Association for Welfare Activities for Rural Development (AWARD)
Tailoring & Embroidery Skill Training for Sex Workers
Aim: : Training in tailoring, embroidery and associated marketing.
Background:
From previous experience with HIV/AIDS awareness, and health camps at surrounding villages AWARD found 486 sex workers, 162 of them live at Sattenapalli town itself. This number is increasing yearly.
After working with this women for some time and running 6 education centres for their children, AWARD has got to know each of the women personally and. decided to start working with them to provide some livelihood opportunities.
The programme: The programme is providing training in tailoring, embroidery and associated marketing. The women are being organised into self help groups and each group will obtain cheap bank loans which will need to be repaid by the group as a whole.
In this way, the project is helping sex workers to leave prostitution and move into tailoring and embroidery work. This will have a positive effect on their children and families and will improve the women’s esteem and quality of life, also reducing their risk of disease and abuse. By spending more time at home and at ‘normal’ hours the mothers will be better equipped to look after their children. The project will therefore help the second generation to escape sex work and they can perhaps gain livelihood through embroidery or another skill area when they grow up.
Outcome: The project is targetting 80 women in its first year and AWARD aims to continue for a period of 10 years thereby reaching 800 women.
Partners: Association for Welfare Activities for Rural Development (AWARD) is a non-profit, voluntary service organisation established mainly to bring about social and qualitative changes in the lives of the under-privileged and desperately poor people of Andhra Pradesh.
They have previous experience in activities, such as, child education and getting children into schools, women’s self-help groups, health support (pregnant women), yoga and karate classes, women’s life skill training and income generation projects, education, support and awareness of HIV patients.
Evaluation: A six month evaluation report has been submitted to Tzedek showing the main advances of the project until now. The project was visited in 2010 by a volunteer and a local consultant.
Progress: After 6 months, 40 women have completed the training in tailoring and embroidering and in marketing. 6 of these women are now working in shops and 10 have received finance for their own machines. Access to alternative income has allowed the 28 women in the program to abandon sex work. The remaining 12 women are also now unlikely to fall into sex work.
Required Funding: £3,000 granted over one year.
If you would like more information about AWARD or make a donation towards this project or another similar project please click here or call 020 7443 5121.
