AWWA | Army Wives Welfare Association

Women Empowerment

Mrs Ina Joshi
Regional President AWWA
Northern Command

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE

Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) were established in the entire Northern Command purely as a welfare venture to facilitate training and honing the vocational skills of the Veer Naris, widows and wives of Army and retired personnel including their children.

These ventures are being run purely on requirement and no profit and no loss basis. A wide range of activities are carried at various centres thereby producing beautiful handmade products by the various ladies.
VTC Committee Role.
- Coordinate VTC & ASTC Courses
- To generate employment projects to promote financial empowerment of families
- Coordinate preparation of catalogs & presentation
- Promotion of hand made products in NC
- Coordination with other VTCs in NC
- Encourage Veer Naris & FAFA families to pursue ASTC Courses to empower them
- Establish a creche facility for co-curricular activities of children
- Empowering and ensuring financial independence of Veer Naris and dependents of serving soldiers
- Nourish talent of children of serving soldiers
A total of nine VTCs are being run in the Command at the following locations:-
- Udhampur
- Leh
- Srinagar
- Nagrota
- Akhnoor
- Palampur
- Alihal
- Dharamshala
- Dalhousie
Courses/Initiatives. The following courses are steered in VTCs:-
- Nursery Teacher Training
- Computer Course
- Spoken English
- Tailoring
- Bag Making
- Toy Making
- Dance Class
- Driving Course
- Candle Making Course
- Abacus
- Creativity Club
- Book Reading Club
- Card Making
- Pickel Making
- Bag Making
- Satin Flower Bud Making
Project Knitting. An initiative to empower our families and Veer Naris has been taken up wherein Baba Suits made of Baby soft wool are being knitted and made available at VTCs Outlet. This project of VTC is a vision of Mrs Ina Joshi, Regional President AWWA. Herein, we are trying to make our Veer Naris financially independent and bringing sparks to their eyes. Even during lockdown, our brave ladies were busy knitting cardigans and stitching bedsheets with their love and blessing for our newly born babies.
Impact of COVID-19. As the world gets engulfed in the era of COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown lifestyle has resulted in panic and stress in the environment. Women folk in particular have become worrisome and gloomy. To boost the morale of our ladies, VTC, Udhampur has started a number of initiatives:-
- NTT Course Since the movement and group interaction restrictions were imposed, the courses were continued on online platform. It was ensured that the students were not affected with their certification. Hence, the course of NTT (Nursery Teacher’s Training) was continued on whatsapp. The ladies had a sigh of relief as their course was completed on time. Even the examination was conducted online, thereby stamping the fact that they are now qualified as suitable contenders for Nursery/ Primary Teaching. In addition, on demand of our families, a new course of NTT was started. Ladies are now doing certification from the premises of their homes and are reaping the benefits of the knowledge and skill-set of professionals sitting far away.
- Spoken English Course Spoken English course which was interrupted due to the pandemic was also continued online. Our instructor Mrs Geetika Khanna not only gave video sessions to the students but also conducted group discussions, storytelling etc, to ensure that they learn proper pronunciation and diction. A provision was made where in special online classes were facilitated for solving queries and problems related to the subject.
- Stiching and Bag Making When our talented children came forward to make cards for our braveheart soldiers, families of VTC joined hands to prepare gift, toys and bags for each one of them. Design, measurements and other information was explained to them by a video call and they prepared the materials.
- Baby Hampers This project of VTC is a vision of Mrs Ina Joshi, Regional President AWWA. Herein, we are trying to make our Veer Naris financially independent. Even during lockdown, our brave ladies were busy knitting cardigans and stitching bedsheets with their love and blessing for our newly born babies.
- Creative Club Here, we concentrated on developing and enhancing the latent talent of our children. With the lockdown of school there was tremendous amount of energy stored within them. We worked on channelizing this energy into a beautiful form of art which in turn made them financially independent too.
- Book Reading Club With our mobile library in action, we at VTC are making an effort to inculcate the dying habit of reading. Herein, our children upload their weekly review of the books which they have read. We guide them about good books and correct their grammatical mistakes and pronunciation. So it’s an overall personality enhancement initiative.
- Abacus Course Certified Online Abacus Course was started on 17 Aug 20 for Children of Dhurva family. The course will be conducted for the duration of 3 months. Fee per student is Rs 2500/- including study material, abacus kit along with flash cards. Classes are being conducted online for 40 mins per day for four days a week. Total 20 Children were enrolled in the first batch of course.
UPGRADATION OF VTC TO ASTC
- Under the gambit of Women Empowerment, Army Skill Training Centres (ASTCs) have been established at three locations in the command area namely Udhampur, Palampur and Nagrota. The introduction of ASTCs has been dedicated to bring the Army spouses and wards into the folds of skilling landscapes through compassion, encouragement and empowerment culminating into a job. Mrs Daze Kotwal, a Veer Nari, successfully completed Self Employed Tailoring Course at ASTC, Udhampur. The three ASTCs at Northern Command have been setup as best in class skill development centre with various industry driven courses with focus on employment.
- Udhampur.
  - Self Employed Tailoring
  - Domestic Data Entry Operator
  - Advance Beauty Therapist (under process)
- Nagrota.
  - Self Employed Tailoring
  - Advance Beauty Therapist
- Palampur.
  - Self Employed Tailoring
  - Advance Beauty Therapist