Programs
Our programs empower women, children and communities through a focus on education and vocational training.
Our 2021 Programs
Uplifting Communities Holistically, Khamargarchi, West Bengal
Uplifting Communities Holistically is the first of its kind of project of WRG in 2018 in a rural tribal community in Khamargachi village in collaboration with Empower the Children Foundation. The village is located north of Kolkata, about a two-hour drive. Most of the residents are non-Bengali speaking, illiterate and poor who live in mud huts, without running water and electricity. Men mostly work in menial jobs as either day laborers, or pull rickshaws.
Rosalie Giffonello, a retired teacher from Jackson, New Jersey observed that village children were either not going to school or dropping out, even though there was government school in the village. In addition to poverty and ignorance, the main reason for the high drop-out rate was parents’ inability to help children with school work as the instruction in the school was in Bengali and not in their native language of Santali.
Rosalie founded “Empower the Children Foundation” with a mission to bridge this gap in poverty stricken communities. She started a non-formal school in 2009 with 45 children and two teachers in Khamagarchi. The school started with teaching Santali culture, dances and music on weekends and after earning their trust, classes in Bengali, English and mathematics with instruction in Santali were introduced to help mainstream children. Children attend regular school and then come to non-formal school.
In addition to free academic and cultural education, remedial classes in science, mathematics, history, and social sciences are offered. Students also receive school supplies and nutritious lunch at no cost to parents. One of the positive outcomes has been that students are staying longer in school, some completing high school and a few of them including girls enrolling in colleges.
To help families supplement their income, vocational center teaches tailoring and sewing to women in a structured way over a period of one year. Upon successful completion, trainees receive certificates. Teenage students with potential for vocational training are encouraged to participate in a pre-vocational training program for a year.
In 2019, 40 girls were enrolled in pre-vocational and 26 women in vocational training programs.
Sannidhi Primary School, Jaipur, Rajasthan
WRG-funded second primary school opened its doors in Jagatpura slum in Jaipur in July 2018 after a successful take-off of its first venture in Najafgarh, Delhi in 2016. The children at these schools come from poverty stricken, illiterate families who earn their living by working as rag pickers, construction workers and housemaids.
The goal is to provide low cost, cost-effective, quality, secular, value-based holistic education. Families are incentivized to keep their children in school because students receive books, stationary, uniforms, light breakfast and hot lunch at no cost to them.
Jaipur school started with 44 children - 26 boys and 18 girls- ranging in ages from three to six for pre-K and kindergarten classes. Two teachers, two aides and a coordinator were hired to run the school in a modest rented building. First grade was added In 2019, and enrollment rose to 77, with 16 children enrolled in the first grade. During the year, an activity room was added with a TV and a projector. The activity room was used for audio-visual and digital learning in language, mathematics, music, and dance. Since parental involvement is considered important for learning, one on one parent teacher meetings are held monthly.
An additional grade is to be added each year until the 5th grade. One immediate visible outcome has been that children come to school neatly dressed, and stay attentive during lessons. They are also well disciplined and courteous in general.
Local donations in kind and cash supplement the WRG grants for school expenses.
Skill Development Center, Rangpuri Pahari, Vasant Kunj, Delhi
WRG funded a new Skill Development Training Center in Rangpuri Pahari, a slum of south Delhi, west of the affluent community of Vasant Kunj in early 2018 in partnership with PHD Family Welfare Foundation. Rangpuri Pahari and surrounding slums are inhabited by diverse poor, underprivileged, uneducated, and poor working families. The center aims to improve skills & build capacities of women and youth irrespective of caste and creed, to enhance their employment opportunities & promote their socio-economic empowerment and self-reliance.
Initially, six-month long training courses were offered in Computer Education, Tailoring and Embroidery. New courses in beauty culture, nursing assistant and coaching in English were added in 2019,. At the end of each course, trainees are tested and successful trainees are awarded certificates. Enrollment almost doubled from 65 to 120 trainees by early 2020. The center helps graduates to find jobs, start their small businesses and market their products.
Scholarship: 2019-2021
Sponsored by
Women’s Rehabilitation Group, USA
Sister Nivedita SCHOOL ON WHEELS – Rajkot
WRG partnered with this Foundation as their mission encompasses our mission and goals of educating and empowering the female child /student
WRG has adopted 20 girls from std 9 to 12 to support them in their school expenses.
Sister Nivedita School on Wheels ensures that each student of the adopted rural area acquires the knowledge, skill and strategies necessary to reach his/her full potential and become a productive, responsible citizen
Helps girls of the villages to enroll in the schools. More girls are attending schools now and dropout ratio has decreased considerably.
The Foundation caters to about 20,000 students and 660 teachers training and education needs in 91 Govt. Schools and Ashram Shalas across 5 districts of rural Gujarat. It has exposed children to new learning techniques & innovations.
Skill Development Center for Migrants
Jodhpur, Rajasthan
This is yet another project WRG felt was worthwhile collaborating with, as It focused on Vocational Training of these migrant women.
The families are located at one of the resettlement colonies on the outskirts of Jodhpur. There are roughly 160 migrant families here. These migrants are mostly illiterate, unskilled and poverty stricken.
We found that most of the women are skilled at applique and traditional embroidery crafts. They had been embroidering mostly for their domestic uses as they have no market outreach. Helping them through a focused skill development program to relook at their own skills and uplift it in a manner can completely transform their lives.
Trained women are empowered by learning how to create & design demand-driven products to be sold collectively in local and international markets.
An environment is created for lasting, sustainable change that would enable vulnerable women, as a means to generate income for themselves and their family, alongside learning other valuable life skills.
Trainee women’s strengths and potential are built enabling them to take greater control over their lives and build a better future for their children thus empowering them to take charge of their and their family’s future.
Organic Farming for Suicide Farmers Wives, Yavatmal, Maharashtra
WRG collaborated with the above organization to empower women in the Farming profession in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
Most of the population is engaged in small and marginal farming that is entirely dependent on rainfall. When the region is plagued by droughts year after year, farmers take out loans just to get by and are trapped in a cycle of debt. But what happens to women when their partners commit suicide?
Women are trained in organic farming and once trained are able to earn their livelihoods and support their families, educate their kids and enjoy the benefits of self dependency and Pride.
Organic farming increases crop output, which increases income. Women use all local materials instead of harmful chemical products, which deplete the soil and destroy the ecosystem.
Additional ongoing programs being supported:
Sannidhi Primary School, Najafgarh, Delhi
Pratham Shiksha School, Devi Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Swapna Sarthak School, Gurgaon, Haryana
Sandnya Sanwardhan Sanstha, Nagpur, Maharashtra
Lighting to Digital in Tribal Schools, Mala Mahadeshwara Hills, Karnataka
Sannidhi Vocational Training Institute, Vrindavan, UP
Sannidhi Vocational Training Institute, Najafgarh, Delhi
Dayanand Sewing Center, Noida, UP