Empowering Women through Skilling, Employment & Enterprise
A flagship initiative by Humara Bachpan Trust that equips women from urban slums and rural communities of Odisha with market-relevant skills, entrepreneurship support, and sustainable livelihood pathways.
Women skilled across urban and rural programmes — 1,500 urban · 1,830 rural
Women placed in industry employment (apparel, healthcare, beauty & wellness)
Urban nano enterprises set up across Bhubaneswar slum communities
Rural nano entrepreneurs created across 4 districts
Women face multiple barriers that limit their participation in the workforce — from restricted mobility and unpaid care responsibilities to limited access to skills, information, and job opportunities. In rural areas, dependence on seasonal livelihoods and poor market access constrain incomes, while in urban slums, skill gaps and lack of formal linkages push women into low-paying, informal work. These challenges continue to hinder their pathway to stable, dignified, and sustainable livelihoods.
The ‘Sambhavi — Empowering Women through Skilling, Employment & Enterprise’ initiative addresses this gap head-on — by combining life skills training, demand-driven vocational skilling, enterprise development, and market linkages to create sustainable livelihoods for women aged 18–35 in Bhubaneswar’s urban slums and across Odisha’s rural districts.
Skill Gap & Market Mismatch
Women lack access to demand-driven training aligned to local job markets and enterprise opportunities
Displacement & Livelihood Loss
Mining-displaced PAP families in Sundergarh lost agricultural and forest income, requiring new enterprise pathways
Social Barriers to Participation
Family restrictions, low confidence, and lack of awareness prevent women from entering the workforce
No Access to Credit & Markets
Budding entrepreneurs lack financial linkages, branding support, and access to commercial markets
8-Step Process of Engagement
Every Skilling intervention follows a structured, human-centred pathway — from community entry to post-placement tracking — ensuring no woman is left behind.
Community Mobilisation & Identification
HBT field teams enter urban slums and rural villages through SHG networks and door-to-door outreach, identifying women aged 18–35 in vulnerable households across 140+ slum communities and rural clusters.
Skill Need Assessment (Mandatory)
Comprehensive SNA maps skills, aspirations, and local economic opportunities. Every programme is demand-driven — not supply-driven.
P.A.C.E. Life Skills Training
The 39-hour Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement programme builds communication, financial management, problem-solving, and entrepreneurship as a foundation for economic participation.
Vocational Skill Training
Context-specific skill training across two tracks: Urban — Sewing Machine Operator, Self-Employed Tailor, Assistant Beauty Therapist, General Duty Assistant (PMKVY); and Rural — Mushroom Cultivation, Food Processing, Phenyl & Handwash Making, Mahua Value Addition, Nursery Management, Vegetable Cultivation, and Tailoring. Trainings range from 2-day enterprise modules to 3-month residential courses.
Assessment & Certification (RPL)
Trained women receive nationally recognised PMKVY certificates. The RPL pathway provides bridge training for women with prior informal skills, opening doors to formal employment.
Placement or Enterprise Development
Women are channelled into industry placement (apparel, healthcare, beauty) or self-employment through nano enterprise support — business planning, costing, branding, and packaging.
Financial Linkages & Market Support
Entrepreneurs linked to credit schemes, government programmes, and markets. CLEANYL brand launched; SHGs connected to seed producers; tailors receive bulk work orders.
Post-Placement Tracking & Handholding
Regular contact with placed workers and new entrepreneurs — monitoring income, troubleshooting, and providing ongoing business management support through Skill Centres.
Urban Track — NSDC Special Project
Delivered under PMKVY in partnership with NSDC, the urban skilling track targets women aged 18–35 across 140+ slum communities of Bhubaneswar. Training covers Apparel, Healthcare, and Beauty & Wellness sectors — with direct industry linkages for placement.
Rural Track — Puri, Bolangir, Sundargarh, Sambalpur
Rural skilling focuses on women in displaced, tribal, and agricultural communities across four districts — leveraging locally available resources (Mahua, paddy straw, organic inputs) and year-round demand products for sustainable enterprise creation.
NSDC Special Project — Urban Skill Development
Delivered in partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation under the PMKVY Special Project, Sambhavi’s urban skilling track targets women aged 18–35 across 140+ slum communities of Bhubaneswar — connecting skills to employment.
Sewing Machine Operator
Industrial apparel manufacturing training aligned to NSQF standards for direct placement in garment factories and export units. Trainees develop speed, accuracy, and production efficiency skills.
Self-Employed Tailor
Three-month tailoring training at Sambhavi Skill Centres equipping women to launch independent tailoring units or work from home. Graduates receive bulk work orders for masks and cotton bags.
Assistant Beauty Therapist
Capitalising on the rapidly growing Beauty & Wellness sector, women receive hands-on training in salon services, skincare, and beauty therapy — one of the highest-growth employment areas for urban women.
General Duty Assistant (Healthcare)
Rising demand for healthcare support staff creates openings for women as GDAs in hospitals and clinics. Training covers patient care, hygiene protocols, basic nursing assistance, and medical safety procedures.
City-Based Employment Linkages
Partnerships with apparel industries and manufacturing companies, hospitals and healthcare institutions, beauty salons and spas, and service provider & manpower supplying agencies — connecting skilled women directly to city-level employment opportunities across Bhubaneswar and beyond.
Home-Based Enterprise Models
For women with mobility constraints, HBT designs home-based livelihood models — food products, stitching, and service delivery — enabling income generation within household premises with minimum capital investment.
Women Skill Conclave — Connecting Women to Employment
A key area of urban intervention under Sambhavi is the Women Skill Conclave — a platform where women, girls, and youth connect with skill training institutes and recruitment agencies under one roof. Organised on International Women’s Day 2022 at NiladriVihar Community Centre, Bhubaneswar, the conclave enables informed career choices and on-the-spot enrolment into employment-driven programmes. Inaugurated by Mrs. Rashmi Sahoo, Director, Ruchi Foodline & Frozit.
Financial & Digital Literacy
Delivered across both urban and rural programmes, financial and digital literacy is a foundational capacity-building intervention — ensuring women can plan, save, borrow wisely, and transact digitally.
Financial Literacy — Reach & Impact
Financial and digital literacy sessions are delivered as a mandatory module across all skilling tracks — both urban and rural — ensuring women transition from informal money habits to informed, empowered financial decision-making. Core topics cover financial planning, smart saving, responsible borrowing, digital and cashless banking, and e-wallet usage.
Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Promotion
All entrepreneurship activities — from nano enterprise creation in urban slums to rural agri-preneurship and the Sambhavi Suruchi social enterprise — are brought together under one thematic umbrella, spanning both urban and rural verticals.
Swakalpa — Entrepreneurship Development Programme
OSDA flagship programme with 104-hour structured training, 24-week mentorship, and bootcamps. Covers ideation, business planning, financial management, digital marketing, and risk assessment. 81% women participation achieved.
Rural Agri-preneurship — Enterprise Creation
Women trained in mushroom cultivation, mahua value addition, phenyl & handwash (CLEANYL brand), food processing, vermicompost, and vegetable cultivation are supported to transition from informal production to structured micro-enterprises with market linkages.
Nano Enterprise — Urban Home-Based Models
For urban women with mobility constraints, HBT designs home-based livelihood models — food products, stitching, and service delivery. FLO Bhubaneswar vending carts distributed; bulk work orders for tailors; credit linkages to PM Mudra, SVANidhi, and PMEGP.
Project Atal — Farmer Entrepreneurship (RPL)
800 women farmers in Puri and Jagatsinghpur trained and certified as farm entrepreneurs under PMKVY RPL. Krishi Udyog Sahayaks (KUSs) created as village-level agri-business mentors. Farmer Producer Groups for collective market linkages.
CLEANYL — Women-Led Sanitation Brand
Born during the pandemic, CLEANYL is a women-made brand of white phenyl, black phenyl, and liquid handwash — created by displaced women in Hemgir, Sundergarh. Launched Republic Day 2021; creating a sustained commercial enterprise from a COVID-era opportunity.
Udyogi Paramarsha Sibira — Bootcamps
4 bootcamps conducted providing business registration support, Aadhaar and PAN linkage, food and trade licensing, and loan facilitation. 56 credit applications, 48 MSME registrations, 18 food licenses facilitated through bootcamps alone.
Sambhavi Suruchi — Swada & Swabalambana
Taste & Self-Reliance · A Social Enterprise for Women Street Food Vendors
Sambhavi Suruchi is HBT’s newest social enterprise — designed to support women small-scale food vendors from the unorganised sector in transitioning towards dignified, sustainable, and organised livelihoods. Launched on 8 April 2026 at Kandha Sahi, Bhubaneswar, it focuses on capacity building, branding, and facilitating market linkages for women street food vendors — transforming informal food vending into a recognised livelihood pathway.
Food Safety & Hygiene
Orientation on food safety standards, hygiene practices, and support kits for day-to-day operations
Branding & Identity
Vendor registration under Suruchi brand — building customer trust and formal market recognition
Market Linkages
Business visibility, customer engagement, and organised market access for food vendors
Rural Skill Development — Puri, Bolangir, Sundargarh, Sambalpur
Rural skilling interventions are built around locally available resources, displaced tribal communities, and agricultural livelihoods across Puri, Bolangir, Sundargarh, and Sambalpur — using a 2-day to 10-day training model with hands-on enterprise support and market linkage from Day 1.
Mushroom Cultivation
Most in-demand rural trade from the SNA. Women trained on Paddy Straw, Oyster, Button and Milk mushroom varieties — covering bed preparation, spawn procurement, hygiene and commercial sales. 45 women in Hemgir prepared 16 mushroom beds during their training itself.
Mahua Value Addition
Transforming a traditionally undervalued forest product into commercial opportunity. Women trained to make Mahua Laddus, Mixed Fruit Jam, and Ready-to-Serve drinks with expert trainers from OUAT Bhubaneswar. 60 women produced 300 laddus, 20 jars of jam, and 20 litres of RTS in their first training.
Phenyl & Handwash Making
Capitalising on year-round demand for disinfectants. Women trained to produce White Phenyl, Black Phenyl, and Liquid Hand Wash. The brand CLEANYL was launched on Republic Day 2021. 50 litres each of white and black phenyl produced per training batch.
Food Processing — Snacks
36 women from Kutabaga village trained in Kathi Nimki, Nimki Chips, Pampad, and Mixture. Training included practical recipes, costing, packaging, and profit calculation — enabling women to sell at local schools and markets.
Nursery Management & Vegetable Cultivation
30 women in Gobindapali, Sambalpur received 10-day RSETI training on organic vegetable cultivation — covering soil testing, water management, vermicomposting, and post-harvest loss reduction. Women now cultivate okra, beans, cucumber, brinjal, and tomato.
Tailoring — Rural Skill Centres
3-month tailoring courses delivered at Sambhavi Skill Centres in Satapada, Puri. Publicly launched on Republic Day 2021. 17 graduates have already started nano tailoring units; 11 tailors receive bulk work orders for masks and bags.