Pragati to train 150 women in Assam to manage Areca nut leaf cutlery production
This project in collaboration with Dhritii, a Delhi based NGO, is aimed at improving the employability of women in rural Kamrup Assam. It trains women to manufacture tableware out of areca nut sheaths which are available in abundance in the region and normally go waste. These women entrepreneurs end up creating employment for others as well in the value chain with activities like collecting the sheaths, cleaning them etc. Since the production is home based, it allows women to take up this work along with their other responsibilities. The cutlery produced has a ready market through an intermediary called Tamul Plates Marketing Private Limited.
Following a hub and spoke model, 34 women were trained under the project, out of which 30 women are now successfully running the home-based Arecanut cutlery production units while 4 women are engaged in dryer enterprise. This year, the project saw the completion of the technical and logistic processes at each women entrepreneur’s production unit whereby the machines were installed and production of biodegradable cutlery commenced. On an average, each entrepreneur earns around Rs. 5000-6000 per month with the upper range of Rs. 15,000-18,000 per month. All women entrepreneurs trained under the project have been brought under the fold of entrepreneur’s collective - Self-help groups. Here is a brief video of Alpana Das sharing her achievement on the journey of entrepreneurship.
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