A sizeable section of youth in our country remains jobless, with a majority of them being from poor and socially underprivileged households. This can be attributed to a lack of concrete skill building in basic education. The problem is manifold when it comes to women, who do not have equal opportunities to begin with, and which in turn makes them economically dependent on their partners.

Strong Women is an initiative to correct this bias, focussing on providing useful skills to youth and women from disadvantaged backgrounds so we can come together to build a more economically prosperous nation. These skills will help the trainees secure better employment and build a more secure future for themselves.

A vocational training centre run by the Karna’s Foundation in Muzaffarpur, Bihar houses around 25 women at a time. They are taught skills such as tailoring, dress design as well as embroidery. This kind of training will better prepare them to land real jobs that would help build their self esteem and make them self-reliant.

We firmly believe that both genders, across social groups and classes, have to participate equally in economy building in order to have a prosperous country. There are specific plans in place to expand the role of the training centre, including training for job interviews, initial entry procedures and so on. New courses such as ITES, Retail and Hospitality have been added keeping the youth in mind, with the hope that this can prepare them for the dynamic market and help them land good jobs.

The initiative “I Will” is another new plan by the Karna's Foundation, geared towards spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene amongst girls coming from disadvantaged sections and lifting some of the stigma that is associated with it.

Vision

We want to explain menstruation and fight the stigma around it. We also wish to work towards providing menstrual hygiene products to girls and women from poor background for happy and safe periods.

Mission

• Identifying target areas where unhygienic practices such as using unsanitized cloth, rags or even ashes is common, and to organize awareness sessions so as to stop these dangerous practices.

• Provide free sanitary pads to women in these areas every month to combat risks to women’s health.