6-8th March 2014, Head office, Andheri – Mumbai Smiles celebrated Women’s day on the 6th and 7th of March with great vigor. On the 6th of March, a meeting was organized with SEED beneficiaries and an awareness program on health, hygiene, nutrition and protection of girls was also conducted at our head office. The highlights of the program were a motivational lecture by Mr. Narendra Kumar Dundu, a song by Mr. Kalidas that surprised the audience and certificate distribution to the SEED beneficiaries. Through the program, we celebrated the spirit of independence of women and enhanced the motivation of members so that they continue to strive for gender equality and empowerment of women.
International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave the following message this year, “This International Women’s Day, we are highlighting the importance of achieving equality for women and girls not simply because it is a matter of fairness and fundamental human rights, but because progress in so many other areas depends on it. Countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Companies with more women leaders perform better. Peace agreements that include women are more durable. Parliaments with more women enact more legislation on key social issues such as health, education, anti-discrimination and child support. The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all.”
We are undertaking various initiatives for underprivileged women. The prominent among them are our SEED Project and Girl Child Education initiative. SEED, a skills development program of Mumbai Smiles aims to equip women from low-income backgrounds with tangible, marketable skills that can help them earn a proper livelihood. Under this program, groups of women receive basic training in a variety of skills such as beautician skills, crafts, retail management marketing, tailoring, and more. The Girl child initiative under Future Smiles project also aims to empower girls through education who will become independent adults.
By imparting skills to the women and linking them to the workforce and by supporting girls in education, the SEED project and the Girl Child Education initiative will contribute to poverty alleviation at the local level and build the social capital at a national and global leve |
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