Purkul Stree Shakti Samiti, an NGO working from a rural area on the outskirts of Dehradun city, has been effecting positive changes in the lives of the local women. The members say they are becoming self-reliant with the pains the NGO — meant for women empowerment — is taking for them.
Now, it is all set to start its first venture of setting up an outlet at Hotel White House on Subhash Road on September 13. It has around 150 women workers who are earning through selling quilts and other handmade products. This organisation comprises 10 self-help groups which are now working together under one umbrella. Each of the groups has 10 members.
The organisation –focus trained on empowering the women from the economically disadvantaged communities- is engaged in imparting training aside from providing them with tools and works- places to enable them to produce handmade home and fashion products. “This activity helps in providing economic stability and support to their families. The products are being sold across India. All proceeds from the sales are going to the women through their respective self- help groups,” said Cinni Swamy, CEO of Prukul Stree Shakti Samiti. “Side by side, we are running schools for the children of the women working here,” she said.
Chinni Swamy, on her part, makes the designs for myriad types of the quilts that are proving hits. The organisation has two designers Aishwarya and Aastha. The beginners are given six months’ skill training. Balwinder Kaur, who has been working here for the past six years says: “I am a happy and content woman having got everything through it. My daughter studied at the school run by it.”
Echoing the same, Sangeeta Bharadwaj, production manager, says that they work together in perfect harmony. “Women sew coloured quilts, cusion covers, table runners, bags, tea cozies and the like. Prices of the articles being produced here range from `150 to `11,000,” she added.