Labour Fund partners Supreme Council for Women to stitch up empowering career for women

In partnership with the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), the LF is introducing a Tailoring and Dress Designing course that will help a segment of the unemployed women who face far greater challenges than most in getting jobs.

"Our target group for this pioneering course will be women in the 19-45 age group who have basic education and would like to work from their home environment for cultural and social reasons," said Secretary General for the Supreme Council for Women Ms. Lulwa Al Awadhi.

"We wanted to equip them with career skill-sets that would tap into their particular environment ¡V something that could flourish in a home-based workplace and to which customers from outside will have ready access.

Along with the Labour Fund, we are introducing this project that will train 30 ladies at the Bahrain Training Institute in modern dress-making, fashion designing and tailoring skills."

As part of its recognition of the needs of this group, not only will the LF scheme support the participants with a stipend of BD60 throughout the 6-month training period, but the BTI workshop has also been fitted with exactly the same machines that the ladies shall later be using in their business.

"Furthermore, since we want to take this project to its logical conclusion we are augmenting the training with a BD500 start-up loan and three machines to handle the high-quality tailoring work for those ladies who complete the course"

Al Qassimi said, "What's more, we shall also give them training in basic business management ¡V book-keeping, customer service and the legalities involved in setting up and running their own business."

The BTI course is a 6-module schedule that runs for 24 weeks. It combines lab work and workshop experience in all aspects of tailoring and fashion design such as pattern drafting and fabric cutting, production techniques hand embroidery and also training in actual fashion design.

In keeping with the entrepreneurial nature of the participants¡¦ future work schedule, there will also be lectures in small business start-up skills, essential communication skills to handle customers and book-keeping advice.

Mr. Al Qassimi added, "The project is a challenge for all those involved. The participants are women who are in real need of extra income but who have few resources and formal skills to find work in the regular offices. By doing this, we are creating a template that will probably serve well in reaching other such groups. But most importantly, we are creating an entrepreneurial wellspring that the community can tap into."

Participants are expected to be in the 19-45 age group and have at least high-school education. A number of them will be ex-employees of the garment industry and can put skills attained then to good use with this re-training.

"While we have certain criteria and shall personally assess all the applicants, the Supreme Council for Women, the Labour Fund and the Bahrain Training Institute have agreed to be very flexible since the idea is to give these women a new lease of life and create economic stability for women," Mr. Hameed Saleh, the Director General of BTI pointed out, "Perhaps the only strict rules will be that the applicants should be unemployed women in order to participate in the course and also that they should have basic sewing skills."

Applications are currently being accepted at the BTI for the course which is expected to begin on July 01.

"This project will hopefully herald the start of several innovative projects that the SCfW and the LF will work on jointly to empower women with training, business skills and employability. We are looking at several other projects which shall soon be announced," said Ms. Lulwa Al Awadhi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Women.