What is the difference between the three focus areas, and how do they connect?

Social Change changes how families and communities see girls — the belief that makes everything else possible. Girls Support keeps a girl in school through Support-A-Girl and carries her on to college through our Scholarship. Women's Empowerment turns that education into an income through Skills Development, Support-A-Artisan loans and the Artisans Direct marketplace. Each focus area builds on the last, so one girl can walk the whole path — from a changed mind, to a classroom, to a career.

Who does Sneha Karma Foundation help?

We support underprivileged girls and women, starting in the Garbhanga forest villages of Assam, India. Many are first-generation learners facing poverty and gender inequality; our programs give them education, safe accommodation, healthcare, skills and a path to independence.

Where do the programs operate?

Our programs currently operate in India, including the Northeast, where we run education, skills and artisan-livelihood work with girls and women.

Why does the foundation treat poverty and gender inequality as two separate problems?

Because they are separate forces. Poverty removes opportunity, while gender inequality decides who within a family receives the little opportunity that exists. A girl kept poor because she is female needs both an income and a family and society that values her — so we address each on its own terms.

Why is vocational training important for girls?

Because only about 2% of India’s workforce is formally skilled, and girls face the least access — with only about 3% of rural Indians connected, online and urban training is closed to them.

Is there support to start a business after training?

Yes — training connects to working capital through Support-A-Artisan and to a market through Artisans Direct.

What does the training cost me?

Nothing. Course fees, materials and tools are funded by the program, and a stipend covers travel and food during training.

What happens after the course?

We help with placement or self-employment, cover interview travel, and check in through her first three months of work. See all FAQs → Contact us Have a Question or Feedback ? Contact us

Women's Skills Development | Sneha Karma Foundation

Q: Who can join?

Young women aged 18 and over who have left school without a trade, for whom the cost of training, materials or travel is the barrier to earning. Each applicant is assessed individually.

The Need

Why It Matters

Only about 2% of India's workforce is formally skilled, against more than 40% in countries like China, the USA and Germany. Vocational training is rarely part of mainstream schooling, so a girl leaves school with no trade in her hands.

For the young women we serve, the barriers stack: fees for training, safety traveling to a city center, and families who see a daughter's wages as someone else's to claim. A marketable skill is what turns an education into an income.

Skills Development pays for training in trades that are actually hiring, adds materials and a stipend, and keeps a mentor with her until she is placed and earning on her own terms.

Program Offering

What the Program Provides

Five elements have to work together. Take one away, and the rest stop delivering what they promise.

Practical Training

Training is delivered in short, full-time courses in trades that local employers and markets are actually buying: tailoring, handloom, food production, beauty and retail.

Course fees are paid by the program, so a family never fronts money for a qualification their daughter may not finish.

Materials and Tools

Every trainee receives the materials and equipment her trade needs, from fabric and thread to a sewing machine of her own on completion.

Owning the tools matters: it means she can keep producing, and earning, after the course ends.

A Stipend, Not a Handout

A monthly stipend covers travel, food and the cost of being away from home, so attendance does not depend on what her family can spare.

The stipend is framed as payment for participation, not charity, which protects her standing at home while she studies.

Placement and First Earnings

We work with local employers and our own Artisans Direct marketplace to place graduates, and stay involved through the first months of work.

Placement is measured by whether she is still earning three months later, not by whether a job was offered on paper.

Business and Money Skills

Trainees learn pricing, record-keeping, savings and how to negotiate a rate, whether they take a job or work for themselves.

These sessions exist because a skill alone rarely survives the first unpaid month; knowing what her work is worth is what keeps her in it.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Donate to our Skills Development Program

Program Structure

How the Program Works

The process runs in three stages, and the same coordinator stays with her from the first conversation to the point where she no longer needs us.

Stage 1

Identify and Enroll

Outreach — We work through the schools and villages we already serve, so families hear about training from people they trust rather than a poster.
Eligibility check — We confirm she is 18 or older, out of school, and that family income is the reason she is not already training.
Trade counseling — She reviews the trades on offer, the hours, the stipend and the likely earnings before choosing one.
Family conversation — We explain the schedule, the stipend and the safety arrangements, and agree how she will travel and where she will stay.
enrollment — She is enrolled with a written schedule, a named trainer and a start date, and her attendance is recorded from day one.

Stage 2

Train and Support

Foundation skills — The first weeks cover literacy, numeracy and workplace conduct, so a weak school record does not end the course.
Trade training — Most of the course is hands-on in the workshop, with production targets that mirror what employers expect.
Materials provided — Fabric, tools and consumables are issued as part of the course, and replaced when they wear out.
Stipend paid — The monthly stipend is paid on attendance, on time, so she can plan travel and food without borrowing.
Progress reviews — Trainers review attendance, output and confidence every fortnight and intervene early if she is slipping.

Stage 3

Place and Progress

Assessment — She is assessed on finished work against the standard local employers use, not on attendance alone.
Placement — We introduce her to employers and marketplaces, help with interviews and cover travel to interviews.
Tools to keep — On completion she keeps her tools and receives a starter kit for her trade, so she can begin immediately.
First 90 days — A mentor checks in during her first three months of work, when most new jobs are lost.
Pathway onward — She can join Artisans Direct to sell her own production, or return for an advanced course in her trade.

Our Impact

The Impact So Far

The goal is not a certificate but an income. Skills link to fair capital (Support-A-Artisan) and to a market (Artisans Direct), so that learning becomes independence.

Fund this program

Program Eligibility

Who Can Join the Skills Development Program

This program is for young women aged 18 and over who have left school without a trade, and for whom the cost of training, materials or travel is the reason they are not earning.

Priority goes to women from the villages and settlements we already serve, referred by our field team, partner schools or former trainees. Each applicant is assessed individually and a place is not guaranteed.

Where skills become income

Garbhanga Handloom Center

Skills Development does not stop at the classroom. In Garbhanga, our handloom centre turns training into a working social enterprise — women weave, earn and run the business together, so the skill becomes a steady income rather than a certificate.

Inside the handloom centre →