Indian Academy for Self Employed Women (IASEW)

We believe that every woman has potential and ability, but due to adverse circumstances, many women in the informal economy cannot reach their goals. 

Our training programmes take a wholistic approach to students’ overall development by

—Increasing their employability

—Preventing their entrance into low-paid, unskilled employment

—Promoting their upward mobility 

—Improving their status as workers

—Building their confidence

—Encouraging a collective approach to organizing through capacity building.

 

 

By learning to identify problems and take action to address them, students develop new skills and see their own capacity to be leaders in their homes, in their communities, and in society. 

 

Students also learn to power of organisation and the importance of acting collectively as workers and as SEWA members to advance the SEWA movement and to achieve their goals. 

 

Students learn technical, managerial, and facilitation skills to lead the discussion on the importance of women workers in society and of the struggle for equality. Our programmes also provide women with opportunities for introspection and sharing, which leads to learning how to improve their own situations. 

 

Given the levels of illiteracy in India and amongst our members, all our training methods are based on interactive approaches. From the very beginning, participants are trained through activities like role-play, discussions, exercises, drawings, songs, and games. We believe in learning by doing, and this philosophy guides classes and field exposure visits.

 

 

Programme Specifics

 

Our capacity-building programmes include leadership, technical, communication, and other training programmes.

 

While the majority of our trainings focus on SEWA members, our Exposure Dialogue Programme focuses on government and bank officials, policy makers, educators, researchers, social workers and other professionals.

We also work with organizations to create tailor-made programmes specific to their needs. Here, the training team exchanges expertise with partner organisations to enrich the programme as much as possible.  

 

To learn how to work with us to design your programme, please contact us. For more information on our existing programmes, please click on the links below. 

 

• Leadership Programmes

  • 1. Member Education
  • 2. SEWA Movement / Basic Leadership Training
  • 3. Kadam (Advanced Leadership) Training
  • 4. Training of Trainers (TOT)
  •  

• Technical / Professional Programmes

  • 1. Rural Association / Cooperative Training
  • 2. Research Training
  • 3. Communication Training
    • i. Writing Training
    • ii. Photography Training
    • iii. Video Replay Training

​​​

• ​​​Exposure and Dialogue Programmes