Kamla Foundation has funded and supported three Training Centres in the remote villages of Maruthangudi, Sirugappatti and Velayuthapattinam, based in the district of Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu. Each centre has been furnished with stitching machines, a cutting table and the necessary furniture. These centres have enabled young women to learn about garment making, embroidery and related skills training.
The Sirugappatti centre started with 5 participants and now some 32 young women are undergoing a variety of training in garment making. In Velayuthapattinam, the newest centre, 35 young women are enrolled. At the Maruthangudi training centre, 37 young women are registered and the demand for places is constantly rising.
Learning Centre
The concept is for a cluster of villages to have a rural community centre which can also act as an information point. Ideally housed within this would be the resources of different agencies engaged in literacy programmes, adult education, public health, local self-government etc.
The main objectives for setting up such a centre are as follows:-
- To act as a meeting place for community groups and to play a major role in local campaigns
- To house resources for education and training.
- To hold and distribute Government directives and information with clarity so that the community fully understand new developments or policies that may affect them.
- To facilitate other community-led activities that may be channelled through the learning centre.
The success of a true democracy depends upon the access to and quality of information; its requirement is essential and universal. Kamla Foundation considers the sharing of knowledge to be fundamental to the well being of society and has undertaken this project to facilitate this.
