Empower and protect Dalit girls during lockdown

We are happy to share some good news with you again. Since the GlobalGiving funds have been disbursed to our Dalit partner mid November 2020 they successfully managed to gain the governmental permission to conduct the activities in the Dalit villages.

Community workers have created awareness and enthusiasm about mask- and sanitary pad-making. Thanks to their efforts in the communities a group of 30 girls of different backgrounds and walks of live (secondary school students, teenage mothers, girls who dropped out from schools) have signed up for the workshop.

After consultations with the interested girls the content and length of the workshop has been adjusted. As the girls were eager to learn more than just plain sawing basic and curriculum of 30 sessions has been drafted making this activity into a fully-fledged basic tailoring course. A professional trainer has been hired to teach the girls. Learning agenda included material knowledge, sewing machine operation, maintenance and basic repairs, measurement taking, making of different types of garments (including sanitary pads and face masks), labour and material cost calculations and marketing skills.

During the 30 days course the Dalit counsellors had ample opportunity to (re)establish strong links with the girls and to talk about their (and their communities’) psychosocial well-being during the pandemic.

The festive graduation ceremony took place on 29 March 2021 at conference venue of Sub-district administration at Keshabpur. Honorable Chief executive officer of Keshabpur Upazila (district) Mr. Arafat Hossain has chaired the ceremony. Upazila chairman Freedom Fighter Mr. Rofikul Islam was among the main guests, along with local media and other social activists.

Each of the 30 graduates of the course received a sewing machine and materials for sanitary pad and face mask making. Each of the girls pledged to produce 200 mask and 200 pads for distribution among other girls and women and other members of their communities.

Accomplishments till this date:

• 30 girls and young women have been trained in tailoring and received equipment and materials that will form the basic of their small clothing making enterprise.
• 3000 sanitary pads and 3000 face masks have been produced by our graduates and are ready for distribution and sell (at minimum cost) within the communities.
• 200 re-usable face masks have already been given away to children, youth and elders of Majidpur community.
• 500 re-usable sanitary pads have been given to the teenage girls in Dalit communities.
• Tailoring course as well as all the ‘give-away’ moments helped the community workers to knock at the door and start conversations about the pandemic, lockdown, mental wellbeing hence (re)establishing the relationship with the communities.

We want to thank you for all your help and support this project because of which we are able to make positive changes in the lives of Dalit girls.