Skill Sakhis Ignites Local Talent and Opportunity for Women Across Vidarbha

thenewsdirt
22 hours ago
4 min read

The Skill Sakhis programme is a transformative initiative in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, launched by the state’s Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme.

It focuses on improving the livelihoods of rural women through skill training, career guidance, and access to digital resources delivered by community leaders.

The project brings together public and private sector expertise and aims to bridge the gap in employability for women, especially those with limited means and mobility.

Origins and Objectives in Vidarbha

Skill Sakhis was conceived as an answer to persistent economic and social barriers faced by rural women in Vidarbha and elsewhere in Maharashtra.

The programme’s primary goals are to provide marketable skills, build awareness about employment avenues, and facilitate entrepreneurial activity among underprivileged women.

Eligible participants include girls and women in key districts such as Nagpur and Aurangabad, where traditional skill development programmes have not sufficiently benefited female populations.

The initiative breaks new ground by embedding the intervention directly into communities: young women aged 18 to 25, chosen for their strong local networks, are trained as Skill Sakhis. These leaders access and share digital content, covering subjects like employment, life skills, health, and hygiene, using Pratham’s Smart-PC platform. They disseminate this knowledge, motivate participants, and provide ongoing support through local village committees and Mahila Gram Sabhas.

Programme Implementation and Community Engagement

The Skill Sakhis in Vidarbha act as mobilisers, career guides, and counsellors. Their training includes learning how to deliver career-relevant information and conduct psychometric tests so that participants receive tailored guidance based on their aptitudes.

Skill Sakhis also foster local leadership and facilitate higher education and skilling opportunities, encouraging women to leverage government and private sector resources for employment and entrepreneurship.

Technology-enabled methods, including smart TVs and digital devices, extend the programme’s reach to women who would otherwise remain excluded. Popular training sectors within Vidarbha include healthcare, tailoring, beauty treatments, vehicle and mobile phone repair, food processing, and artisan crafts. The digital content is tailored to fit local needs and delivered in formats accessible to varied literacy levels.

The programme benefits from cross-sectoral integration. The involvement of community organisations, partnerships with private industries, and links to financial schemes allow Skill Sakhis to guide participants through both wage-employment and entrepreneurship pathways.

The approach centres on sustained engagement and peer support, with Skill Sakhis remaining as long-term local resources rather than temporary facilitators.

Reach, Impact, and Continuing Development

In Vidarbha, the Skill Sakhis initiative has made marked progress. 1,086 trained Skill Sakhis have mobilised more than 15,000 girls and women in Nagpur and Aurangabad districts for skill training and career guidance.

Vocational opportunities are matched to local market needs through ongoing dialogue with local industries and regular community consultation.

Data-driven approaches underpin programme expansion, with feedback loops in place to adjust curricula, address emerging market trends, and refine intervention strategies. A comprehensive needs assessment, carried out at the outset, ensured that training modules addressed both immediate and long-term community goals.

Reported results include significant increases in both household incomes and local employment rates.

Case studies and research confirm a 60 percent increase in employment among participants and a 35 percent rise in average household income across targeted villages. Outcomes range from reduced migration to urban centres, improved living standards, and enhanced financial decision-making among women; these effects are especially pronounced in sectors where Skill Sakhis maintain ongoing mentorship and financial advisory roles.

Local institutions and industry groups have begun to partner with Skill Sakhis to identify specific workforce requirements, matching trained women to available employment.

Microenterprise support is another important feature, with the state facilitating zero or low-interest loans to help new entrepreneurs start their businesses within their home villages.

The government’s commitment to the programme is strengthened by policy integration across multiple departments, education, skill development, and women’s welfare, to ensure resources and efforts are efficiently pooled.

The Skill Sakhis programme in Vidarbha exemplifies a new direction for rural development and women’s empowerment policy.

It replaces top-down delivery models with embedded community leadership, enabling skill uptake, fostering long-term local engagement, and encouraging creative approaches to economic self-reliance for women.

The programme’s reliance on digital platforms ensures scalability and continual adaptation as both technology and market needs evolve.

This approach also strengthens intergenerational economic mobility, with improved educational attainment among mothers having durable effects on children’s prospects.

The Skill Sakhis initiative continues to expand, guided by robust data monitoring and responsive adaptation, influencing thousands of households in some of Maharashtra’s most underserved regions.