Financial dependence on an abusive spouse often forces women in Meghalaya to stay silent about domestic violence. During field work, NEN team members found many instances of rural women trying to gain a livelihood through joining of SHGs but failing to do so due to lack of proper planning and implementation. In Nongshillong Village, West Khasi Hills District, NEN identified a few existing SHGs of women farmers who wanted to start a livelihood initiative using their local produce of fruits, vegetables and spices and to market them. However they did not know how. To fulfil this gap, NEN, Meghalaya, organised Training on Food Processing (pickle making) at Nongshillong Village, on 7th October 2021. The Squash vegetable, which is the current seasonal product, was selected as the prime produce for the training due to its abundant availability. The trainer Miss. Silda Thabah shared that Squash is a product that the government is looking to promote its benefits and value as it can be processed to produce many kinds of by-products. The participants included 44 women from existing SHG groups of the Village. The sessions included both theoretical and practical aspects of pickle making from Squash. They also learned about labelling and certification which is an important aspect of food processing. The participants were also trained on adopting the same process while making pickle with other agricultural produce.
