Image Academy of Hair & Beauty guides women of Mullaitivu to be employable
Saturday, 20 July 2013 00:17
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Nayana Karunaratne, a member of the Board of Governors and a Trustee of the NGO ‘Sri Lanka Unites’, recently conducted a day’s training program for fifty young unemployed women and students living in the Mullaitivu district. Being a region where unemployment is high, IHB targeted these women to introduce the beauty and hairdressing skills to check the interest and the talent available to further train them in these specialised skills.
Subsequent to the day’s program, ten selected candidates were voluntarily sponsored by Nayana at her Image Academy of Hair & Beauty in Colombo, for a special certificate course in hair and beauty for the purpose of making them employable. While teaching them the basic process involved and blending their talents and skills to cater to the needs of their relevant environments, encouragement was given to setting up their own salons. They just couldn’t believe that people that lived so far away would care enough to make this happen.
For this purpose, the program dealt with empowerment of women in the North East, preparing them for self-income generating activities in the areas of hair care and beauty. Without the participation of women in the development process, society as a whole cannot be said to develop sufficiently.
“We believe in a ‘pass it on’ philosophy where skills’ training is free and available for all who seek it. Many areas where we are working have acute poverty, lack of basic facilities, rampant unemployment where probably the only silver lining is natural beauty of the land they live in. The training underlines the issue of rural women’s empowerment in Sri Lanka, especially for economic development,” stated Nayana Karunaratne. She added, “With activities and demonstrations geared towards equipping these women who are eager to learn and further develop themselves with tools to develop employability skills, our hair & beauty training program will help them help themselves, give them resources for helping others, and subsequently even to start their own businesses.”
When interviewed, one of the participants said, “We believe that this project eliminates the cost and access barriers to entry for women receiving educational content through a sponsor-type program. Women supporting women through the medium of beauty & hair-care education is innovative and game changing. It has brought joy and a sense of hope to all of us intending to pursue this trade or opening our own salons.”
