YWCA in Dhaka, Bangladesh is a member of the ECOTA Fair Trade Forum. Women in Bangladesh often have an inferior status in the family, girls do not get the same educational opportunities as boys and live restricted lives mainly for religious reasons. However, since independence, this situation has been changing. After liberation there were many widows and other women who found that their families were dependent on them for economic support, but with little or no education or vocational training employment was hard to find.
It was in response to this need that the Government and many other organizations, including the YWCA, started vocational training and employment programmes for these women. With the financial assistance from " Bread for the World " and other voluntary help with organization and design, the Dhaka YWCA opened a jute craft centre in 1973. The aim was to provide training and job opportunities for women, especially those who are uneducated and destitute.
Goals and Objectives of the Crafts Centre
To provide skill training to women,especially those who are uneducated and destitute
To create job opportunities for them
To develop markets for the products produced by women at the centre
To establish proper business procedures for the centre
To develop the centre as a model for training in management for YWCA leaders
To establish craft centres in other areas of Bangladesh
YWCA Craft Centre also provides some additional services to the destitute women working here. Among these services the following are worth mentioning,such as Compulsory 10% saving scheme, Subsidised daily snacks, Health and nutritional advice and subsidised medicines, Interest free loans, Legal advice, Annual recreational programme, festival Gifts, welfare fund, Literacy training for illiterate women etc.
dywca@bdonline.com
Image and text courtesy of DYWCA
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