India: Montfort Social Institute empowers transgender women to be entrepreneurs

A group of transgender persons on June 6 graduated from a skill training program organized by Montfort Social Institute (MSI) in Hyderabad, the southern Indian state of Telangana.

The cohort of the 'Hijra and Transwomen Skill Development Centre', initiated by MSI, officially graduated and were awarded their certification in jute bag making by Satyavathi Rathod, Minister of Women and Child Welfare, Government of  Telangana.

A project under Montfort Rainbows, MSI's program for the transgender community in Telangana, the centre has been a collaborative initiative with the Women and Child Welfare Department.

Begun in October 2021, this residential program has provided training in jute bag making and a variety of soft skills to a cohort of transwomen and other LGBTQ+ persons, aiming to transform them into independent entrepreneurs who will be able to begin their enterprises.

Conceived and proposed by MSI with Mukunda Mala of the Trans Equality Society, the joint project with the Government of Telangana has successfully seen the training of the cohort into experts in jute bag making by the Prabhavana Multi-State Cooperative Society.

Aside from their certificates they were also provided with sewing machines for their future endeavours.
This graduation ceremony is a symbol of the incredible progress that the community has made for itself in its journey of self-empowerment.

MSI is a non-governmental organization. The Institute is an affiliate and a resource center of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, a Society engaged in education and community development all over India for well over a century.

The Institute engages in issues of protection of human rights, sustainable development and governance, through grass-root activism, advocacy for policy reform, and education for transformation.