NCCE recently conducted a training session in order to enable women to grab top post in cooperatives. More than 43 women co-operators from states like Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh participated.
Cooperatives do admit members without any gender-bias. However, when it comes to occupying leadership positions, women members are left far behind their male counterparts, said the course designer V K Dubey who heads NCCE.
To address this gap and prepare women for cooperative leadership roles NCCE conducts special programmes for women co-operators at New Delhi and also all over the country in collaboration with various state/district cooperative unions, he informed.
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. A special session for developing their entrepreneurship skills was conducted in which a subject expert introduced them to bee-keeping and honey-making.
Participants were also taken on a study visit to NCDC to learn about its loan mechanism for women cooperative societies. On the second 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.
All participants were awarded a certificate of participation in the last day of the programme. The participants expressed their satisfaction 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.