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Kalimpong, Aug. 18: Self-help groups in and around the Hill town will now be able to build their own support systems that will make them financially independent and help them market their goods.

World Vision, a non-governmental organisation, is holding a three-day residential training programme on capacity building for self-help groups from Sikkim and Kalimpong at Disha Hall here. Through the programme, the NGO hopes to make the groups capable of producing goods on a larger scale. A total of 108 women from 35 self-help groups are taking part in the training programme that started yesterday.

Speaking about the training programme, the project manager of the Kalimpong branch of the NGO, Jyoti Mukhia, said: “We have formed a total of 96 self-help groups in different parts of Kalimpong and Sikkim till now. The groups have already been provided with basic training and told about the role and importance of a self-help group. The present programme is aimed at capacity building.”

“Already, the groups are performing well and we are having to give them less funds than earlier. Two years ago we had to provide Rs 90,000 for the education of children, but right now we are paying them Rs 10,000,” Mukhia added. “Our prime objective now is to make the members stronger and more independent. Right now they are engaged in production that is limited to the village they are in. We want them to expand their trade beyond the local markets,” said Mukhia.

To achieve this end, Mukhia feels there is a need to learn new things like how to increase production, formulating a business plan and networking and concepts of marketing. The training programme, he claimed, will cover all this and inform the members about facilities that the government is providing for people like them.

“We will tell them how to get in touch with banks and offices, which provide these facilities,” said Mukhia. The training programme will also deal with topics like how to multiply funds and tap facilities provided by the government and balance these with the overall development of the family. “In the training programme we are also focusing on the need for educating children,” said Mukhia.

Thirty-seven-year-old Pushpa Adhikari, from a self-help group at Sangse, said: “The training programme has helped us learn things that we did not know earlier. Now we will be able to make our group stronger.”