Success Stories of Skilled Women from Empower Pragati

Urvashi Pal, Community Counselor, Empower Pragati

Urvashi is from Mehrauli and lives in a family of seven members. Her father works at a private company and earns a monthly salary of Rs. 8,000. Her two elder brothers also work at private companies but do not earn very well. Since the financial conditions of her family were deteriorating, Urvashi decided to lend a helping hand to her brothers and father. She was interested in applying for jobs but was hesitant as she did not think she would qualify. She was afraid to face interviews as she did not think she possessed the necessary skills to appear for them.

She joined Empower Pragati’s ‘Saksham’ training centre as she wanted to hone her computer skills and also wished to build upon her communication skills. When she found out that at ‘Saksham’ she would also receive training in the Retail-Trainee Associate course and be provided with placement opportunities, she joined readily. She was a dedicated student and soon after completing the course she managed to join Sbarro as Team Member. She could not believe that she had cracked an interview and was overjoyed with her achievement. She worked with Sbarro for a year and is now working at a Play School as a teacher.

After completing about half a year at the school she decided that she would like to help others like her to get an opportunity to transform their lives too. This was when she approached Empower Pragati and applied for the position of a Community Counselor at the very centre that she had received training in. Ever since she joined, she has been working tirelessly to bring more youth from the community to the training centre. Her experience as a trainee helps her communicate to others how she has experienced change personally. Her presence in the community is especially useful in getting the girls out of their homes. Parents are generally hesitant in sending their girl child to a place which offers ‘free training’. At this point Urvashi’s word helps in convincing them to send their girls to the centre. She hopes to give many more such youth such a chance and is still working dedicatedly with the organization.