SEDI Chirawa took an innovative route to encourage more women enrollment and job continuity post training - by honouring the female trainees' mothers. For each female trainee who spent more than 6 months at her workplace, her mother was felicitated with a cheque of Rs. 5,000/- at a public function.

This initiative, inspired by Ambuja Foundation's Chariman, Narotam Sekhsaria, has not only helped increase female enrollment but has also ensured that the female trainees persevere in their jobs for a longer period of time.

"Since we began this initiative we have seen that there has been an improvement in retention rates and also an increase in enrollment of female candidates. Today, more mothers are taking charge and encouraging their girls to join SEDI. Some are also convinced to send their girls to SEDI placed outside the district even during COVID-19 times," says Vishnu Prasad, Cluster Coordinator and Principal, SEDI Chirawa.

SEDI Chirawa is empowering female trainees by providing them skill training and making them employable. When women are empowered, the family also gets uplifted and by fostering support from mothers, girls find greater stability in their roles. What better way than to target mothers for this initiative - mothers are, after all, instrumental in ensuring an education for their children and securing livelihood for their families.

Last year, SEDI had also initiated a campaign called 'Maa Tujhe Salaam' felicitating mothers of trainees who have achieved a minimum of 90% attendance during training. These mothers were invited to SEDI and saluted with a certificate, with the trainee reading a letter thanking their mothers and expressing gratitude for their contribution in their SEDI journey. Originally launched in SEDI Jaipur, this initiative scaled to 13 other centres and had a huge impact on the attendance rates of all students - in their regularity and support in placement of candidates, particularly girls.

In the recent past, 88 mothers have been honored under this initiative in SEDI Chirawa. Till date, 2146 girls have been trained and 34 women trainees have enrolled in male dominated course in SEDI Chirawa