Sri Vijaya Puram, July 01: The State Hub for Empowerment of Women (SHEW), functioning under the Department of Social Welfare, Andaman & Nicobar Administration, organised a week-long series of awareness and skill development programmes aimed at strengthening women’s entrepreneurship, economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood opportunities across South Andaman.
The programme, conducted from June 15 to June 20, focused on enhancing women’s awareness of health, entrepreneurship, government support schemes, value-added production and sustainable agricultural practices through a series of specialised training sessions.
As part of the initiative, awareness programmes on healthy household practices were organised on June 15 and June 19 at Buniyadabad Community Hall and Bhatubasti Anganwadi-2. The sessions promoted a 10 per cent reduction in household oil consumption, highlighting the importance of healthier dietary habits.
On June 17, SHEW organised a dedicated awareness programme at Bhatubasti on government schemes and subsidies available for women-led businesses. The session aimed to familiarise aspiring women entrepreneurs with various government support mechanisms designed to promote self-employment and enterprise development.
Continuing its efforts to strengthen women’s economic independence, SHEW conducted a two-day hands-on training programme on the preparation of virgin coconut oil for women entrepreneurs on June 18 and June 19 at the ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-CIARI), Sri Vijaya Puram.
During the practical training, participants received technical guidance on the preparation of virgin coconut oil from Dr. Pooja Kapoor, Subject Matter Specialist (Home Science), ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Andaman. The programme provided participants with practical exposure to value-added coconut processing as a potential livelihood opportunity.
Pinkey Kumari, Training and Research Specialist at SHEW, delivered a session on the commercial prospects of virgin coconut oil and encouraged participants to utilise government schemes available to support women entrepreneurs in establishing income-generating ventures.
The week-long programme concluded on June 20 with a workshop on the establishment of organic nutri-gardens based on natural farming concepts at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Andaman.
The workshop focused on promoting nutrition-sensitive farming practices and sustainable cultivation methods suitable for household and community-level implementation. Participants were sensitised to natural farming techniques and the benefits of organic food production.
Technical sessions during the workshop were conducted by Dr. Y. Ramakrishna, Head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Andaman, Dr. Zachariah George, Subject Matter Specialist (Animal Sciences), and Dr. Nitu Sindhu, State Mission Coordinator, SHEW, who guided participants on various aspects of natural farming and sustainable agricultural practices.
The week-long initiative formed part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance women’s economic participation through skill development, entrepreneurship promotion, health awareness and sustainable livelihood interventions across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
