Life Skills Training – Building Human Capital

SWAPNO provides Life skills training on seven topics to build human capital for ultra-poor women. The key goals of life skill training are to enable them to make decisions in their families, communities, and workplaces, as well as to actively engage them in securing their rights and entitlements from government and non-government service providers at the Union Parishad and Upazila levels. The training also aims at helping them develop appropriate food habits to overcome nutritional deficiency.

Life Skills Training Topic Duration (Days)

  • Leadership development
  • Gender and development
  • Rights and entitlement
  • Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  • Self-learning- easy accounting
  • Health and nutrition
  • Basic principles of small business

The project has so far delivered this training to 12,492 beneficiaries to raise their awareness of the aforementioned themes. This has given them a set of knowledge and skills that have helped them improve food security and nutrition, prevent early marriages, give women a voice in their homes and communities, and become more climate resilient.

Each topic is taught to groups of 36 women over the course of one to two days by trained union workers. The methods of training are participatory approaches such as visual aids, role play, and demonstrations.

Training Follow-up: SWAPNO has identified several advanced learners from each recipient group and gave facilitation skills training. The 12-member group, led by advanced learners, meets on a regular basis before beginning work on public asset schemes to review the themes learned during SWAPNO’s training. While visiting the group, the Union Workers also followed up on the beneficiaries’ training learnings. The follow-up sessions assisted the women in remembering what they had learned and putting it into practice.

written by- Kashfia Sharmin