Empower People (EP) hosted a two-day programme for field workers in Haryana, called Organizational Development Training. The workshop was divided into six sections, lasting two days and running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The goal of the training was to raise gender awareness and gain a better knowledge of the subject of bride trafficking. Interns from Jamia Millia Islamia, field workers from Haryana, two fellows from the organisation, and core members of the organisation attended the training.
Day 01
Session 01: Introduction and Ice breaking session.
Time: 10AM
Resource person- Dr. Savitri Subramanian
Recorder- Ms. Sidra Subhan
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Salim Khan Gajali Imam, Ishita, and Md.
Shadab Alam, Mr. Shafiq, Ms. Reema, Ms. Prerna
The first session for the day started at 10 A.M. sharp. It was a welcome and an introductory session. The aim was to break the ice, create a comfortable environment, so that all the field workers and the other members of the organisation can get to know each other.
In the first session of the day, we were asked to introduce ourselves in a certain manner. We were given a format, which we were ought to follow. We had to begin by telling our names, the place where we belong, why did we connect with Empower People (EP), why do we want to stay connected to EP and what do we do at present for EP.
Dr. Savithri took the lead by introducing herself. She informed us that she has done her PhD in Sociology and her area of interest is gender issues. She has been a three year full-time president in the organisation and her work is mostly regulatory in nature.
Following doctor Savitri, Mr Dildar Hussain introduced himself. He told us that he is a field worker from Yamunanagar and has been a part of EP for the past 5 months. He mentioned that the women who belong from out of state get married in Haryana. This is mostly because of poverty because their families cannot afford a hefty dowry. He told us that many families of out-of-state women can only afford a dowry of 1 lakh, 2 lakh, or 4 lakh and hence get married into a family which they perceive is to be the best based on the dowry they are giving. Mr. Dildar mentioned that most of the girls are of the age 20 to 22 and get married to men much older than them. There is usually an age gap of 10 years between the husband and the wife. He also mentioned that the girls are mostly bought from the state of Bihar and hence are called ‘Baharo’. He also informed us that he is working towards the de-addiction of the youth in his area. He says that because of the addiction issue in the area the cases of domestic violence have increased, which has resulted in girls and their children to go back to their native homes. The husbands often force their wives for money. They either force them into jobs or force them to ask money from their parents or the husband's parents which they use in buying drugs. He also mentioned that due to an increasing number of domestic violence, the number of divorces in the area are also increasing. Mr. Dildar mentioned that he looks after five to six villages. He mentioned that he has met with the SP of the area to talk about the matter and he has also been in touch with the NGOs of the area working towards the same issue. He informed us that his work in the addiction issue is mostly related to rehabilitation, which is providing them with medical facilities which costs around 300 to 700 rupees for each de-addiction medicine.
Following Mr Dildar, Mr. Shadab Alam introduced himself as a student from Jamia Millia Islamia who is pursuing his Masters in Social Work and has connected with EP as a part of his curriculum which involves field work.
Following Shadab, Mr Ghazali Imam, who is a fellow in the organisation, introduced himself and told us that he has been a part of the organisation for the past 2 months and belongs to Bodh Gaya which is the ‘land of enlightenment’. Mr. Ghazali also mentioned that he has an undergraduate degree in Turkish and was looking for a job. Hence connected with the EP.
Next came Mr. Salim Khan who is a field worker from Mewat, Haryana. He mentioned that he has been a part of EP for a very long time. He has been associated to EP since 2007 or 2008. He is presently working with the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Haryana and has worked as a motivational speaker in the area. He is also a para- legal volunteer at DLSA (District Legal Services Authority). He is also working in the district jail and studies the demands and the problems of the Prisoners. Regarding the status of human trafficking in the area, he informed us that girls from other states are bought as ‘dulhans’ and are further sold. He also mentioned that one trafficker gets multiple girls. He says that these traffickers keep modifying their way of trafficking. He supplements his argument by saying that the girls are brought into this business under the pretext of:
Modelling,
Work,
or under the false promise of visiting Delhi.
He said that the girls in the area are literally auctioned on the basis of their beauty and age; they are often sold to the highest bidder. He mentioned that he wants to be a part of the empower people organisation because he wants to fight for the ‘sisters’ and ‘betis’ who do not have a voice of their own and cannot fight a battle which is so difficult to win.
A fellow in the organisation, Ms. Ishita, asked Mr. Salim if poverty can be a reason where people are so desperate to sell their children for a mere amount of money. She cited the recent case of Bengal, which took place after the covid-19 pandemic wherein the desperate parents had to sell their child to feed others.
To this Mr. Salim responded that poverty is one of the reasons but is not the sole reason. He says that most of the girls who are bought under the false promise of marriage or for visiting Delhi are often a result of poverty, however the girls who are convinced to migrate to another state under the pretext of modelling are usually rich girls and college going girls with an education. He cited an example from 2017, where a girl came from Bihar. He mentions that the girl was so tortured at the age of 14 and was married off to a man in his late seventies. He says that the girl was brought in as young and was tortured to an extent that she had eventually forgotten her own identity. Mr. Salim also mentioned that most of the traffickers have three demands in return for selling a girl. He says that the demands are as follows:
The girl does not get to interact with the community outside.
They should not have any assets/ resources/money.
They should not have any land/ any house/ property.
He also cited the example of how a girl got re-trafficked when a girl was married to an old man and he had died, his family did not want to keep the lady and hence they asked a trafficker to sell the lady to another older man. The trafficker had willingly done so since it was working to his benefit. He says that it is a vicious cycle which keeps going because the women do not have any kind of stability or any kind of means to run away. Mr. Salim mentioned that most of the trafficking happens not only domestically but also takes place internationally, specifically from places like Goa where mostly girls do not inform their parents about their whereabouts, they are usually drugged, kidnapped and trafficked thereafter.
After Mr. Salim, Mr. Rajendra Parshad gave his introduction. He mentioned that he has known Mr. Shafiq for the past 8 to 10 years and has been a part of EP for the last one to two years. Mr. Prasad mentioned that the women of the area are facing a shortage of LED bulb making raw material after the COVID-19 pandemic. He says people are buying the LED bulb directly from the survivors’ homes. He mentioned that women cannot go back to their homes or to take any independent decisions because they do not have the money. He says that the women of the area are now earning a little amount of money by making the LED bulb which is indeed empowering them and helping them in reconnecting with their families.
Regarding human trafficking, he cites a case wherein the village a person gave an open call regarding employment, and somehow a very few girls went along with the person who made the call. They eventually got trafficked and were sold off to older men. He says that in this case, the older man's sister gave 50,000 rupees for the bride. He says that husbands do not treat their women right and most of the women who are trafficked stay in the family that they are trafficked into for their children.
Mr. Prasad made a recommendation that there should be a membership form for the survivors, so that they can get an assurance that they are a member now. This will result in more cooperation and will assist in strengthening the ‘Aandolan’. He says that because of the fact that there is no assurance from the organisation, most of the women do not open up to the questions asked by the field worker and often find ways to escape the questioning. Their husband's also restrict their interaction and women themselves do not have the time to talk to the field workers.
Mr. Prasad also made a recommendation that we should take help from the DLSA and take their backing. He says that with the backing of legal authority and with their support we can fight against this injustice.
To this recommendation Mr, Salim countered that we need a softer approach and we do not need to make enemies in the area. He says that we need to assure people and we need to do that under the name of EP only. He believes we should not involve any other authority like DLSA. He says that we can take their support or resources but the intervention should not be from the DLSA but rather should always be from EP.
After Mr. Prasad. Mr. Vinod gave his introduction. He informed us that he is from Kurukshetra and has been a part of the organisation for the last 5 months. He says that in each village there are about 4 to 5 ‘out-ladies’ and are mostly bought into the ‘swarn jaati’, the upper caste hindus. Mr. Vinod mentioned that for 10 years these girls are not helped and are treated like bonded labour, that is, irrespective of whatever the situation is outside they have to complete the certain tasks assigned to them. He says that men have big fields, ‘Qillas of land’. These upper castes do not get married for reasons and so buy girls from outside. He also mentioned that in most of the cases the girls can not get any kind of assistance from outside because they face identity issues. He says that most of the girls do not have any kind of an identity card, because of lack of residence preoves, which deprives them of the benefits of government schemes. He gives an example of the fact that girls’ educational certificates from UP do not qualify for any government scheme. The Haryana Board does not consider the UP educational certificates as authentic. Hence creating an identity issue for the girls and making it difficult for them to survive in an area with no resources at all and with no rights.
Based on Mr. Vinod’s introduction Dr. Savithri asked that in most of the Hindu cultures second marriage is illegal, so she asked the field workers how many of these ladies are the second wifves and how many are first wifves. To this we were informed that in Mewat about 70% of the women are second wives and they are married off to men who are
aged,
widowed,
do not have children.
It's very rare, approximately 30% of the population are the first wife. It was also discussed in the meeting that there are two reasons as to why women get married to older men.
The death of a young wife and the man is in need of two things:
Fulfilment of sexual needs
labour
On doing the Math it was identified that the cost of labour would cost the buyer approximately 1 lakh a year and to buy a girl it would merely cost 50,000 rupees. Hence buying a girl is much cheaper and more affordable than hiring a labour.
Older men tend to buy women because they find working as a ‘demeaning activity’, hence they get a wife who will work instead of him and will feed him and will also be used for sexual pleasures.
Later into the discussion we talked about the ‘Ror biradari’ who tend to exchange girls such as a sister for another sister. This is called ‘Anta- Shanta’ where the family who has a girl child will get her married to another family and that family will get their daughter married into this family. The discussion later on went on to discuss the Origins of Ror biradari and how they were earlier Khatriyas and now Marathas.
Session 02: Introduction to trafficking and bride trafficking.
Time: 12:30 Noon
Resource person- Mr. Shafiq R Khan
Recorder- Ms. Sidra Subhan
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Salim Khan Gajali Imam, Ishita, and Md.
Shadab Alam, Ms. Reema, Ms. Prerna, Dr. Savithri Subhramanian
The second session for the day started at 12:30 noon. The session started with Mr. Shafiq asking the members in the room about the reasons behind bride trafficking. Each member added to the reasons based on their understanding. These reasons were poverty, low sex ratio and various other reasons. Mr. Shafiq mentioned that we as a population tend to give reasons to bride trafficking but we never do this when we talk about the caste based atrocities and we don't often talk about reason for as to why rape happens. The reason why we associate and try finding the reasons for bright trafficking is because it does not have a movement and we speak from the victim's perspective. We speak on the behalf of those who are voiceless. This is the trend which society follows, where we like to associate every evil with a reason. For example, he says that we never question about female infanticide as to why people are burying those girls.
Mr. Shafiq asked everybody about their understanding of the term ‘trafficking’. Everyone had their own answers and most of the answers were about the fact that when we put a prize or a value on a person and when that person is viewed as a commodity and that person is migrated from one place to another it is called trafficking.
To this Mr. Shafiq corrected all of us. He told us that society has certain laws and we tend to see things only from the legal perspective. During the course of the session he introduced various legal provisions that are there in the IPC. One of the major provisions was Article 370 of the IPC which defines the word ‘trafficking’. He mentioned that trafficking has four major components in it and if even one component is missing then it is not considered trafficking. These components are
Migration
Money
3rd person involvement
exploitation
The session emphasized on the word exploitation and the understanding of the word. Mr. Shafiq cited an example where in A labour goes to Delhi and does not get the minimum wages, is doing more work than he is supposed to do, and does not have a quality living standard. Mr.
Shafiq asked us if this would still be a case of trafficking. To this he responded that it was indeed a case of human trafficking because
The person migrated to Delhi, irrespective of whether it was voluntary or involuntary.
There is an involvement of money - in terms of wages
There is the involvement of third person - the person who is recruiting, promising money
Exploitation is happening.
In the case of bride trafficking:
The girl moves to a different state - migration
A third person usually gets the proposal - third party involvement
Dowry or bride price is usually there - involvement of money
Most of them later tend to get exploited
Later into the session we discussed the common understanding of Human trafficking and how the authoritites sees it. Mr Shafiq mentions that the authorities see human trafficking through the lens of ITPA (The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act) which says the trafficking happens only when sexual exploitation is involved. He says that there are various forms of human trafficking for labour, sex, labour to bring water, bride, etc. He says that the IPC have three major provisions to look at human trafficking these are:
SITA- The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act
PITA- Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act
ITPA- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act
He says that the problem with these provisions is that they work and address only the institutional sex work. However, the changes have come in these provisions after 2010.
He mentioned a case from 2009, Kurukshetra, a place called the Dhanorajattan where a girl was seen yelling and crying, a person called the police and the police put the girl under arrest. He says that in such cases we must realise that IPTA stands for the word ‘immoral’ and when we put survivor/ victim behind the bars we are reinstating the fact that it was indeed the girl which was doing the ‘Immoral act’ while the ones were actually doing the Immoral act as set free. Under the ITPA the client (who is exploiting) isn't seen as the offender but the trafficked person is the one who is seen as the offender. In ITPA, when rescues are made, the case is registered only when exploitation is taking place in an organised brothel. Here also the client is not seen as the offender, the third party, one who is doing the trafficking, is seen as the offender. Another problem with the ITPA is that it does not use the word ‘sex work’ it uses the word prostitution which is demeaning.
Later into the session Mr. Shafiq also mentioned the bonded labour act. He mentioned the PN Bhagwati judgement which defines the word ‘exploitation’ and ‘minimum wage’. He also told us that rescue in such a case can only be made by the SDM of the area. However, the problem with this act is that it can only be put into place where exploitation is done visibility and an intervention can be made. Mr. Shafiq also mentioned that there are new Trends of getting labour. He says that if the SDM gives the ‘release certificate’ then only a case can be registered. He also mentioned that various UN protocols also deal with human trafficking in similar manner.
In the session Mr. Shafiq asked about the reason behind exploitation. To this question he answered that the difference between a trafficked girl and a girl which belongs to that area is that that girl who belongs to that area will have a lot of monetary resources which she will get in dowry. On the other hand, the trafficked girl will not get anything in dowry and she will not have any monetary resources to sustain herself.
The major reason behind exploitation is that:
The girl does not have ‘ownership’. She does not have any assets.
The girl does not have any ‘identity’ as well since the family refuses to recognise her as a member of the family. Hence the trafficked survivor is lacking in the government records.
Due to no ownership and a lack of Identity the bride trafficking victim is always at a risk of getting traffic again.
Mr. Shafiq cited a case where he told us that a girl got sold 9 times because she got no recognition in the family. Also mentioned that the rich do not involve themselves in trafficking so that she can not take any claim over any of the property, this is exploitation because the intentions here are clear. He also mentioned that when a woman gets her identity but gets abused then it is not registered in human trafficking it get registered in the Domestic Violence Act.
He told us that we must be cautious of how and when we are using and defining the term exploitation. He says that if there is a lady working on someone else's field to earn money for her family but her husband takes the money from her then it will be registered in the Domestic
Violence Act but if her husband is taking money from the recruiter directly then it is exploitation. We need to look at the technical aspects of the case to prove that it is trafficking.
He also mentioned the article 366 of the IPC, where it talks about the abduction for the purpose of marriage. He says that this is registered at the source point; however it is not successful because eloping for love affairs also gets registered in this.
Mr. Shafiq mentioned what to do once the rescue is made. He told us that we must use the assistance provided by the DLSA. He says that there are various schemes which can give compensation to the victims at the DLSA. For example there is a NALSA scheme for trafficking victims where the victims can get a lawyer who can fight their case. There are a lot of voluntary lawyers available here. At the DLSA the victim can also get a counselor who can help in taking the case forward. Based on the case the compensation is given to the trafficked person. This happens in three steps:
25% is given at the initial step when the case is registered
50% compensation is given when a chargesheet is filed 3. 25% of compensation is given when the conviction is given.
Sir also mentioned that it is also important to ensure that there are no false stories involved in the victim's case. He cited an example where at times Counselors add their own versions and biases to the victim's story which can further be detrimental to the victim.
He says that in terms of legal provisions, IPC 370, when best associated with the Bonded Labour Act and Domestic Violence Act, is encouraged. If IPC 370 is associated with the rape charges then it becomes difficult for the victim to prove the exploitation since there are various loopholes in the legal system and it does not consider marital rape as rape enough. He also mentioned that use of article 366 is also not particularly encouraged because it is registered at the source area and it can get registered for various other reasons.
Session 03: Understanding Gender and its importance.
Time: 3PM
Resource person- Dr. Savithri Subhramanian
Recorder- Ms. Sidra Subhan
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Salim Khan Gajali Imam, Ishita, and Md.
Shadab Alam, Ms. Reema, Mr. Shafiq R Khan
The session started at 3 p.m. sharp after a lunch break. Dr. Savitri introduced the session by saying that gender is closely knit with the development sector. We started with an activity which she calls the ‘Mind Association’. She says that whenever we read a word, we associate it with an imaginary picture. She initially wrote the word ‘Girl/Ladki’ on the board and asked to make associations with that word. The member sitting in the room came up with various associations related to the word such as Pink, frock, long hair, emotional, compromise and sacrifices, shape, etc. Later she used the word ‘boy/Ladka’ on the board and we associated various words like naughty, dominant, protector, independent, clothes, ‘vansh’, ‘waris’, etc with the word. To make us understand the word ‘Vansh’ and ‘waris’ Mr. Rajendra Prasad cited a quote from his area which says “Parmatma Ek Sab Ko de, Taki Vansh chalta Rahe”.
Dr. Savitri mentions that sex and gender at two different things. Sex is something that is natural to us and we are born with it, however gender is a social construct and comes from the society. She says that this shift from sex to gender is detrimental and is important for us to understand while working in this field. She says that we see the world into two binaries. She says that when we talk about it in a natural setting, nature does not put blue and pink on boys and girls it is the society, a social construct, which puts girls in the pink section and boys in the blue section. Dr. Savithri talks about the fact that women in our society are given a second priority and are usually given the second position which has resulted in a lot of evils that are taking place in the society. She says that just because women are placed second in expenditures they are placed second in health, education, work and unpaid labour. Because of their secondary position women do not have control over money and are reduced into a secondary status. She also mentions that because of the secondary role they do not have a say in their marriage and dowry. She also mentioned that due to the secondary status they do not have control and do not have the power of making decisions.
She mentions that because of lack of control in decision making they are often used as an object which is later put a value on and used as a commodity. She used the words ‘objectification’ and ‘commodification’ of women. Dr. Savithri mentioned that in the development sector we need to look at everything from a gendered lens and we need to use ‘Gender
Disaggregation’ to understand how gender is affecting men and women differently.
During the course of the session, the field workers cited various examples of how gender has affected the women in their area and particularly in terms of dowry. Mr. Salim mentioned that based on the boy's achievement the dowry is set in his area but he also believes that if women themselves work hard and strong enough and make a position for themselves then this demand of dowry will eventually reduce. He believes that women to a certain point are responsible for what is happening to them and they must take the initiative. He uses the example of how the grandmother and mothers of the family should take initiative for their girls and future generations. Based on the statements, the session had elaborated discussion on how things can change on the field.
Day 02
Session 01: Recap of day 01 and further discussion.
Time: 10AM
Resource person- Dr savithri subhramanian
Recorder- Md Shadab Alam
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Ghazali Imam, Ishita, Sidra
Season was started at 10: 05 AM with a welcome by Dr. Savitri ma’am and ma’am asked attendees to recap the previous session. Sidra Started to recap the previous session where she talked about previous sessions discussions like what are the pull and push factors of bride trafficking according to different regions, then problems faced by bride trafficking survivors and the intervention process with respect to legal and social intervention processes. She also described the different acts like SITA. PITA ITPA and IPC 370 that's discussed during Mr. Shafiq's session. During the previous session, major outcomes came out that bride trafficking happened because girls did have ownership in any properties.
After that, Ma'am asked attendees, especially from field work units, to share their opinions about the previous session. Is there anything they want to share like Salim khan shared on WhatsApp yesterday. Then ma'am combined all the discussion from the previous day. She said we understand every field is different and people of that area have distinct needs and problems. We also understand trafficking and its legal aspects and what are loopholes in the legal system. She also described the gender session, in which she said we need to open our minds to understand the problems of marginalized people. We will not be able to understand problems of others until we will not open our minds for example belonging to upper cast, we will not be able understand others exploitation that we are doing to lower caste people until we think from their perspective, similarly in the case of gender we need to open mind and think from all aspects of a gender. we developed pre conceive notation about a female and on the basis of that notation we try to solve their problem while this is not a right approach she gave an example like if a maid is working in a house and if she need something like broom she will only asked to female member of family, similarly a women went alone for purchasing something costly, she will be asked like how can she come alone?
In further discussion she said we need to think beyond our preconceived perception about gender, change will come from ourselves first and for that we need to make a commitment then we can bring change and resolve any problems like gender, caste discrimination, poverty, inequality etc.
Ma’am asked again if anyone of you have any thing in your mind you can share here, Dildar Alam shared a suggestion, he said girls are dropping the school after 8th or 10th class because of the safety/security reasons and parents are also not willing to send their children for a distance higher secondary school since education is very crucial for their development he said if we can provide free coaching to them that will help them to complete their education. Savitri ma'am said there are two ways we could address this problem one if we had any project, we could directly involve with them secondly, we set up a centre and made volunteer arrangements of resource persons either digitally or offline if they are willing to serve the community. Sidra suggested there is already such an initiative by the World Youth council; they provide one-on -one tuition online to such students if they can arrange a mobile phone.
Rajendra Prasad said his daughter is doing the same in his area.
Session 02: Project planning and report writing. Time: 12 Noon.
Resource person- Dr Savithri Subhramanian
Recorder- Md Shadab Alam
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Ghazali Imam, Ishita, Sidra, Salim Khan, Raihan, Shafiq Khan
This session was totally activities based where ma'am asked from attendees to divide into two group make a plan of project, for bride trafficking survivors, for this project plan ma'am explain some scenario where she said select any five villages from your area and suppose there is 20 bride trafficking survivors living in each village then make plan for their betterment, one group has assign topic of livelihood generation while other group has given topic of health for survivors in selected area.
Group 01
Members- Rajendra Prasad, Vinod . Shadab, Ishita
Villages- Chhichhrana, Ahar, bhindari, Atawla, Khurana
Total beneficiaries- 100 ( 20 per village ×5)
Topic - livelihood generation
Project plan- group 01 had assigned topic livelihood generation and came up with a plan that was presented by Shadab and Rajendra Parsad. Detail of plan is following-
They said firstly we will identify the bride trafficking survivors and their problems by conducting surveys, in this process there will be at least one female field worker for each village so that survivors can easily share their problems. After that they will create a small SHG group of survivors with 5 members in each group therefore in every village there will be 4 such groups because we assumed total survivors in one village is 20.
Now they will create one or two community centres in each village where they will train different skills as per their interest. Skill will be:
1. Sanitary pads/napkins production
2.Beauty parlour training
Plant Nursery training
Spices grinding and packaging
After the training, beneficiaries will given free raw material for the first time and also be in liaison with buyers so they can sell by themselves.
Every 15 days the field worker will assess them and resolve their issues if any.
Group one also presents a format of report writing. In the beginning of Format there will be an introduction part in which they describe the background of the community and rationale of projects. After that there will be a section of activities in which all activities will be elaborate and then an observation and critical analysis section.
Group 02
Members- Salim khan, Dildar alam, Sidra and Ghazali village - 5 village of Yamuna Nagar
Total beneficiaries- 100 ( 20 per village ×5)
Topic - Health issues
Group 02 had worked on livelihood generation and came up with a plan that was presented by
Sidra and Dildar. Details of the plan are as follows:
They said in the beginning they will identify the health issues (like anaemia) of bride trafficking survivors by conducting surveys. After that they will set up a medical camp village-wise where not only medical help, but also psychological help will be provided to survivors. This medical camp will be in phases in each village where also family members of survivors will attend. In this camp they will inform survivors and their family members about different health issues, disease ,diets , family planning etc.
Group 2 also presents a format of report writing where in the starting there will be an introduction part and then followed by activities and outcomes. Outcomes will also mention gaps of the project so in the future we can follow up another project based on those gaps.
After the presentation ma’am and Shafiq sir evaluated the project plan that was prepared by both groups and then ma'am elaborated the process of project planning. She also highlighted the importance of budget for any project, she said sometimes project plans changed due to budget crisis.
In further discussion ma’am had described a systematic way of project formulation like she said during the project planning there is some process needed to follow. In the first step of the project, we conduct surveys to know the exact situation of the community, but we can also do situational analysis if the survey is not feasible.
Initial survey gave us clarity about situations like where are we now? Where do we want to go? How do we want to go? Why do we want to do it? etc Then in the next step we set up objectives on the base of the mission and vision of the organization. Now we made strategies which will help to achieve the setup objectives through activities. These activities will be based on output that will be changed into outcomes. At The end Project evaluates by indicators and observation. Ma’am described that initially all agencies talked about IEC (information education and communication) as tools of development even UN agencies adopted this method but later it changed into BCC (behaviour change and communication).
At the end of the session ma'am talked about report writing where she said there are two components which are important for report writing one is . Quantitative data-Numbers of activities, programmes, beneficiaries, and other data are explained here and second is Narrative - description of series of events or activities which could be in the form of videos, photos and in written but while taking photos and videos we need to keep it important to the privacy of clients.
Session 03: Project planning with special reference to trafficking and empower people’s mission, vision, and objective Time: 3PM
Resource person- Mr. Shafiq R Khan
Recorder- Md. Shadab Alam
Attendees- Rajendra Parshad, Dildar Alam, Vinod, Salim Khan Ghazali Imam, Ishita, Sidra, Ms. Reema, Dr. Savitri Subramaniam
This session started with a case study where a woman who was working in a hotel in Jabalpur, MP was trafficked and sold to an old man in Kota, Rajasthan. She was initially married to a man who repeatedly tortured her and abused her, so she left him and started working in a hotel. She had a 12-year child who lived with her and she had to take care of him as well.
This case study was read by Rajendra ji then sir asked from attendees to divide into two groups, one group will identify the problems while other groups will work on intervention as an NGO. Members of the group were the same as the previous session Group 01(Members- Rajendra prasad, Vinod, Shadab, Ishita) Group 02 (Members- Salim khan, Dildar alam, sidra and Ghazali ).
Both groups presented a good presentation in which Group one had identified problems like domestic violence, unemployment, minimum wages for work, patriarchal thinking, and lack of awareness etc while group two had presented intervention plans like prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, medical counselling and liaising with government schemes.
After the presentation Mr Shafiq had put some inputs in both presentations, he said we need to think about the problems from two perspectives one from victims and second from buyers’ perspective that we also called source problems and destination problems. Here in source problems are low wage, domestic violence, gender discrimination and patriarchal thinking while the destination problems are patriarchal thinking, gender discrimination etc and if we want to prevent trafficking we need to work on both areas.
Mr Shafiq asked a question: does the aspiration of a woman lead to her trafficking? If she did not template with a middleman’s offer of a better job, then she might not be trafficked. Was it her fault? Then Shafiq sir himself replied No this was not her problem; the problem was in the response mechanism of the system. Sometimes trafficking is also associated with the vulnerability of women. If women have security whether it is social support, family support or any other then it will reduce the probability of trafficking.
In this whole session major focus was to understand the causes and intervention plans of bride trafficking, trainees understand that there is not only one factor that cause to bride trafficking it has multi-factors that contributes to bride trafficking, which could broadly divide these into three parts first is source point second is middleman and third is destination point problems. In the source point the major factors lead to trafficking of women are, poverty, gender-based discrimination, violence, patriarchy mindset, low income, unemployment, lack of awareness, negligence of govt official, and false allurement of betterment of life, while at the middleman major factors is criminal mindset of person who communicating between buyers and seller, this person has only one intention is to earn money in this process and. At the source point factors are law sex ratio, bonded labour, fulfil sexual desire, patriarchal mindset, gender-based discrimination, and early death of first wife of buyer. While during this session trainees also understand the ways of interventions. Intervention as an NGO is not a sudden process to stop trafficking, it’s a continuous process for which an NGO worker must work continuously not only for rescue and rehabilitation but also for prevention. For the prevention NGO workers firstly identify the potential area of bride trafficking and then work for prevention, this area will be from, both source point and destination point.
Written by- Sidra Subhan and Shadab Alam
Comentários