Embroidered cap making betters their life

Trainees make embroidered caps at a training centre in Gaibandha Sadar upazila. PHOTO: STAR

A good number of women, mostly housewives and students from very poor families, are now earning through making embroidered caps at six centres in Gaibandha Sadar and Sadullapur upazilas.

Local NGO Chinnomul Mohila Samity and Dhaka-based organisation Taslima Bag and Cap Production House jointly arranged training and provided technical support to produce the item at the centres at Muhuripara, Bishnupur, Ballamjhar in Gaibandha Sadar, and Idrakpur, Pachimpara, Seba office in Sadullapur.

"The programme has been undertaken to help the poor women overcome poverty. We give them thread and crochet needles and provide training on handicraft. Each woman gets Tk 20 per cap," said Farhad Hossain, district manager of Taslima Bag and Cap Production House.

Production of cap started in May this year and the caps, each priced at Tk 30, sees increasing demand.

After completion of the three-month training course to around 250 women at six centres, fresh batches comprising the same number of women are now getting the training to gain skill for making embroidered caps, said Dilara Akhter, a trainer.

Sultana Razia of Pachimpara centre in Sadullapur upazila said usually she can make two or three caps daily in the leisure period and earn Tk 1200 to 1500 a month.

 "My poor father finds it difficult to bear the schooling expenses of me and my siblings. So I took the training on handicraft. Now I am earning Tk 140 to 200 a week," said Jannati Suraiya, a student of class IX.

"We have plan to provide members of the training units under the project sewing machines, embroidery machines, IPS and tool boxes free of cost to help them be self reliant," said Morshedur Rahman Khan, executive director of Chinnomul Mohila Samity, Gaibandha.