“We have seen in the last two phases that Bahraini women have capabilities to excel in this field, therefore we need to further give them a chance through such programmes to make a mark in the fashion industry too,” said Al Ansari patronising the graduation ceremony of 60 Bahraini women at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
The Supreme Council for Women hosted a ceremony in their honour of those Bahraini women that benefited from the Tailoring and Design Fashion programme in cooperation with Tamkeen and the Royal University for Women. The initiative is part of a national scheme introduced by the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) in collaboration with Tamkeen.
“The six-month programme aims to enable women, through training, to successfully make it as independent entrepreneurs and promote their contribution to the national economic growth,” said Al-Ansari describing the scheme as part to enhance the status of Bahraini women and empower them to integrate the labour market and run small projects – in tandem with key partners, including Tamkeen.
Tamkeen Chief Executive Officer Mahmoud Al-Kooheji stressed the strategic partnership with the SCW to empower women and their enhancing their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The event included a fashion show titled “La Naturelle” in which the graduate’s designs were showcased on the ramp. The project comes as an implementation of the economic empowerment programmes of the National Strategy for the Advancement of Bahraini Women carried out by the Council to guarantee the involvement of women in national economy.
Dr Rachna Mohan, organiser of the programme at RUW said that local women from all walks of life and age groups took part in this programme. They enrolled in the programme through the SCW, as they want to make their way in to the fashion industry. There were three semesters first one bringing the focuses of all these women on one level which is fundamental of clothing and other techniques; second was designing skills and development and lastly, courses in fashion illustration and retail.
“During the training at the Royal University for Women, participants in the programme were able to explore different means of fashion design, electronic design and management of fashion design stores. The main objective of the project is to enhance the economic capabilities of women, hence leading to a raise in their standard of living, while supporting them in establishing small enterprises due to the high demand on such fields in the labour market,” she said.
Dr Rachna added that in cooperation with UNIDO they also held three sessions of entrepreneurship skills for the students.
The first phase of the tailoring and design programme which successfully benefited 28 Bahraini women was implemented by the Supreme Council for Women in cooperation with Tamkeen and the Bahraini Training Institute. The project’s outcomes were monitored by the “Mashael Al Khair” committee. The participants were given tailoring skills trainings and following the programme several workshops were held on financial management, marketing and the establishment of small enterprises. Every benefiter was provided with three sewing machines in addition to a financial grant them to cover their marketing expenses and sewing materials.