ICECD to introduce e-learning for 2000 villages in Gujarat

Ahmedabad-based International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (ICECD) is all set to empower 2,000 villages of Gujarat through video conferencing.

The e-learning programme will be implemented in the villages through lectures, uses of charts, demonstrations, guest lectures, films, interactions/discussions and question/answer sessions. As part of the interactive programme, the needs and demands of the women and children will be considered for giving continuous inputs of development. ICECD plans to introduce different learning modules on a regular basis for sensitisation and capacity building of the target group.

"This innovative intervention is a step ahead towards achieving my dream of creating a woman entrepreneur in each household of not just Gujarat, but the whole of rural India. Our approach is pro-poor, participatory, gender sensitive and community based. This will not only economically empower the women, but will have a huge impact on their social empowerment and I firmly believe that when a woman gets empowered, the whole family gets empowered for we lead them from dependency on state and government aid, towards sustainable socio-economic independence. Hence, this is just the beginning of a revolution”, said Hina Shah, director of ICECD.

The content of the programme is based on the needs of these women, and further assistance will be given in accordance with live interactions with the masses. To be launched at the end of this month, the project will address the needs of thousands of rural women and children at their doorstep for five days a week.

In 2003, a pilot project for this programme was designed for 18 villages of Gujarat by ICECD. Through this, ICECD experts trained women to start their small and micro enterprises. This training included need based inputs for the potential women to emerge as entrepreneurs. The server at the master centre of the institute in Ahmedabad was set up in such as way that two way communications was established with the systems set up at the villages. Considering the success of this pilot project,

"With the help of video conferencing, these women of 18 villages learnt how to start their small and micro businesses, how to take care and precautions for better health, and how to manage their finances for better economic development. At the same time, children learnt more about importance of education, and got career guidance for better future prospects. This pilot project has proven to be a huge success, and an effective medium for the socio-economic development of women and children, in a cost-effective way. Over 250 women have started micro business in the field of garment manufacturing and food processing," Shah added.

ICECD was established in 1986 with a dream to facilitate socio-economic and political empowerment of the underprivileged through micro/small enterprise development.