LOCATION: Chandigarh, India
GOAL: Equip women to become self-sustained
BUDGET: $19090.00
STILL NEEDED: $10910.00

Equip women to become self-sustained and empower them to escape poverty and abuse.
Many women in India find that their rights and opportunities are treated as less important than other citizens. 1 out of 4 women suffer from domestic violence and widows are abandoned and left with no means to provide for their children. This bias needs to be changed.

Impact Nations Australia believes that education is one of the keys to transformation. These women can be empowered to provide for their children when they gain the ability to generate their own income.

Impact Nations Australia along with Impact Nations International is working with New Life City Foundation in India to restore hope to women living in poverty. The New Life Empowerment Centre in Chandigarh India has been set up to provide skills training and micro-loans to empower women to move beyond a life of poverty, violence and sexual exploitation.

Upon graduation women will be provided with employment opportunities in the textile industry or offered a micro-loan to assist them to start their own small business as a seamstress. Impact Nations has run similar programs in India with a success rate of over 80% of participants becoming self-sustained.
20 women will be trained as seamstresses in each 6 month semester.
The first funding target of $19,090 covers the first semester of classes where students will learn to produce high-end suits and sarees to be sold in the market. It is expected that the profits generated from these sales will enable some graduates to be hired to continue producing garments and that after three semesters the project with be fully self-sustained.

In my travels to India with Impact Nations I have seen the positive outcomes that this type of project can make on the lives and future of women and their children.
We can all make a difference through giving to projects like these.

Sue Noble