Tailoring

Need

Two dollars a day. That’s the average income in Prashanthagiri, barely enough to live on, much less to pay for school and adequate health care. Community members needed an income generating project that provided a source of income and equipped local women with the skills and tools to be successful.

Action

Profugo hired a local tailor to train women in tailoring skills. We designated field staff to start a training tailoring program that paid the women to learn about business training, spoken English, and empowerment to complement their technical tailoring skills.

Impact

We now have over 11 women in our tailoring training program who are paid an above average fair wage. Women are providing for their families and building the skills to succeed. They are also producing merchandise for Profugo that is sold in the U.S. All revenue goes back into community projects that benefit the women.

Vision

We envision the tailoring training program to transition to a tailoring cooperative fully run by the women. Although we love their merchandise, we hope that this program/cooperative is a stepping stone for the local women to develop the skills and training to start their own income generating projects.

sujaya-tailoringA Word from the Field…

“Before the tailoring school, I was doing day labor work every day in and around Valad. When I heard Profugo was giving training to ladies, at first I doubted if I would join. I thought my work would be affected. But despite my anxieties, I came for training. Mary, the teacher, had informed me that Profugo would be giving me work, in addition to training. That made me very happy. Now I don’t have to travel as far to work and I have a consistent schedule every week. I’ve also started saving. I put a little money away every month.” – Sujaya, Prashanthagiri community member