Under SCOPE, INCD conducts BSS certified (under National Development Agency established in 1952 by Planning Commission, Govt. Of India) vocational training courses for semi educated youth communities residing in suburban locales. 219 students took admission in the BSS-certified courses in physiotherapy and activity therapy. Out of 219 students, 109 students enrolled in Certificate course in Physiotherapy and Activity Therapy (CPT) and 110 students enrolled in Diploma in Physiotherapy and Activity Therapy (DPT). All the students who appeared for the exam successfully completed their courses and received certificates.

In collaboration with SIRG, INCD conducted skill building and opportunity creation initiatives for Self Help Group women residing in Kandi. The women received designing, blouse making, fabric painting and pouch making trainings from urban professionals in a blended mode. The skill building initiatives were conducted to boost the market performance of these rural women.

INCD conducted capacity building training with rural women residing in Kopai, Birbhum. In Kopai, Birbhum we identified a group of twenty women who had the basic knowledge of ‘Kantha’ stitch. Although these women possessed intricate skills, they had poor market performance. Through capacity building training, INCD attempted in nurturing self-employability among these women to help them improve their economic performance. In an attempt to achieve the same, INCD conducted several community level workshops and motivated the rural women and their husbands regarding nurturing their own skills and start own businesses. Following awareness programmes, team INCD conducted blended learning sessions for these rural women on making marketable home furnishing items; such as kantha stitch on pillow covers, kantha stitch on bedcovers etc.

At Diamond Harbour, INCD identified a group of 30 women who though possessed intricate cutting and stitching skills, they lacked market prospects. As a part of building their capacity, INCD conducted workshops for these women on marketable skills and how to market their products to get profitable returns. INCD also conducted designing trainings for these women from urban based fashion experts in blended mode to improve market prospects of these marginalized women.

Apart from embracing ethical fashion production by providing upskilling training to rural artisans, promoting cyclical fashion where production takes on an eco-friendly angle also falls into the purview of INCD’s action. In order to facilitate ethical and cyclical fashion, INCD has trained Kantha artists from Sriniketan, Bolpur, to reproduce by refashioning and repurposing used garments. Under this initiative, the garments collected in Bastro Bank has served a dual purpose – while some were distributed to the needy, the rest served as raw materials in producing innovative items by the artists of Bolpur. This initiative helped us in enhancing sustainable business opportunities of rural artisans.