SMILE – Comprehensive Rehabilitation For Welfare Of Transgender Persons – Skill Development And Training
Introduction: The SMILE scheme is a skill development and training program for transgender persons, aimed at providing them with employment opportunities by imparting market-oriented skills.
Ministry/Agency: The scheme is initiated by the Ministry of Finance.
Objectives: The primary objective is to provide employment opportunities to transgender persons by imparting them with market-oriented skills through short and long-term training programs.
Benefits:
- The scheme provides free of cost training programs to transgender persons, with a stipend of Rs. 1000 per month for non-residential training.
- Post-placement assistance is also provided to candidates based on their attendance in the training program.
- The training institutions also assist/facilitate wage/self-employment for the trainees.
- The beneficiaries should belong to the transgender community as notified by the Government of India and hold a valid transgender certificate and identity card issued by the National Portal for Transgender Persons.
- Transgender persons between the ages of 18-45 years are eligible to undergo the skill development training programs.
- The scheme has no income criterion for selection, and beneficiaries should not be receiving similar benefits from any other center/state scheme.
- The skill training areas have been selected based on national consultations and careful consideration by the training partners.
- Short-term training programs of 200-600 hours and long-term training programs of 5 months and above (up to 1000 hours) are offered to transgender persons.
- Candidates are eligible to participate in only one skill development training program, and live attendance (80%) is mandatory to receive the stipend and certificate of completion.
