Course on agri business awaits transgenders
BENGALURU: Transgenders and women will be trained to be entrepreneurs in sustainable agriculture by city-based NGO Samvada.The organisation that works primarily with the youth, is conducting a course on entrepreneurship in the field of sustainable agriculture at their community college, Bakadu.
While this course has already seen six batches of students,this time, they are hoping to get members of the transgender community and women as students, as the previous batches have seen only male students.
“We have three modules, designed. In the ‘self’ part, we focus on personal struggles and how to deal with them, and relationships with society, with the family and the self. In the ‘perspective’ part, we teach them about the political and legal aspects of agriculture, and in the ‘skill’ part, we teach the various techniques involved in organic farming,” says Ramesh C, convenor of the course.
He adds that they went about this by reaching out to NGOs and self help groups that work with women or with the transgender community.He adds that this year, five women have signed up, unlike the two-three in the last batch. While no one from the transgender community has applied for the course, which is free of cost, Ramesh is hoping they do soon. With no prior experience in working with the transgender community, Ramesh says this will be a new experience for them.
“Transgenders are excluded from taking up any mainstream job or course. So we are trying to reach out those interested and get them to speak to us about their passions and concerns,” says Sampath, co-convener at the Centre for Youth and Sustainable Development.