SHARDA Trust's strategic thrust is now helping people living in slums and other distressed areas in upgrading their skills. The genesis of this strategy is our conviction that upgrading skills of the unskilled is the ideal solution to the grinding poverty the Indian nation faces. Economic reforms by themselves will not reduce the poverty. To do so, the nation must increase the capabilities of the unskilled so that they can compete in the competitive world of tomorrow. Upgrading skills involves a spectrum of programmes. At one end are the programmes that will help the unskilled to compete in the attractive segments of the service industry. Giving the unskilled very narrow vocational skills is the other end of the spectrum.

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The Process

Initially we started with an ambitious programme to help the residents of the distressed areas to set up a courier service. In addition, we conducted a study of the vegetable vending industry in Ahmedabad. The purpose of this study was to help the SEWA Bank members engaged in this industry. Our studies showed that both these industries were attractive. Unfortunately, we did not succeed in motivating persons to compete in these industries. From this experience, we set our sights a little low. We considered it more productive to provide the unskilled narrow vocational training that has the potential for quick upgrading. By quick upgrading we mean identifying those activities which has

1.Possibility of continuous upgradation of skills; and

2. Potential of these activities turning into good businesses.

Specific Programmes

This realisation led us to the specific programmes that we have recently launched. These aim at training the residents of the distressed areas as automobile drives and as sewing machine operatives in the garment industry. With these skills, they can get well paying jobs.

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Driver's Training Programme

SHARDA Trust has launched this quality driver's training programme for three reasons. First reason is that the demand for good drivers in the city is large. Therefore, a well-trained driver can earn a good income. Secondly a person who wants to become a driver need not have very high educational qualification. Thirdly, it is possible to train a good driver within a month at a low cost. We believe that a programme such as the one we have launched, is an answer to the unemployment problem among the urban youths. We have divided the training programme in two parts. In the first part, we send the trainees to Western India Automobile Association, Ahmedabad (WIAA) for training in the theoretical and the practical aspects of driving a car. This training is very thorough. The trainees learn to drive on congested roads in Ahmedabad, on highways and learn parking in tight spots. In addition, the trainees learn to drive at night, during twilight when light conditions are difficult. The trainees drive at least two different types of cars. At an average, each trainee drives two hundred kilometers during training. After they complete this part of the training, we send the trainees to Arvind's HRD department to sensitise them to human dimensions of being a driver. Once the trainee completes this part successfully, then we send him to work as an apprentice with companies that have kindly agreed to cooperate with us. The apprenticeship is the second part of our training programme. We believe that it is necessary for the person to work as an apprentice to round off the training. We started the programme in 1998. So far, we have trained 25 persons as automobile drivers and 16 of them are working as drivers in the city.

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Garment Operatives Training Programme

In May 1998, SHARDA Trust conducted a study to examine the feasibility of initiating a programme for training sewing machine operatives. The study of the garment industry in Ahmedabad revealed that there is a huge gap between demand and supply of skilled workers in the garment industry. This gap is further widened during the festival and marriage season. In order to close this gap and provide employment to the unemployed youth in the city, the Trust designed a training programme to prepare sewing machine operatives. The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Gandhinagar agreed to train the participants. The content of the training programme was decided after discussions with NIFT, team of Ruf and Tuf Jeans from Arvind Mills and various garment manufacturers. The duration of the programme was one month. The participants were trained on the single needle lock stitch machine.

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Foundation of the Programme

The foundation of this programme is that any training programme, to be effective, must impart knowledge, develop skills and inculcate right attitudes. We have designed the programme so that a sewing machine operative must have the working knowledge of sewing technology, the most effective way of joining two pieces of fabric. The stress is on training the trainees to control the speed of the motorised machine and thereby, develop proficiency in various operations of making a garment.

The first batch of the programme had thirty participants and we could find employment for all of them. Unfortunately, more than half did not continue due to variety of attitudinal and family problems. We requested research wing of SEWA Bank to conduct interviews with our trainees and their family members to probe the reasons for their discontinuation.

After receiving initial reports, we reached to the conclusion that the knowledge and skills we imparted through our programme helped considerably when the person who received the training had the right attitude and the person's family was supportive. However, where these factors were missing, the participants were totally unsuccessful. Keeping this in mind, we have taken corrective measures in our programme. These measures are

• Introducing a selection procedure that include a written test, a dexterity test and a personal interview to judge the motivation level of the participant
• Meeting the family members of every prospective trainee and counseling them regarding the scope of this training
• Identifying the prospective employers before starting the programme and inviting the heads of the garment manufacturing units to be on the interview panel.
• Introducing an Apprenticeship period of one month after the training so that participants can polish their newly acquired skills
• As far as possible selecting participants from the nearby areas of garment manufacturing units that have agreed to take our trainees.
• To sensitise the trainees to various human relation dimensions during and after the programme.

After carrying out all these steps, the success rate of the progaramme remarkably went up. In the second batch we trained thirty-one participants and twenty-seven completed the programme successfully. Suitable placements were organised for all the successful participants.

Seeing the success of the second programme, the parent company Arvind Mills has requested SHARDA to organise a training programme to train about sixty sewing machine operatives for their Knits Garment Division. SHARDA Trust, with the help of National Institute of Fashion Technology is conducting the programme that would allow sixty successful operatives to get well paying jobs.

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