Women empowerment has become one of the most talked-about social issues over the years. Although it’s discussed with great concern, it’s usually addressed with sympathy rather than solutions. Across communities in rural and semi-urban India, women are visible in conversations, campaigns, and policies. Yet, this visibility doesn’t translate into independence.
Sympathy does bring short-term relief to several women, but it rarely changes a woman’s ability to earn, decide, and sustain herself in the long run. At Manav Vikas Sanstha (MVS India), a Jaipur-based NGO for women in India, we believe that true empowerment of women begins not with sympathy alone, but with imparting to them the skills that can help them create livelihoods, build confidence, and exercise financial independence.
Keeping this philosophy in mind, we rolled out Project UDDAAN to help the women and youth aged 18-45 acquire income-generating skills. If you’re curious to know more about this project and how it impacted women at large, read the full blog post below.
Why Sympathy-Based Approaches Always Fail
If you assess women empowerment from a long-term perspective, you’ll realise that most sympathy-led interventions deliver short-term relief. Although such interventions, such as financial aid, free resources, and welfare schemes, are essential in times of crisis, they’re not designed to deliver sustainable benefits. Once support ends, vulnerability returns in the same form.
There’s another deeper issue which isn’t talked about enough – agency. When women don’t have any employable skills, their dependence keeps shifting – from families to institutions and from communities to programs. Their ability to negotiate, decide, or plan remains limited.
In most sympathy-led models, women merely become recipients, and never the participants in economic life. You can notice this in rural and semi-urban settings where access to formal education and vocational training is already constrained. Even motivated women struggle to enter the workforce because intent alone does not create opportunities for them. Without skills that the market recognises, women empowerment efforts remain symbolic.
As an impactful NGO for women in India, we at Manav Vikas Sanstha (MVS India) firmly believe that it is high time we move beyond relief-based models and focus on skill-building interventions that place women at the centre of economic participation.
Skill Development Can Change the Power Equation
Empowerment can only last if it doesn’t rely on ongoing support, but instead, focuses on equipping them with employable skills that help them move forward independently.
When women acquire vocational or technical skills, they don’t just benefit from employability. They gain economic leverage. It entirely changes how women are perceived. Even women may notice a positive change in how they perceive themselves.
Additionally, skills don’t just boost their confidence, but also increase their participation in household decisions.
Project UDDAAN: Empowering Women Through Capability, Not Charity
By now, you would have understood why women empowerment should be approached with the intent of skill development, not through a sympathy lens. This is exactly what we at Manav Vikas Sanstha (MVS India) are driven to do.
We aim to bring real-world improvements in women’s lives that are both tangible and sustainable. Hence, we launched Project UDDAAN, a skill development initiative, designed to enhance employability and promote entrepreneurship among women and youth in rural regions. Through this project, our team has trained approximately 40,786 individuals in rural and semi-urban areas, out of which 23,691 have already been placed at decent salaries.
What Exactly is Project UDDAAN?
It’s a skill development project that offers structured training across different sectors. The skills mostly span across sectors, including apparel and tailoring, handicrafts, beauty and wellness, etc. It prepares participants for healthcare support roles, agriculture-linked skills, green jobs, and more. Training delivered under this project has made thousands of women skilled for practical roles aligned with local demand and with strong employment potential.
What makes this project stand out from all other skill development and empowerment initiatives is its emphasis on outcomes. We begin by counselling young women and men to identify the roles they’re interested in, matching them with relevant skills. It is then followed by meticulous training to ensure every participant learns the skill they chose through counselling. However, we don’t just stop at imparting income-generating skills. Our training is followed by assessment and certification, ensuring that skills are formally recognised.
If women want to choose entrepreneurship over employment, Project UDDAAN guides them in translating their training into viable self-employment. This project does justice to the concept of women empowerment by making women capable of earning, contributing, and sustaining themselves beyond the duration of this program.
Making Skills Usable, Not Just Teachable
When designing Project UDDAAN, we at Manav Vikas Sanstha (MVS India) came across an undeniable truth – training alone doesn’t guarantee empowerment. Even after training, some people may find it too challenging to join a workplace or start their own venture due to additional barriers.
We’re talking about barriers, such as low confidence, limited workplace exposure, and a lack of financial literacy. Hence, with Project UDDAAN, we decided to not just teach the skills related to a particular role but also focus on improving participants’ communication, work readiness, basic business understanding, etc., so they’re fully ready to start earning.
Transitioning From Dependence to Contribution
When women begin earning through skills, their roles start to change. They no longer remain dependents on others but switch into contributors to their households as well as communities. This shift works miraculously to strengthen their self-worth and alters the long-standing power dynamics.
As women enter technical, service, or entrepreneurial roles, they quietly but effectively challenge assumptions. Over time, these changes influence aspirations for younger girls, creating pathways that did not previously exist. Women empowerment, in this sense, becomes practical.
To further our women empowerment efforts, we’ve launched a sewing centre in Nuh, Haryana, under Project UDDAAN. We’ve also launched a computer centre and an embroidery workshop in Moga, Punjab, to equip women with the necessary skills and make them employable.
Conclusion
Sympathy can initiate action, but it cannot sustain change. Only real skills can sustain meaningful transformation. Hence, we at Manav Vikas Sanstha (MVS India), being an approved training partner of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and a purpose-driven NGO for women in India, launched Project UDDAAN to equip rural youth, especially women, with relevant training and certification, paving the way for sustained livelihoods.
The initiative illustrates that real woman empowerment is built through the ability to earn, decide, and grow independently. If you could connect with the intentions and philosophy behind our Project UDDAAN, you can join us by volunteering, donating, or partnering.
For project details, give us a call at +91 8955009377/ +91 9549127666. You can also reach out to us with your queries at hello@mvsindia.org.
