RGMVP runs five permanent training centres located at Jais, Jagatpur, Lalganj, Deeh- Raebareli and Munshiganj-Sultanpur. These centres impart skill-based training to poor women at nominal or no cost, so that they can find new livelihoods or enhance existing ones through these income-generation activities. Workshops and skill upgradation programmes are also held to update skills and knowledge. Training is demand-based and RGMVP collaborates with other organisations such as NABARD, the Handicrafts Department of the Government of UP, Barod Swarojgar Vikas Sansthan to ensure that all skills requested by the women are covered in its training schedule.

Girls learning machine knitting at the Jais training centre    Training in making cane furniture   Candle making, another income generation skill   Food processing and preservation   Clay work and pottery   A Myra Mart outlet which sells products made at the Jais training centre     Training Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Dairy

RGMVP provides training in candle and incense stick making, shampoo and detergent powder making, leather work, garment manufacture, pottery, knitting and food processing to make women self reliant. Some training sessions such as embroidery (including the famous Lucknavi chikan-kari) and cane furniture-making are six-month courses while others are shorter term courses.

Through these training sessions, the women can either become trainers with RGMVP, who will go out to the SHGs to train other women, or be absorbed into the training centres in production of goods for the market, or set up their own independent units. The produce from the centres – made on order from the markets in Lucknow and Delhi – are sold through RGMVP’s marketing network called Myra Mart. Currently, there are five Myra Marts running in Raebareli and Sultanpur districts, some of which are run by RGMVP and others by SHG members. NABARD too assists the Mission in running these shops.

To ensure that the poor earn a livelihood rather than eke out an existence from their primary occupation – agriculture and allied activities – RGMVP provides training in sustainable agricultural practices such as vermi and organic compost making, the Dabholkar method of green manuring, SRI method of crop intensification for rice and in making organic pesticides such as Panchagavya and Amritjalam. These training programmes are aimed at helping the poor to maximise productivity of their land’s soil and crops, and are targeted at agriculture best practitioners or agriculture activists, who further pass on this knowledge and expertise to SHGs and their federations.