‘प्रा. पुष्पलता भावे’ ताई यांना आदरांजली

‘प्रा. पुष्पा भावे’ ताई 

स्त्रीवादी, गांधीवादी विचारांची मशाल तेवत ठेवणाऱ्या कृतीशील विचारवंत. प्राध्यापक, समीक्षक, लेखिका. कणखर आवाजात ठाम विचार मांडणारी एक रणरागिणी. 

आज तुम्ही श्वासांना पूर्णविराम दिला. जगणं संयमी, हिमतीचं, कर्तृत्वाचं असावं हे जस तुम्ही शिकवलं, तसं मृत्यूनंतरही आपल्या अभिव्यक्त  विचारांनी समाज हिताचे काम करता येईल अशी प्रेरणा आदर्श देऊन गेलात.

‘पुकार’च्या युथ फेलोशिप प्रकल्पासाठी अनेक वर्षे मार्गदर्शक म्हणून तुम्ही लाभणे हे आमचे भाग्य होते. प्रकल्पामध्ये तरुण वर्ग करत असलेल्या विविध सामाजिक विषयांवरील संशोधनाला तुम्ही वेळोवेळी मार्गदर्शन आणि पाठिंबा दिला. बारीक नजरेने, त्याचबरोबर व्यापक अंगांनी संशोधन विषयाकडे पाहण्याचा तुम्ही दिलेला मूलमंत्र आजही लक्षात आहे.  दिशादर्शक आहे. तुमच्या ह्या मोलाच्या योगदानासाठी पुष्पाताई तुम्ही आमच्या कायम स्मरणात रहाल.  

पुष्पाताई, तुम्ही आम्हाला दिलेली मुद्देसूद विचारांची शिकवण, तडफदार नजरेची धार, आमच्या सोबत आहे. तुमची समाजहिताप्रतिची निष्ठा आम्हाला या पुढेही ऊर्जा देत राहिल. तुम्हाला प्रेमपूर्वक आदरांजली. 

🏿

असंख्य चळवळींना, विचारवंतांना, विद्यार्थ्यांना, संस्थांना मार्गदर्शन करणारी ज्ञानज्योत आज जरी मालवली असली तरी त्यांनी पेटवलेले अनेक विचारदिवे सर्वत्र लखलखत राहतील. एका विचारवंत शिक्षिकेला याहून मोठी आदरांजली ती काय!

ताई, तुम्ही साहित्य आणि संघर्षाला एका सुरात ओवूनशब्दा-शब्दांत फुलं पेरलीत, तुमच्या ओजस्वी वक्तृत्वाची तुतारी वेळोवेळी फुंकलीत, अन्यायाविरुद्धच्या लढ्यात मुल्यांची धार लावलेली लेखणीतलवार हाती घेतलीत. तुमच्या झुंझार आयुष्याला सलाम!

सलाम तुमच्या तीक्ष्ण नजरेला, कणखर बाण्याला, विवेकशील नेतृत्वाला, अगाढ ज्ञानाला,माणूसकीच्या प्रेमाला,

सलाम तुमच्या दुर्दम्य इच्छाशक्तीला,तुमच्या निर्भय-बेधडकवृत्तीला,तुमच्या चळवळीच्या ओढीलासलाम तुमच्या तेजस्वी कारकिर्दीला!

‘पुकारच्या वतीने त्यांचे विद्यार्थी श्रुतिका-सुनीलने वाहिलेली प्रेममय शब्दांजली

 

‘Ek Sawaal’

Covid-19 pandemic has hit the life of everyone very hard. People living in resource poor neighbourhood especially daily wage earners are affected the most. One of the Team PUKAR members, Shaikh Afsana came across a woman going through a very rough time caused by the epidemic. The woman shared her problems with Afsana and raised an important question. Afsana shares her problems and ‘The Question’ through a poem-

Tackling Taboos

A French intern has followed PUKAR’s Journey Towards Dignity (JTD) team for 4 months and shares her main learnings. 

PUKAR’s Journey Towards Dignity (JTD) is a project which aims at empowering adolescent girls from marginalised communities in Mumbai by providing them with comprehensive training on critical issues – from gender identity to sexuality – so that they can make their own informed choices about their body. This year, PUKAR engages directly with 300 girls – aged 10 to 20 years-old – from seven different communities in Mumbai, mainly in slum areas.

As an intern at PUKAR and having my own passion for issues related to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), I was particularly eager and curious to understand PUKAR’s JTD Programme. Especially in the Indian context, I was aware of how sensitive and difficult to tackle these issues are, and I was therefore keen to discover the methodology used by PUKAR to work with young adolescent girls.

Visiting field with JTD team

Since September, I have been following the JTD team through the preparation phase of the project: survey design, enrollment of beneficiaries, engagement with beneficiaries’ parents, etc. I also got the opportunity to accompany the JTD team on-field to conduct the baseline surveys with all the programme participants and supported them through the first half of the training programme during which we addressed the questions of identity, puberty, menstruation, the reproductive system, and gender-based violence.

Going “on-field” with the JTD team first helped me understand the socio-economic and cultural context of the communities PUKAR works with, confronting me to new realities in Mumbai. The majority of the beneficiaries of the programme come from low-income, minority communities and live in slum areas. In addition to the numerous challenges faced as adolescent girls, these girls also have to cope with context-specific difficulties:  lack of space and privacy, lack of financial means to access adequate menstrual hygiene management and healthcare, lack of access to safe sanitation facilities, lack of access to information, etc. All these challenges make adolescent girls from marginalised communities particularly vulnerable and yet often neglected by policies and development programmes; and this is the reason why PUKAR decided to focus on this particular population.

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After several weeks following the JTD team on the field, from Dharavi to Mandala and Kaulabander, I have observed and learned a lot from the way the team works with adolescent girls. Based on this experience, here are some of the key success factors I have identified:

1. Create a safe and free space to encourage the girls to open up and share their queries and experiences – without any judgement. This implies establishing a relationship of trust between the facilitators and the girls, but also between the girls themselves.
2. Horizontal approach: in order to create this safe space, the facilitators must overcome the vertical dynamic teacher/students with the adolescent girls, following a pedagogy based on mutual learning.
3. Step-by-step approach: Because addressing directly the most sensitive and taboo issues would lead to resistance, the team generally starts with games and creative, self-reflective activities and then progressively addresses sensitive topics using context-adapted teaching material and interactive discussion.
4. Enhancing Critical Lens: By asking innocent questions and through interactive activities – such as role-playing games – JTD team help girls become aware and question critical issues such as gender roles, gender violence and inequalities by reflecting in their own lives.
5. Contextualisation: It is crucial to adapt the training content to the girls’ context and provide them with concrete tools and knowledge to help them deal with the difficulties they face in their everyday lives. The fact that the facilitators themselves come from the communities allows a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural context and help them connect with the girls’ challenges.
6. Make it fun and entertaining: Games and creative activities help break the traditional framework of the school. It is a useful way to help the girls relax and proves to be an efficient way to address sensitive issues indirectly. Additionally, enhancing girls’ creativity can truly help them gain self-confidence.
7. Strong Monitoring: Pre and post-survey for every session enable the team to keep track of the transmission of knowledge to the beneficiaries. If required, the team goes through important concepts again during a review session and in case any girl drops out, the team actively follows up by getting in touch with the girl to understand the reasons and if necessary they approach parents too.
8. Active engagement of key stakeholders: Challenging existing power structures through girls empowerment programmes in conservative communities can lead to a backlash against the adolescent girls, and the removal of the girl from the programme. In order to mitigate this risk, the engagement of key stakeholders is crucial, especially parents and community leaders. This implies explaining them the programme and why it is important, in order to obtain their consent and even their support. It is necessary to guarantee the sustainability of the project and avoid resistance in the communities we work with.
9. Upcoming community leaders – Changemakers – After the training, few girls from each community are selected as volunteers and are further trained to become changemakers for the next year. Their role is to help the JTD team conduct the workshops and become role models for younger girls, as they are confident, knowledgeable and empowered. Finally, the young leaders contribute to allaying fears from the communities – who can see the positive impact the programme had on the changemakers – and help ensure the sustainability of the programme.

Victoire Ambeza, intern at PUKAR and
Master student in International Development at Sciences Po Paris (PSIA)

Sharing Knowledge for the Brighter Future!

 

Housing-Urban Policy and Informal Settlements Panellists

PUKAR, in partnerships with University of Chicago Law School, UOC Delhi Centre, and Khalsa College, hosted a seminar on “Activism, Advocacy, and Action for India’s Residents for Informal Settlements” regarding the daily lives, challenges and resilience of residents of Informal Settlements. This was held at Khalsa College premises and attended by an enthusiastic audience of activists, faculty, academicians, students, and advocates of all colours and hues.

Principal Mangaokar Opening the seminar

Starting with complex and multi-layered issues of Housing Rights and issue connected with every aspect of housing, the thematic also included ‘Improving Informal settlements’, ‘Access to Basic Services’ and ‘Women’s Rights and Health in Informal settlements’.

Having travelled from far off places like Chicago, Lucknow, Odisha, Hyderabad, Pune, joining local practitioners, the panellist of every thematic laid out the current situations, shared their own work experiences and provoked many debates on the floor. In a collective fashion and in collaborative spirit, the panellist suggested ways to move forward to make the life of residents for informal settlements a little better through policies, politics, and practices.

Professor Malani, University of Chicago Law School

Housing-Improving Informal Settlements Panelists

These residents who essentially hold the city on their able shoulders and make life easier for other citizens, are almost always treated by the larger society, the policy-makers and the legal entities as “Illegal, Unwanted”. Through the discussions that ensued, the panellists and moderators informed, educated and enlightened the audience of the realities of lives in the informal settlements and inspired the audience to change their lens to view these realities.

Access to Basic Services- Panelist with moderator Professor Amita Bhide

 

Women’s Rights in Informal Settlements- Public Health-Panellists

The spirited discussions that followed every session was the hallmark of the success of the seminar.  PUKAR wishes to thank all the partners and the participants for their contribution to this event.

Professor Anant Maringanti- HUL.  Difficult subject, laced with humour!!!

Invitation – Conference on Activism, Advocacy, Action for Residents of India’s Informal Settlements

PUKAR in collaboration with The University of Chicago – Center in Delhi and GN Khalsa College, Mumbai cordially invites you for the conference on

‘Activism, Advocacy, Action for Residents of India’s Informal Settlements’ 

Registration for the event is required. To register please click HERE

 

‘Scoring’ a common goal through empowerment – In partnership with Oscar Foundation

From the lens of a French intern at PUKAR

PUKAR’s “Journey Toward Dignity” (JTD) project is an education programme launched in 2015 which aims at empowering adolescent girls from marginalized communities by breaking myths and taboos surrounding sexuality and gender-related issues. It provides a very comprehensive course, comprising 22 sessions which cover critical topics from pubertal changes to nutrition, menstrual health and hygiene, and gender violence. Through this programme, adolescent girls acquire crucial knowledge about their body and sexuality, thus gaining self-confidence and making informed choices about their body.

OSCAR (Organization for Social Change, Awareness and Responsibility) Foundation is a Mumbai-based NGO which aims at empowering children from low-income communities through football. Their Young Leaders programme provides an opportunity for selected participants to receive a leadership training in development and football skills in order to become football trainers and role models for younger children, and thus agents of social change. Gender equality lying at the heart of OSCAR’s principles, more than half of their Young Leaders being girls.

OSCAR Foundation decided to reach out to PUKAR’s JTD team in order to provide a quality and extensive training to their Young Girl Leaders on growth and development, pubertal changes, nutrition, menstrual health and hygiene and gender violence. This new partnership aims at equipping the adolescent girls with the fundamental knowledge and skills to better tackle gender-related issues with the younger girls and their communities, in order to have a meaningful impact to empower girls and reduce gender inequality.

 On August 31, 2019, Tejal – JTD senior programme officer – and Sheeba – project facilitator – went to OSCAR Foundation’s office in the neighbourhood of Fort to conduct the second training session of the six-month programme, focusing on pubertal changes. As a newly arrived intern at PUKAR, I accompanied Tejal and Sheeba as I wanted to experience on the field how the JTD Team delivers its successful programme. Throughout the day, the enthusiastic and curious adolescent girls took active part in workshops and discussions on the complex physical and emotional changes occurring during puberty for both girls and boys. Thanks to the JTD team, the girls felt comfortable voicing their difficulties, concerns and doubts on issues considered taboo. This training also helped thwart misconceptions about puberty, often influenced by gender stereotypes, such as: “girls become more sensitive and boys become more aggressive during puberty”. By the end of the day, the adolescent girls could understand the physical and emotional changes occurring during puberty and thus felt more confident to spread knowledge and awareness among younger girls and their communities .

Victoire Ambeza, intern at PUKAR and
Master student in International Development at Sciences Po Paris (PSIA)

Reaping the benefits through knowledge…

Suvarna, one of E-Sevak from the project ‘Strengthening Local Democracy’ (SLD) of PUKAR, has a heart-warming story to share. During one of the capacity building sessions conducted by SLD team in Palghar district, Suvarna, a tribal girl from Bandhan village, not only learned the procurement process of the land records but more importantly, also learned the method to READ IT! After the session, as a part of her homework, she located her own land record and also TAUGHT her family to read it while describing them about its importance. During this process, Suvarna found out, to her dismay that there were many serious omissions in the records that needed to be corrected.

With her newfound knowledge, and continuous guidance from PUKAR Team, she visited the concerned authorities, made required corrections and successfully obtained a new land record.

Now Suvarna has a new a land record which has documented their water-well and all the fruit-bearing trees in their land record document. This has made everyone in her family happy and proud of her. Now, Suvarna can disseminate this knowledge and her experience with the rest of the villagers, thus becoming their champion.

Safety of everyone at workplace is the responsibility of everyone at workplace

 

What began as a journey to achieve justice, eventually evolved into something so much bigger. Bhanravi Devi’s confront with the society that tabooed her, joined with Vishakha and strived to create a work environment where women felt safe.

The POSH (Prevention of Sexual harassment) committee, at PUKAR is something that has birthed from the reminiscent of this 26 year long struggle. Only, PUKAR has adopted a gender neutral mannerism of the same including both male and female employees in the program. It was established in 2017, and every year the employees join hands to revisit and renew their understanding of it with creative and refreshing activities. This year too, was no exception. It was headed by Shrutika Shitole, who herself is a proud member of the POSH committee. Conducted at PUKAR’s main office on 20^th May 2019, it was attended by 17 staff members.

This revisit although, wasn’t in a typical PPT format, with colourful placards and florescent balls, the activity at the end had everyone up on their toes. Arranged in a beautiful design on the floor, everyone’s eyes fell on the placards with at once, trailing the history, importance and reasons behind the existence of the committee. The placards laid down simple clear words, explain the concepts so much better than the old fashioned handouts. After understanding the history and importance, it was time to establish what exactly sexual harassment was. It was related to any act of indecency, right from inappropriate texting and staring to physical assault. Later, the question of what constitutes the workplace was also understood, how it didn’t necessarily mean only the place you work at, but rather, the travel to your workplace and its branch offices.

The explanation of the terms, of how the person who is harassed is the ‘aggrieved individual’ and the accused is the ‘respondent’, was also understood. It was followed by how every employee whether part time or full time was eligible to approach this committee. The complaint in the appropriate format could be registered to POSH by the aggrieved individual himself/herself, or by a friend, colleague or a family member. Only, this was to be done within 3 months after the incident takes place. This complaint then would be addressed by the committee and the resulting action would be taken in 7 days. Its reciprocal from the respondent could come in various ways, in the form of an apology letter or even termination depending on the gravity of the situation, keeping in mind that both the complaint and the response needs to be written and not just oral. In case of a much more serious accusation, the police are involved, while POSH stands firmly beside the aggrieved individual. But just as firmly with the respondent in case the accusation turns out to be false.

After the explanation reached it end, a carpet was draped over the placards on the floor and the staff was divided into two teams. It was time for the final showdown. The quiz at the end of the session easily peeked everyone’s curiosity. With high spirits and enthusiasm, both teams rolled up their sleeves, eager to begin. A few shy to talk at first, but soon were hollering to back up their teammates. By the second round there were answers, florescent balls and multi-papers being launched in the air. Finally, one team was declared the winner. They all stood shoulder to shoulder grinning, proud to show they newly earned ‘Messenger of POSH’ tags and red ribbons, while the loosing team had made their own ‘Avengers of POSH’ cards in celebration.

In the end, everyone departed with big smiles, knowing that the responsibility of making a truly gender friendly environment was also on their shoulders along with POSH. Creativity and knowledge once again worked hand in hand to spread awareness, to enrich not only one’s own knowledge but also each other’s.

Water – a natural resource for all, but is it available for all?

“Most interesting I found was my interaction with my friends,” said Shakir, half laughing. “Few of them used to call and simply ask ‘Aaj paani aaya kya? I had fun listening to them because it provided me a space to have a dialogue around water issue.”

Shakir Husain‘s journey from being a college student to an activist fighting for the Right to Water is quite captivating. As a college student, Shakir was engaged with Apnalaya India as volunteer and that’s when he heard about PUKAR’s Youth Fellowship Program. He and his five friends came together and formed a group for the fellowship program. After getting selected each member of the group had their own individual ideas for research proposal.

After days and weeks of discussion, debates and dialogue within their group, they decided to work on the issue related to the shortage of water supply as it was the most crucial one. When they discussed it further with program facilitators, they realized that the root of the issue was much deeper than expected and its branches were much wider than seen. They could relate to their everyday challenges which their own families had to face. “The process made me more aware about the underlying issues which were often neglected in the name of the everyday routine.” Said Shakir, “It only came out when I looked at the community from the perspective of the researcher. The program not only provided me with a new lens to look at my community’s issues but also made me confident to articulate and express my thoughts to others.”

Although Shakir’s aim was quite clear, he had to face resistance from his family as they assumed that it was not the job for a common man like him. It took effort to build confidence in the work he was planning to undertake but with his strong will and determination, he succeeded in assuring them and changing their perspective.

The journey of being a fellow was more enriching than Shakir had expected. According to him, PUKAR’s environment was welcoming and he felt he was heard for the first time in his life. This itself initiated the process of building confidence. In an era where everyone would hear the word and assume the impact of water shortage, PUKAR provided his group the space where their problems were heard from their own community. According to him, he learnt more about being responsible during the phase of data collection. Often. the residents of M-East ward where their research was based, felt that the survey would eventually provide them with the solution to water supply. “We had to make extra effort to make them understand our aim of this Research and we strictly restrained from giving false hope”

Attending residential workshops and meeting various resource persons provided Shakir with diverse perspective. This exposure made him more firm to work and advocate Right to Water. Keeping his goal in mind, post fellowship Shakir joined Pani Haq Samiti as Consultant – Community Organizer for the project ‘The effect citizen empowerment and public service provision and Urban governance in eastern suburban. His dedication towards finding a solution for shortage of water supply was far above the job security and therefore, even after the project Shakir volunteered and continued on his journey of advocacy towards right to water for all citizens. His hard work showed colors as many people started noticing his dedication towards the issue regarding shortage of water supply and supported him. In December 2018, Hyderabad Urban Lab invited him and one of his fellow group member to present their research through video presentation. “It was through PUKAR that I and my fellow group member got this opportunity. Initially we were nervous to present our work in front of so many national and international organizations but once the presentation started, everything went in a flow.” On 11 January, Shakir was one of the panelists, representing PUKAR, for Adolescents and Advent of Responsibilities for City Level Youth Symposium, 2019. “This was another platform wherein city wide organizations working on Youth came together and shared dialogues on everyday life issues which impacted their lives”

All this conversation around issues related to Water and Youths, Shakir feels that the journey of transformation has just started on ground and has a long way to go.

“I fight to protect the fundamental right to water as it prerequisite for all other human rights,” said Shakir Shaikh a resident of M-East ward which is also one of the areas in Mumbai where no water supply is available for the residents. “In order to have access to water other things like employment, education, dignity and freedom often get impacted. Students have to skip their schools, people try to stay at home so as to store water and therefore many times have to skip high paying jobs. For authorities, it is just an issue of water supply but for us residents, it is an issue of survival.”

Two years back ‘Youth ki Awaaz’ too covered the story on water issue based on Shakir and his team’s research work.
Link: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2017/06/severe-water-crisis-in-shanti-nagar-slum-of-mumbai/

 

Building perspectives, broadening horizons

Like all of us, Paras Naik has dreams and aspirations. He is a soft-spoken young man, but his words exude confidence and maturity. There is a certain calmness with which thoughts are articulated, and a kind generosity in the way he tells his stories – where his friends enjoy the limelight. Or maybe those are the kind of stories he likes to tell. And today, when so much of our daily consumption is overwhelmingly about ‘me, myself and I’, this quality of Paras stands out.

“I enjoy reading books of history and listening to Marathi classical music – it’s called Natya Sangeet. I want to become an IPS officer and attempt to change the mindsets of people who think all cops are corrupt. My dream is to work in areas of conflict where many officers hesitate to be posted because the experience would be life-changing for me.”

A student of Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Paras came on board the ‘Youth Leaders as Change Makers’ project in 2017. When he heard about the fellowship, Paras thought he would be doing research in the field of Science. Because he was studying Humanities, simultaneously pursuing a course of this nature seemed like a good idea to him.

Of course, later on, he understood the scope of the fellowship and its uniqueness that was rooted in the effective use of CBPAR (Community-Based Participatory Action Research) as a tool to study social realities. And this scientific approach of uncovering the truth greatly appealed to him. He reminisces about the residential orientation workshop in Kharghar: “I didn’t know what to expect. But the workshop gave us a taste of the fellowship and a sense of where we were headed. We watched a film called India Untouched that really opened my eyes to the injustices in our country. We live in bubbles and our opinions are formed by very superficial factors – we don’t look at things holistically I believe the film was a very effective and powerful way of bringing closure to our debate of reservation which started at the workshop.”

Throughout the fellowship, there were many such turning points and moments of extensive learning for Paras. His group, Innovations, comprised seven Muslim members and himself, a Hindu. They decided to explore Muslim perspectives on the triple-talaq verdict. “Some of our group members were initially hesitant because the topic was definitely sensitive in nature and studying it would mean doing a deep-dive – what if family members didn’t approve? But we zeroed down on it after several group meetings and discussions with our facilitators. And in hindsight, it was a great decision – it was an education for me in Islam.”

A crucial learning for Paras was also the respect he cultivated for his friends’ religious practices. During Ramadan, he would make it a point to not carry his lunch to the group meetings and eat only when his friends broke their fast in the evenings. And there was no proclamation of ‘religious tolerance’ anywhere. It was all very organic and for that reason, very beautiful. Paras acknowledges PUKAR’s role in this process: “I got this opportunity because I was a part of the Youth Fellowship. I learned about Islam from such close quarters.”

Paras says that the fellowship has taught him to dig beneath the surface. “Our facilitator told us how some messages that are circulated online are fake. And how we can check the veracity of these messages. An important lesson for me has been never to accept a one-dimensional version of an issue. We were always encouraged to listen to multiple perspectives. Through our interactions with Islamic scholars and other experts in the course of our study, we came across aspects of the story that the media may not have covered. At every step, we were forced to think, and as a result, so much new information came to light. Plus I have developed the skills to interact with different entities.”

Finally, when Paras is asked what he likes most about the fellowship, he says: “CBPAR is PUKAR’s strength. PUKAR’s Youth Fellowship should never stop. And I hope many more fellows come out of the program with the capabilities and desire to be good citizens. The problems of the world are far from over but PUKAR’s Youth Fellowship is an attempt to find some answers.”

Paras Naik was a fellow from 2017-2018 as part of ‘Youth Leaders as Change Makers’, a collaboration between PUKAR, Guru Nanak Khalsa College, and Gunvati J. Kapoor Medical Charitable Relief Foundation. He is currently pursuing his B.A from Guru Nanak Khalsa College.