing units in nearby villages. The organization has provided all the trainees hand holding support for employment and establishment of small repairing units to the trainees
Fisheries
Under this program total 30 rural youths were imparted with technical training on four wheel mechanics in 2 batches for duration of Total 20 rural youths were imparted with trainings on fisheries through 2 batches of 90 days each. In this training program the participating trainees were imparted with knowledge on types of fishes, their rearing /cultivation, feeding and care aspects. The participating trainees were also provided with information on breeding aspects of various fishes. Similarly the trainees were oriented on market aspects of fishes coupled with training on entrepreneurship development with a view to enhance their business acumen. All the trainee participants have successfully completed the training program and have started their small fish rearing units in their respective areas