Women and skill development opportunities in lifelong learning (A case study of saf entrepreneurship fellowships in conflict-HIT Jammu and Kashmir)

Jammu and Kashmir, the northern most border state of India is faced with a conflict since past 24 years. The conflict has touched almost every single life in the region especially its women and children. Hundreds and thousands of women have been deeply impacted by the conflict in all these years. There are women who have become widows; those women whose husbands have simply gone missing or have disappeared are also significant in number and are known as Half widows; women living on the Line of Control and International Borders of the state have not only faced terrorist violence but they had to face displacement also in the wake of firing from across the border by Pakistan. In such a scenario, women are not only facing economic hardships but their day-today survival is also at stake. The present paper focuses on the SAF Entrepreneurship Development Programme/fellowships for Rural Women in Jammu & Kashmir which equipped the conflict-hit rural women of Jammu region with vocational and skills training for enhancing their economic opportunities through the Department of Lifelong Learning (DLL), University of Jammu. South Asia Foundation (SAF), a secular, non-profit and non-political organization promoting regional cooperation among eight SAARC countries, by providing Entrepreneurship fellowships ot rural women, made them self reliant, financially empowered and contributed significantly to their overall growth and development. The paper would explore how the programme helped the women who were sitting at home idle and has proved useful. The journey of women in moving from villages and urban slums to the University with a hope for better future has shown the directions for women empowerment to many others.