ABOUT UNNATI

Unnati was started in 2003 with the aim of empowering and transforming underprivileged families. At Unnati, unemployed are provided training in vocational and life skills free of cost, enabling them to find a steady job, thus augmenting their family income.

Training is imparted in vocations that can be learnt and applied in a period of about 3 months. These vocations are relevant to and required by society. On completion, the students are assured placement with organisations of repute. Currently, training is offered in three vocations - Retail Sales, Garment Tailoring and Guest Care.

Dropouts from school - boys and girls living below the poverty line and above 18 years of age, are handpicked by experienced professionals to participate in this full-time, 'all expenses paid' programme. Expenses include food, conveyance and materials. Careful screening helps identify the most deserving and assess their aptitude for a particular course. Since inception training has been conducted for almost three to four batches of students per year and they have been succesfully placed. Please refer Past batches for details.

SCOPE & OBJECT OF THE PROJECT

Our country has a large number of unemployed people – educated (including those who drop out of school/college) and illiterate. A number of them are extremely poor. They need help and direction. Significantly, most of them are not in a position to sacrifice the small earning of today and undergo further education so as to plan for a better tomorrow. The experience of the Trust on the educational front revealed that merely educating children upto the high school level was not sufficient to enable them to become financially independent and support their families.

Further, “it is much better to teach a man how to bake a bread rather than gift him, a loaf every day”, was another thought which prompted the Trust to consider setting up ‘UNNATI’ a vocational guidance centre to help the underprivileged and the disadvantaged in the society progress in life. ‘UNNATI’ in hindi connotes ‘PROGRESS’, ‘ADVANCEMENT’ or ‘MOVING FORWARD’. The trust perceived a wider meaning so as to include ‘EMPOWERMENT’.

‘UNNATI’ provides a comprehensive Certificate course to the students in the chosen vocations. The aim of ‘UNNATI’ is that, post training, the market worth of the students must increase significantly and they must be able to eke out an honest living.

After the training, not only would the students be able to earn much more, but also each student would become a role model to the particular section of the society he/she belongs. Ultimately this would not only benefit that section of the society, but the society at large.

English would be a language of focus as it is imperative in the current context. However, considering the class of society catered to, in the initial stages, vernacular languages would become necessary to impart training.

While every student would be put through rigorous training to acquire functional expertise, ‘UNNATI’ gives thrust to the following critical aspects:

1. Orientation at induction
2. Human values
3. Communication, personality development and hygiene
4. Money management through what is termed as the ‘Personality Development Course’.