Rai Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit organization, and Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a trade union working for the full employment and self reliance of the poor self-employed women workers from the informal sector, have come up together to form the Rai SEWA Education Foundation (RSEF) with an objective to work collectively for the betterment and empowerment of women in the country. RSEF aims to achieve the goals of educating, enlightening, enriching, empowering and enabling today's women.

It is known to all of us that the 21st century is the century of numerous challenges. With globalization, deregulation and other socio-economic changes, there are both new opportunities as well as threats to some traditional areas of employment, especially for those who are working in the unorganized sector. Keeping these facts in view, RSEF helps not only girl students but also self-employed women fight these challenges through imparting quality professional education and providing women with better educational facilities and career opportunities so that they can gain career competencies and enhance their self-esteem. In doing so, RSEF ensures that women are empowered through quality education with emphasis on leadership skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

In India, there are millions of women who are living below poverty line and exploited. They are bearing the brunt of the changes in our country and must be brought into the mainstream, so as to avail of the new opportunities that are developing with regard to employment. RSEF, with valuable support from Rai Foundation, provides quality career programs to girl students in general and the unprotected women labor force in particular in diverse professional fields, viz. hospitality and tourism, management, hospital management, fashion and textile design, airhostess training, retail merchandising, Life Skills, etc. Special training in Life Skills develops their personality and enhances communication skills, hence increasing their employability. Tie-ups with a number of leading organizations provide students with 100% placements. Through Distance Learning Program, RSEF extends quality higher education to every girl who has a quest for knowledge by facilitating degrees of a UGC recognized university. RSEF registers girl students and female workers for bachelors' and masters' degree distance learning programs, providing them training in various professional and vocational courses, and Life Skills. Rai Foundation provides RSEF with its excellent academic infrastructure to fulfill the basic requirements for strengthening women's confidence and bargaining power within and outside their homes.

plines and projects, higher studies, business to foster initiatives and innovative projects in different fields.