The Kamalini Vocational Training Centre, an initiative from Protsahan Charitable Trust, is an institute dedicated to preparing young women to support themselves and better manage their own homes in a secure and well-located area in New Delhi, India.

Home Renaissance Foundation has been working with Protsahan Charitable Trust on this project since 2009 to promote quality-focussed and service orientated vocational training. A recent visit by HRF’s Executive Director, Mercedes Jaureguibeitia and Projects Associate, Charlene Ching saw the progress this initiative has made since the collaboration, including the development of the existing centre as well as the plot where a new training centre will be built. This new training centre will also include a hospitality training centre.

The campus is envisaged to be a model project in human ecology where recycling and harvesting solar energy and saving water will be encouraged to maximise the use of natural light and minimise energy requirements.

The Centre has grown consistently and now runs two vocational training centres in urban villages of Delhi while main compound offers courses with two main objectives:

• To supplement basic education through Open School, Tuitions, English language.
• To impart training in skills to facilitate employment and improve the quality of life at home

Kamalini also provides vocational training courses in cutting and tailoring, basic computers and nutrition, cooking and housekeeping.

While paid staff members provide the core education for the students, Kamalini also accepts volunteers to provide personal encouragement and coaching to the students and teaching short courses. Volunteers are offered periodic leadership workshops, and student volunteers are able to fulfil their National Social Service community service hours at the project.

For further information on the Kamalini Vocational Training Centre or to donate or volunteer, you can visit their website

Wavecrest College of Hospitality is a project of the not-for-profit Women’s Board, Educational Cooperation Society of Nigeria.

This project offers women education and training in the areas of hospitality and tourism and hopes to create an awareness of the impact of hospitality services on the quality of life of the individual, the family and ultimately on the development of society. Home Renaissance Foundation has been involved with Wavecrest since 2007.

Wavecrest offers academic training from Certificate to Higher National Diploma level on Hospitality Operations and Hospitality Management. Shorter training courses are also offered in Hospitality Training, Culinary Training and Professional Home Management.

For further information on Wavecrest College of Hospitality and their courses, please visit their website.  

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Ecuador were the first countries where the HRF and our two main partners presented the first report of the Global Home Index.

Last May, we were launching the results at the United Nations where Professor Patricia Debeljuh discussed the findings which you can find here.

This first report is a comparative study of 20 countries. The main objective was to evaluate how the amount of work required to build and care for healthy, thriving home environments is understood and valued.

If you have not yet completed it, please click here to participate, as your views make a valid contribution to society.

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This blog is Home Renaissance Foundation’s loud-speaker for fostering a renewal of the culture of the home in society, together with the responsibility of families in caring for the young and the elderly.

The BeHome blog maintains that the home is the place where individuals grow and develop, so it is in society’s best interest to look after it. Concerned that sometimes the world outside the home may absorb us completely that the home and the work of the home will become unimportant, the Foundation found that interesting and effective content on the blog was worthwhile channel for catalysing recognition of the home.

All articles, interviews and news on the BeHome blog show the ‘professional’ vision we give to the home and a firm belief that a professional approach to housework can enhance the wellbeing of present and future generations. Therefore we also assert that homemakers, whether stay-at-home or working parents, deserve better as they are crucial in creating a good home environment and thus happy families.

Home Renaissance Foundation’s Media Relations team is increasing the impact of the blog. Joanna Roughton is putting her extensive experience in journalism as Senior Editor at Reuters in Hong Kong and Singapore, and Head of Foreign News at Sky News in London in helping the organization spread its important message. Rosemary Roscoe is putting her experience as journalist and mother in… Angela de Miguel a Spanish radio journalist and digital consultant is updating the current affairs on the blog and on social media.

Read here our posts.

• What is SMART?

SMART Home Management Course fills the vacuum and provides the skills needed to run an enriching home. The migration of women to the work place, the changing priorities in managing a home, and the limited time available have created the need for further knowledge and skills to revitalise the home.

• Why and when was it born?

In 2012 a group of mothers became aware of the need for homemakers to see their role as a profession, and of the urgency for developing the skills necessary to become competent and to avoid being overwhelmed by the work of the home. To this end, SMART Home Management was set up to provide holistic courses that offer training in every aspect of the home, from family relationships to de-cluttering a room.

• Content of the courses

SMART courses provide the life skills needed to run a home successfully. The short courses offered are:

–  Time Management

–   Budgeting

–   Nutrition and Meal Planning.

–   Maintenance and Cleaning

–  Communication, relationships and roles within the home.

–  Creativity in the home.

By the end of the SMART Home Management programme you will:

–  Possess the skills necessary to enrich your home-life.

–  Reduce your weekly outgoings in all areas of running the home.

–  Organise your day to have more time for you and your family.

–  Be able to deal with unexpected situations calmly and efficiently.

– Improve your relationship with all members of the family.

• Since then…

The SMART Project has provided coaching and training to 20 mentors; and a total of 315 women have participated in the SMART workshops, learning new skills as well as how to apply these in their own homes and in the wider community.

Testimonials

SMART Home Management has a great impact on many homes by raising the standards of the home and enhancing the well-being of those who live there.

• “It has saved my marriage, thank you very much. I say this for two reasons: I am meeting the important needs of my family without stress, and this in turn is providing the basis for peaceful relationships at home” . (Croydon)
• “This is an innovative course; nobody has given me this insight before, and I am hoping it will bring a new dimension to my everyday family life”. (Aylesbury)
• “I have learned how to economise and thus to maximise my budget – which is not big. This has been of particular relevance at a time when my husband is out of work.” (London)
• “The course is very good for a number of reasons. It is given by down-to-earth coaches who don’t just read out the slides but instead expand on things, giving examples and handy hints at every step. This also enables further discussion of the topic afterwards in an open and relaxed manner. A social event with fantastic food”. (Manchester)

WEBSITE HERE: www.smarthomemanagement.org 

The recent seminar in the Excellence in the Home series held in Germany had as its double focus family and career. Both Prof. Schlegel-Matthies (University of Paderborn) and Prof. Burkard Piorkowsky (University of Bonn) concurred when referring to the great importance of the home and family for today’s economy and society as a whole.

Before 80 delegates Prof. Schlegel-Matthies clarified why the home is an indispensable factor for the development of a sustainable society. She raised awareness of the fact that where children learn basic manners and the essential skills for life and work is in the home; if parents do not teach this, then who will?

The professor of nutrition and consumer education highlighted the fact that the home is the essential place for enculturation and socialisation and is therefore the cornerstone for the building of a more humane society. Children she said are vital for the continuation of society and so in turn, parents are essential for the handing on of culture and interpersonal behaviour by means of education. She agreed that many families do achieve this successfully, but put forward that perhaps those that do succeed and the positive impact they have, remain unnoticed; hidden in the shadow created by society’s preference to recognise only the problems in society rather than search for what works, for solutions.

Prof. Schlegel-Matthies emphasised that education requires both time and the appropriate means. She pointed out that where education tends to fail is when both parents, who are the first educators, find they need to work outside.

The seminar concluded with questions and answers where delegates also took the opportunity to voice their own experiences in combining family and a career. Many commented on the progress companies have made in supporting family-friendly programmes and the positive effect this has consequently had on family life and local society.the home and therefore have less time for their children. Yet she stated that poverty cannot be an excuse for failure in education but that rather demands need to be made on the government and society to reduce the risk of poverty. If such demands were made then families could repossess their due recognition and appreciation in society.

Prof. Burkard Piorkowsky delved into the significance of the family for the economy. He claimed that the family and the home are frequently reduced to mere consumers. Nothing more than the cost of living and the cost of education are taken into consideration. He stated that an increased awareness of the family’s active contribution to the economy is greatly needed; the true value of services performed in the home, first and foremostly education is difficult to measure. Yet just because such products are not considered in gross national product calculations we cannot fail to reflect, by greater appreciation, their real contribution to human capital.

We have hereby provided an analysis of British families and their demographical changes over recent years. This information should provide a context for the data obtained from the Global Home Index study (GHI) and aid with interpreting the various results of this project, which will be presented in section 3.

The data subsequently presented in this report, gathered between March and December 2016, was part of a global study involving 9000 individuals from 94 countries. The initiative was a collaborative effort, involving the Home Renaissance Foundation (London); the Walmart Centre for Work-Family balance, IAE Business School (Argentina); and the Culture, Work, and Care Centre of INALDE Business School (Colombia).

The preliminary data we introduce here concerns details such as measurements of time dedicated to housework, perceptions of the utility of this housework, and distribution of tasks.

In total, 273 British citizens were involved in the Global Home Index Study. Those involved were distributed over 70 towns and cities within the UK and Ireland, with around half residing within the London. The vast majority of study participants (90%) were female. The age of individuals ranged widely, from 18 to 82 years, with an average age of 45 years. In terms of their employment status, approximately 30% of participants identified as full-time homemakers and 10% were retired or unemployed.

Click here to get the British Report 

How is a homemaker in the 21st century? Is a homemaker from France similar to a homemaker from Argentina?

We wanted to get an answer to these questions and we captured their lives, their values and their attitudes on film.

In featuring people from a number of different countries Homemakers has a distinctive international flavour. This diversity serves to strengthen rather than dilute the message of the vital role that the homemaker plays in shaping the lives and meeting the fundamental needs of individuals, family and society.

To find out more about the project, please visit Homemakers Project website

You can also join the Homemakers Project conversation in our platforms

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomemakersProject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HomemakersProj

Blog: http://www.homemakersproject.com/blog/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/HomemakersProject

If you are interested in ordering a copy of the Homemakers Project DVD, please send us an email info@homerenaissancefoundation.org with your location details and the number of copies required.

1 copy= £10 | For orders in quantities of 30 copies or more, 15% discount applies.