In our journey of questioning the status quo, and breaking the patterns of disparity created by that status quo, we joined hands with Nayara Energy and BAIF.
MasterG, the first all-women design and skill development ecosystem for the global apparel industry works towards rights and rightful place for women’s workforce participation in India. It trains women in the skills of pattern making which till now was reserved for men alone under the Khaandani Darzi system. It teaches women to break patterns of a garment and in their lives to create one for their own. To achieve this, we have built a resilient ecosystem and innovative training modules. When women learn pattern making with us, they break patterns of exclusion to claim independence and dignity as community leaders.
One of MasterG’s centres lies in the colourful state of Gujarat. Our centre in Vadinar runs in partnership with NGO partner, BAIF Institute for Sustainable Livelihoods and Development and CSR partner Nayara Energy. MasterG training program at Nayara Mahila Sashaktikaran Kendra is in the first year, training 85 students at the centre who hail from Vadinar, Bharana, Timbdi and Singach villages.
Nayara Energy, BAIF and MasterG has been strengthening ties since the year 2020, to provide advanced training in pattern making to over 100 women to attain emotional and financial independence, and to attain dignified livelihood opportunities.
Nayara Energy Limited, situated in Mumbai, India, is a privately held downstream oil firm with operations in refining, marketing, production, and a network of over 6,000 retail fuel stores across the country. In Vadinar, Gujarat, it runs India’s second largest oil refinery.
Recently we received an honour of being in the presence of Dr. Alois Virag, the CEO of Nayara Energy while he visited the MasterG Breaking Patterns Training Program at Nayara Mahila Sashaktikaran Kendra, Vadinar. The day he began his journey as chief executive officer of Nayara his aim was to accelerate sustainability initiatives leading to social and ecological sustenance, of which MasterG is a part of. His motto has also been to strengthen engagement with stakeholders, including the government and policymakers, in the Indian energy industry to build strategic alliances.
Being a centre that began in the times of pandemic, it experienced several pilots myriad modes of training. Beginning from the in-class training, the batch also receives learning in MasterG’s Hybrid Model of Learning. This model entails a combination of training where in-person and physical in-class training provides a practical hands-on experience, and online training through a Master Trainor, Rizwana Ben teaching them online from MasterG Headquarters transgresses the spatial boundaries and helps create a safe, well-informed virtual community for our stakeholders.
When the nation was hit by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, our education did not take a day off. The offline training was soon converted into an online mode of training where the girls attended classes online from the safety of their homes.
The assessment was done through students sending pictures of their excellent work on the WhatsApp groups where trainers and coordinators marked them upon their performance in terms of GScore (MasterG’s proprietary scoring mechanism.)
Being one of the most successful centres MasterG has ever seen, we saw the training flourishing even in dire times and women acing in their courses. There have been several ups and downs in this journey uptill now and has made us proud with a distinguished resilience to overcome all obstacles.
There have been several success stories arriving from the centre at Vadinar of students like Sheetalben Mansukh bhai Rathore, Muskan Amad Fakir, Ruksanaben Talabbhai Bhagad, Afsanaben Osmanbhai Sota etc. It has been the stories of ultimate dedication towards their training, of managing a life at home working in the farms and burning the night oil to complete their assignments. These have been the stories of aspiration, of ambition and building hope and community.
Initiating our project under guidance of Mr. B. Anand, former CEO and continuing forward in the light shown by the present CEO Alois Virag, we feel fortunate to have been in partnership with Nayara Energy and BAIF, skilling women in the art of pattern making.
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