PROJECT WORK ON SOCIOLOGY OF GENDER

COURSE CODE : SOC 12

Topic: Skill Development and Empowerment of Rural Women.

Group 6: Udgam Suphal Sangathan

Submitted to:- Submitted by:-

TOSHIMENLA JAMIR 1. Pangnemchila

Roll No. 34
Associate Professor 2. Tiarenla
Roll No. 44
Head of Department 3. Sungtiben
Roll No. 40
Dept. Of Sociology 4. Hukuyi Venuh
Roll No. 024
5. Watisenla Longkumer
Roll no. 044
 Acknowledgement

Formulating this project had been a daunting task to us because we are charting out
the road map that will determine the course of our women in the next 10 years. The
challenge was enormous, but we were able to overcome the challenges because of the
concerted effort made by each and every member of the group. Cooperation had been
the key factor that led to the successful formulation of the project under the theme
“Skilled Development and Empowerment of Women in Rural Areas”.

We are indeed ever indebted to Dr. Toshimenla Jamir, Associate Professor and Head,
Dept. of Sociology, for providing us with the opportunity to bring out this project
proposal, and also her continuous guidance and support throughout the project. We are
also profoundly grateful to all our peers, classmates and all those who have directly or
indirectly contributed towards the successful completion of this project proposal. The
hard work and acumen for compiling and bringing out this project have been a
priceless contribution and the credit goes to all the members of the USS.

Although the formulation of this project proposal has been a hectic exercise for all the
group members and we have to sit in for series of brainstorming session, it had also
been of great learning experiences. As we commence with this project to transform the
society, the success will greatly depend on the participation of the people and support
we can mustered from the masses. We hope this project would be of great learning for
every reader and listener, and most importantly it would be actualise for the benefit of
our people.

Udgam Suphal Sangathan

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 SUMMARY
The Udgam Suphal Sangathan also known as USS is a Non-Governmental
Organisation which comprises of a group of young dynamic students who had come
together to empower women specially in the rural areas. The nomenclature is derived
from the Sanskrit word which is an amalgamation of three words, Udgam means
„rise‟, Suphal means „Success‟ or „good fruit‟ and Sangathan meaning “an
organisation‟, thus, basically it means an organisation that arouses consciousness in
the society and bring success to the people. USS takes interest in arousing
consciousness of the people through seminar and awareness campaign, training and so
on. Our proposed project is our considered aspirations to achieve our long cherished
vision “self-reliance”. Our nation‟s great - Gandhi and Nehru, stressed so much on the
importance of self-reliance because they have realised that self-reliance is the key to
be truly independent and we can only be self- reliance if we have could exploit the
human resource and natural resources available to us.

We have seen the potentials of the rural women. They have the agility and capability
to emerge as a major player in the economic market. However, the ignorance of
available scope and lack of technology has made them rooted too deeply in one
occupation, i.e., Agriculture. Ironically, many families in the rural areas are still living
in poverty due to lack of income opportunities. Therefore, the idea USS was
conceived to eradicate poverty by spreading awareness about employment
opportunities and convert available resources in to income, in other words to turn
Nagaland into a „skilled state‟ and a hub of local entrepreneurs.

Our state produce variety of fruits, season after season, one superseding the other, it
lasted the whole year. However, we have failed to harness these fruits to its fullest
potentials, very few were consumed and utilised. Ofcourse, some fruits were sold in
the open but so to speak, very few made to the open market, the remaining were either
insects and animal food, or it rote away from the tree itself. We have realised that, if
proper training had been given, and also open the horizon to sold these fruits in larger
quantities, if our women have the knowledge of harnessing and harvesting the fruits,
storage, and able to convert it into marketable products, the income of the families
will increase manifold, and hence the living standard of our people will rose
comparatively. The products and training that we will focus include the process of
making Juice, Jams, Pickles, retailing them in the market, storing fruits and so forth.
The USS will monitor the work throughout the process.

The vision of this project is targeted to contribute 5% to the Gross State Domestic
Product (GSDP), and increased the income of rural women by 50% by completion of
the propose project. We have the target of skilling 10000 women in the spam of 10
years time covering three phases of the project. The USS accept the mammoth
responsibility to spread knowledge and skilled them so as to prepare them to be ready
to enter into world of globalisation confidently. Hence, the idea “Skilled Development
and Empowerment of Rural Women” was formulated in this regard.
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 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION Page 4
2. Problems Page 5
3. Objectives Page 6
4. Procedure: Page 7 - 9
4.1 Finding Partnership and Sponsorship
4.2 Seminar and Awareness Campaign
4.3 Training
4.4 Market
4.5 Middle Management, Loan, Financial Assistance
5. Project Implementation Page 10- 11
5.1 Phase I (4 years)
5.2 Phase II (5th to 7th year)
5.3 Phase II (8th to 10th year)
5.4 Backup Plan
6. Budget Page 12
7. Conclusion Page 13
8. References Page 14

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 1. INTRODUCTION:

S kill development is highly fragmented as far as the state of Nagaland is

concerned. Although Nagaland enjoy a huge demographic advantage of having
49.24% workforce, the prospect of skill is very low even from those who are
already in the labour force, over 60% of the population are still dependent on
agriculture1 and most skill development take place only in the formal sector, thus the
state had failed to reap the demographic advantage, resources and economic scope
available. The challenge is enormous as various studies have indicated that only 25%
of the country‟s graduates are employable in the economic market while 93% of the
workforce has no skilling mechanism2 and the United Nation Development
Programme stated that India will see severe shortage of job in the next 35 years3.
Against these backdrops, the Udgam Suphal Sangathan was formed with the motive to
provide skill training and economic assistance to the women, and create employment
opportunities in the farm entrepreneurship, in order to empower local women as well
as to enhance local economy which in the long run will help to achieve self-reliance.

Today, Skill development command an utmost necessity to solve the unemployment

ridden problem of our state. The USS is a group of young dynamic students who
undertake various awareness campaign, seminar and other activities, impart skill
training, find sponsorship programme and market for the local products. The USS goal
is in line with the Ministry of Skilled Development And Entrepreneurship vision
“Skilled India” and Government of India‟s “Make in India”. We work in collaboration
with the government, NGOs alike, Corporations for sponsorship programme and
training purposes. We also act as a mediator between the government, sponsors and
the people. Our organisation is rooted on the idea of generating self employed women
specially the rural women and specifically the farmers, although literate women are no
less focus, our aim is to empower the rural women who had no knowledge of utilising
the available resources at hand to convert it into income generation. With the idea set
in mind, the organisation commence with the vision of making the state an exporter of
various fruits and organic farming products and make the state a self-reliance by 2030.

1. Nagaland Vision 2030: Employment Scenario in Nagaland. 21st Oct. 2018

2. ICT Academy: Developing Employment Ready Graduates and youth
3. Mishra, Asit Ranjan: India to see severe shortage of jobs in the next 35 years

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2. PROBLEMS:-
The key problems undermining the development of the proposed project were poor
connectivity, low participation, capital and others. Some of the problems include:-
 Not only in some area or part of the district, the state as a whole suffer the same
problem of poor connectivity, which is one the key reason local products failed
to make a major impact in the economic market, and it is also one the many
factor that repels investors across the country from investing in the state.
 Low participation by the people is common in almost all type of activities, be it
in the civil rights movement, political, social, seminars or others, our people are
very holistic at maintaining perfect distance from all insightful and learning
aspects provided to them. Distrust, suspicion and corruption from top to bottom
manifested such instinct among the people which is perpetually proliferating.
 Scarce economic resource continues to be a major hindrance for development
of small enterprises. This problem could be address by providing financial
assistance in the forms of loan, subsidies, scheme, etc.
 Our state suffers a major setback as the state is not well equipped with proper
storing facilities to store fruits to maintain uniform supply of fruits throughout
the year and to provide this facility will incurred huge financial expenses.
The above problem have been the major obstacle in carrying out the propose project.

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3. OBJECTIVES:
The organisation has great zeal to empower the local women economically, socially
and most importantly economic. There is an urgent need to empower rural women in
the field of economy because majority of them were still dependent on agriculture.
Resources are available but we lack technology and knowledge to exploit the available
resources. Following are the objectives of the proposed project
 The proposed project aimed to make the rural women self-reliant from
exploiting the available resources at hand. To achieve this objective, the USS
will create awareness through seminar, impart training and also find market for
the produce.
 To make Nagaland, a skilled state where majority of the women populace will
participate in the market force.
 To make Nagaland an exporter of fruit products and emerge as a major player
in the economic market not only within Indian state but also to the outside
world. This will also increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nagaland.
The present state GDP is trailing far behind other states and if we are
successful in this aspect, it will boost revenue generation.
 To improve the living standard of the rural women who were still living in
extreme poverty, the USS is committed to eradicate the prevailing poverty in
various corners of the state.
 To create employment for women in the market sector, this can be regarded as
self-employment. The USS intends to reach out to every corner of the state
within 10 years and achieved the sustainable goals of self-reliance.
 To make every fruit sprouted from the Fruit tree accountable and bring income.

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4. PROCEDURE:
The procedure to be undertaken by USS to achieve the set goals can be discussed
under the following:-
4.1 Finding Partnership and Sponsors:-
The first step will involve series of engagement and agreement signing with
governmental organisation and various NGOs for partnership and sponsorship
programme, the sponsorship will also cover the aspect of financial aid. The
governmental organisation can be Skill Development Department, Agri and
Sericulture Department, and Rural Development, Human Resource
Development, NABARD will also be engage to provide loan to the farmers.
The USS will explore the availability of scheme, funds and project to the
farmers and entrepreneurs from the government. The organisation will also link
with series of expert and NGOs for training and sponsorship of the USS. The
organisation will also establish link with the village council and town council
of the focus region for smooth transaction of the USS initiatives.

4.2 Seminar and Awareness Campaign:-

The USS will submit letter/petition/application to the government particularly
the Skill Development and Entrepreneurs Department, and Department of
Rural Development, and also approach the linked NGOs and experts to assist
the organisation in the seminar and awareness campaign. This will include
providing expert, financial assistance and required technologies. This phase
will cover wide publicity through social media as well as in print media to
impact maximum attendance to the seminars. This step will also cover the
presentation of USS and highlight the aims and objective of the organisation
and how women will benefit from the proposed project if they take up the work
propagate by USS. In this stage, the name of the interested person will be listed
for training.
4.3 Training:
The USS will again seek assistance from government to provide expert for
training, local assistance from village council to interpret the language, and at
the same time seek financial assistance from various sponsorship partners. This
period will involve rigorous training for three (3) months with diploma course
which include both theory and practical. The best trainees will be selected to
receive financial assistance from the USS to start up their business and
purchase of necessary technologies. Training will be perpetual and it will be on
the rotation basis from one area to the other. The training imparted will cover
the follow the following aspect
4.3 .1 How to collect and store fruit, where to sale and who will be the buyer.
4.3.2 The second step will be theoretical involving rigorous study of what
fruits can be utilised for, what are the things we could do with the fruits.
They will also be taught about the glimpses of management and economic
scope available.
4.3.3 In the stage, the trainees will directly undergo practical training. This
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 phase will involve learning how to make jam, juice, pickles, achar,
medicine, oil, how to pack, how to sale, store and sale, how much
quantity to produce according to the jurisdiction of demography and
consumer consumption, and so on.
4.3.4 Some trainees with exceptional educational qualification will be selected
to act as USS agent in particular area to oversee the product and submit
periodical report to the USS.,
4.4. Market:
The USS will once again approach the government to find market for the local
products and signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with other state to
allow entry of local product into the target state market. The USS will also link
directly with various factories and manufacturing industries such as Juice, Jam,
Cream, Bakeries, shops and market, and so on, within and abroad state and
signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them. This MoU will
consist of the purchase to be made by the agreed companies, they will be asked
to purchase the agreed quantities per year which basically will be cautiously
made, for instance, according to the quantity of fruit and jams, juice, etc. our
local women produce.

4.5 Middle Management, Loan and financial assistance:-

The USS will install various agents at various level of management who will
oversee the quality, quantity of the product, peace and tranquillity between the
local women entrepreneurs and smooth transaction of business at various
levels. Various Self-Help Group (SHG) will be established comprises of
likeminded women who will deliver the products to the manager, who will then
send the products to USS for further processes. At this juncture, the USS will
now invest money on the local entrepreneurs, search loan, scheme and funds on
their behalf from various governmental and Non-Governmental Organisation,
private enterprises, and also link with NABARD to provide loan to the farmers
at the lowest interest rate possible. The women will be encouraged to expand
the fruit farming. The farmers can now sale the fruits to the USS Agents to sale
it to the linked companies, or the local entrepreneurs, or for their own
consumption, or sale it in the open market.
The USS thesis is never based on the basis of compulsion, only those who are
willing to process their product through USS can do so, otherwise the trainees
and local women entrepreneurs are free to determine what to do with their
products and fruits. The USS is only a mediator between governments, various
private companies and only assists in the sale and purchase of the local
products.

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 The work flow chart can be like the following

PRIVATE ENTERPRISES GOVERNMENT MARKET NGOs

UGDAM SUPHAL SANGATHAN

Middle Management/Manager

SHG SHG SHG

Fig.1. Flow Chart of USS work Procedure.

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5. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION:
The proposed project will be implemented phase by phase which will comprise of
three underlying phases. The USS seek to achieve it set target within 10 years, and
make certain the project is successfully implemented from the period set by the
organisation.
5.1. Phase 1 (4 years):-
The first phase of the project implementation will cover a period of four years.
During this period, awareness campaign and training activities will be taken up. The
organisation will work hand in hand with the government as well as the private
sponsors. After the training, there will be trail stage by testing the product in the low
key area at the minimal expenses. This means that product will be sold in the local
market whether in the open or closed market. At this stage, the mechanism of middle
management will be evolved and local industries will be allowed to take shape. The
USS will monitor the work through its agents, assist the local entrepreneurs
financially, and also linked with local media‟s, students union and various civil
societies to publicised the products, social media will also be widely used as a
medium of coverage. The USS will try to cover the areas as far as possible, but its key
focus will be in a specific area the project is targeted in the first phase. The target
population of the first phase are:
 The total number of 50 seminars shall be carried out with 10 Seminars and
Awareness campaign in the first year covering 10 villages, 10 each in the 2nd,
3rd respectively and 20 seminars in the 4th year. Two-three seminars will be
conducted at the same timing with USS volunteers spread across the campaign
areas.
 Training will be conducted throughout the year. To do this, the USS will invite
expert to assist in the training purpose, the USS will also decimate its agents to
impart training which will be imparted at the nearest town of the selected area
and sometimes in the strategic villages which have easy access of neighbouring
villages. Diploma Certificate will be awarded to the trainees which is
sanctioned by the sponsors.
 The USS will also invite its trainees to assist in the later training activities at
the sametime, they will be entrusted with the task to reach out to rural women
and also impart training even informally. This is however, purely voluntary.
 The target is to impart training to 600 rural women in the first phase.
 300 rural women taking up the entrepreneurship, in other words self
employment.
 Government will be pressurised to formulate schemes, funds and loans for the
local entrepreneurs and also assist the USS in the training activities.
 Local entrepreneurs are expected to buy the total of 10 tons fruits from the fruit
vendors per year.
 Few products will be exported to the linked state, market and also the
companies. However, large quantities of fresh fruits will be exported to the
companies so far the enterprise is willing to buy.

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5.2. Phase II (5th to 7th Years):-

The second phase will be the follow up of the first phase such as training, seminar and
other activities. However, during this phase, middle management shall be made fully
functional, USS will expand its activities comparatively. The USS will assist the local
entrepreneurs in the entry of big market. Employment is expected to rise enormously,
income of the rural women increase 5 times the previous earning. The USS will set up
its permanent office in Kohima and atleast 3 training institution in the most strategic
area of the state with main headquarter in Kohima.

During this period, concerted effort will be made to convert local entrepreneurs into a
small scale industrialist. The products will be exported across the state, and USS will
work with the Government to minimise the entry of foreign fruit products such as
juice, jams, pickles, fresh fruit and so on. Storage facilities will be distributed widely.
The blueprint of the USS core objectives, to create a self-reliant state will take shape
in this phase. By the end of this period, the skilled women is expected to increase
twice the previous phase, this may not necessarily be the trainees of the USS, but also
those who obtained the training informally from the USS trainees. The USS funded
entrepreneurs are now expected to become the employer in their small scale
enterprises.

5.3. Phase III (8th to 10th years):-

The project will appear its final test in this phase. In addition to the activities that were
carried out in the previous two phases, the USS will now shift its attention to help the
small scale enterprises turn into a full-fledged manufacturing companies. The project
is expected to reach its zenith form during this period. The USS will now spread its
activities across the state reaching the remotest area of the state. As envisage, the land
is converted into skilled state with large labour force specially the women in the
market force. The state will become the major exporter of fruit products and fresh
fruits. However, during this period, the financial expense is expected to be highest as
the USS will work dawn to dusk to materialise and realise its set target, the self-reliant
state. By the end of 10th year, Nagaland will become the major player in the economic
force of the country and with the highest number of skilled women in the country.

5.4. Back-up plan:-

In case, there arises a situation where the programme of the USS could not be fully
realised, the USS will divert its attention to providing training on Hair Cutting,
tailoring, retail training, etc.

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6. BUDGET

Sl. Works to be Carried Out Phase I Phase II Phase III

(4 years) (3 years) (3 years)
1 Seminars & Awareness Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 2.5 Lakh Rs. 3 lakh
Campaign

2 Training Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 2 Lakh

3. Fainacial Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 6 Lakh Rs. 30 Lakh
Assistance/Loan
4. Salary and Miscelenous Rs 1 Lakh Rs. 2 Lakh Rs. 4 lakh
expenses
Total = Rs. 7 Lakh =Rs.10.5 Lakh = Rs. 39 Lakh

To meet the expenses of the USS, we seek financial assistance from different sponsors
and partners. We also seek investment and funding from big companies and its
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The USS also draw loan from private sector
banks and sponsors to assist the local entrepreneurs financially. We provide loan
indirect or indirectly, indirect loan include loan from the government where the USS
will be the witnessed and monitor the passage of loan, and direct loan include those
loan which are directly provided by the USS. It is to be noted that we provide loan
with 2% rate.

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7. CONCLUSION:-

The project articulated by the USS is if actualise, it would considerably benefit the
rural women. Frame and formulated in such a time where unemployment is rampant,
this could perhaps meet the needs of the hour, it have the potential to serve as an
economic option which the government is vigorously looking. The project is partially
frame for the rural women, but this does not mean that educated women would be
denied the opportunity to be part of the proposed project.

Despite the fact that our people have waited so long for government to save the day,
no remedial measures have been initiated by the government. Rather, the government
is shifting it direction towards the haves while neglecting the haves not to rote under
the scorched of sun. And with the rise of population and increasing graduates, rural
women chance of reckoning in the modern world is diminishing day by day.
Therefore, the task of rehabilitating them lies with each and everyone of us.

Hunger and starvation are rare, we are self-sufficient as far as rice and grain is
concern, thanks to our ancestors for passing valuable knowledge of agriculture to us.
However, the world is changing, we are living in the age of technology and there is
unseen force taking over all our economy while daily needs augment each day, our
women who were mostly illiterate should be taught to desist the unseen force and
defend themselves from the plunder of globalisation. If rural women can be
empowered, their economy and living standard enhances, and they are easy accessible
to nutrition and best healthcare facilities available, only when they are socially skilled,
then only our state can be considered as civil state. The prosperity of the state depends
on the prosperity of the rural women.

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8. REFERENCES:

1. Nagaland Vision 2030: Employment Scenario in Nagaland. 21st

Oct. 2018
Published by The Morung express.
2. ICT Academy: Developing Employment Ready Graduates and
youth
Published by www.ictacademy.in
3. Mishra, Asit Ranjan: India to see severe shortage of jobs in the
next 35 Years
Published by livemint.com
4. MSDE: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurs
Published by www.msde.gov.in

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