The Dorcas Women's Tailoring Training Centre

In February 2009, the management team (4 Burmese Chin women) opened a training course in a small room with 10 sewing machines (all second hand) without having ever managed a project before.

Two and a half years later the Dorcas Centre is a well respected community project. The women have improved the training through the feedback of the trainees. This training now includes: how to stitch five types of clothing; practice in tailoring their own designs and basic sewing machine maintenance. The trainees face regular evaluation of their skills by the team, their commitment to regular attendance being part of this evaluation.

The women face challenges such as bargaining with local traders in a language not their own, and in a context where they often face discrimination as outsiders.

The women are now training 30 women per year. With this training the women have a livelihood for life and the confidence in themselves to face the future.