Kenneth I. Juster, United States of America Ambassador to India, and Katherine B. Hadda, US Consulate General in Hyderabad, paid a visit to Vijayawada city based Vasavya Mahila Mandali, Women-ledGandhianNon-government organisation.
Kenneth who was in Andhra Pradesh visited VMM as it is one of the lead partner in several projects related to women empowerment, youth development and children safety. Kenneth and Hadda were welcomed by Dr.KeerthiBollineni, Technical Project Manager of VMM, along with other VMM management, staff and children. They paid homage to Chennupati Vidya by garlanding to her photo and offered flowers. They expressed their condolences to the family members of Vidya.
Both the officials interacted with Mahila Mitra members, YuvaMitra program staff and beneficiaries. Mahila Mitra members along with Assistant Commissioner of police V.V.Naidu, Mahila Mitra facilitator Head Constable Shivakumari explained how the training on SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) had built women to identify the the unsafe public spots for women and mapped on the police station beat maps. Kenneth appreciated the work of VMM along with the Vijayawada police to address security issues in public places in Vijayawada especially in making Vijayawada as safe city for women and girls. .
The YuvaMitra program coordinator explained how the organisation is involved in providing training to youth in all three states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Orissa. The training program is conducted in collaboration with George Washington University. They interacted with the college youth from Vijayawada.
Then, Kenneth and Katherine took a look at all the products developed and sold by women through Vasavya women producers’ organisation. They said that for women empowerment the economic improvement is an essential with bunch of services like marketing, product design and linkages.
