NGOs, US Consulate help poor women get job ready

Bahadurpura: In a first step towards securing a bright future, 24 women successfully underwent training at SAFA Hunar Skill Development Centre at Vattepally here. US Counsel General Katherine Hadda visited the centre and distributed certificates to them.

Two NGOs – SAFA and United Way of Hyderabad – are involved in helping women hailing from poor background to complete the first level of training under 'Project Hunar' (skill) that may help them secure jobs at MNCs in future.

The 'Project Hunar' is said to be a brainchild Katherine Hadda who is also a Board Adviser of United Way of Hyderabad. During her speech at the event, Katherine said, "Empowerment of women, especially from underprivileged and backward areas, is most important. American MNCs such as Microsoft, S&P Global, Arcesium and Synchrony have come forward to lend their support for the cause. Support from Telangana government is also steering the cause further."

The project's key objectives are to enable women to acquire industry-related and market-driven skills that help them secure a good employment. "The first batch of young women who received certificates today will now be trained in IT and computer operations," said Board Member, UWH, Dr Kiranmai. The project Hunar, she added, is a result of collaboration between American MNCs, the government of Telangana and local NGOs working at domestic level.

With a slogan 'Educate a girl, empower a family,' the SAFA Hunar Skill Development Centre was established in the middle of a densely populated Muslim area of Vattepally in Bahadurpura constituency. The centre provides training to girl students in courses such as computer knowledge, Spoken English and personality development in collaboration with various MNCs, and even organises various job melas.

In the first leg of training, 24 girl students were registered for different job-oriented courses. "All of them were provided training with adequate infrastructure and sufficient faculty. Some of them are very brilliant and have performed above and beyond," said Mohd. Aboozar Khan, manager at the Centre.

The CEO of UWH, Rekha Srinivasan, Vindhia, Board Member of UWH, Dr Kiranmai also spoke on the occasion. Corporator Motilal, program manager at SAFA Naqi Abedi, HR manager Syed Younus, marketing executive Hameed Baig, IT trainer Mazhar, English trainer MA Basith, and mobilisers Irfana and Arifa were present.