Women constitute about 48% of the country’s population but in cooperatives women members are only a meagre 7.5%. To address this gap and prepare women for cooperative leadership roles NCCE conducts special programmes for women co-operators.
Though women have been in top political leadership posts like prime minister and President in the country, cooperatives hardly have 2% women at the leadership levels.
One such programme was recently conducted by NCCE at New Delhi from 7-9 May, 2019 in which 39 women co-operators from Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh participated.
Inaugurating the programme Dr. V.K. Dubey, Director NCCE urged the group to convert their inherent skills to an “enterprise” which will also give them a fixed income apart from a sense of identity and security in their families.
Dubey also reasoned that their contribution has the potential to double our country’s economy since women tend to manage finances prudentially. He opined that since cooperative ideology is steeped in Indian culture and hence, they focus primarily on the overall development of a society rather than only on profits.
The participants were introduced to ideology and management of cooperatives in addition to the skills like communication, leadership, and entrepreneurship etc. which are crucial for a leader.
An overview of the use of information technology and social media and schemes of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh was also given to the participants.
On the last day of the programme participants were taken to a few of the tourist spots like Qutub Minar, Lotus Temple, India Gate & Indira Gandhi Memorial etc.
Some of the participants also showcased the products their societies are manufacturing like Assamese gamcha, pickles, papad and spices. They requested NCUI to showcase their products on its website and journals to give them wide publicity.
The participants were satisfied by the training programmes and felt that they are now better equipped for managing and leading their cooperatives. The programme was coordinated by Mrs. Sandhya Kapoor, Dy. Director, NCCE/IT.
