On March 4 and 5, Deonar in Mumbai played host to a Jan Sansad, also known as a ‘People’s Parliament’.

Organised by the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan, the Jan Sansad consisted of two days of deliberations on the rights of slum dwellers and various sections of Mumbai’s workforce. Over a 1,000 people from various slums attended the event, which was presided over by a sabhapati mandal, consisting of leaders of movements, activists and people of social standing such as retired Judges Rajendra Sachar and H. Suresh, Swami Agnivesh, BD Sharma, Vidya Bal, Gabriele Dietrich, Banwarilal Sharme, Bhai Vaidya and Medha Patkar.

The issues

Over the two days, there were debates on issues of:

• Urbanisation and slum rehabilitation
• Hawkers, traders and mill workers
• Coastal regulations and fishermen
• Accessibility to resources like education, health, water and food
• Politics and corruption

On the issue of Mumbai’s urbanisation, NAPM activist Simpreet Singh said, “In the last five years, 3,00,000 people have lost their homes and 1,00,000 mill workers have lost their jobs. Mumbai is also now the place for a people’s resistance.”

Speaking about the ongoing slum rehabilitation in Mumbai, lawyer Shakeel Ahmad said, “These are some of the demands we need to make to the government:

1)      Slum rehabilitation is offered only to residents of slums built before 1995. We want this cut-off year to be removed.

2)      Each society can decide if they want to opt for the scheme, but the builder is the one that chooses the representatives of the society. This needs to change.

3)      The government must have full and authentic details about the construction company, its credentials, registration etc.

4)      The Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) should give a 15-year guarantee for every building it authorises, or it will be answerable.

5)      It has to be specified how big each transit camp will be and each dwelling in the camp should be 250 sq ft in size with all facilities.

6)      Ownership is supposed to be shared, but this is not mentioned anywhere in the deeds. This must change.”

Call to action

After two days of such deliberations, the Jan Sansad renewed its commitment to bring out the Lokpal Bill, Jan Bhagidari Bill and Development Planning Act which will pave the way for greater political participation of the common man.

The Jan Sansad has called for a massive rally, Jan Chetavani Morcha, in Mumbai on March 22, where hundreds of thousands of people from all the slums in Mumbai will gather to challenge the authority of the State to take over their houses and land.

Emphasising the fact that though India gained political freedom in 1947, social and economic freedom still eludes the vast majority of Indians, the Jan Sansad ended with a call for Azadi or freedom.

Also see resolutions and press release.

— A.S

In a city bursting at its seams, ruled by how much land you can occupy within it, you would expect the thousands living on the streets without a fixed address to be nameless, faceless, invisible men and women with no basic privileges of citizenship.

But, as the BMC’s enumerators found out on the night of February 28, several of them are people who, in their own little way, make Mumbai tick.

A peon working in a minister’s office, a man selling rudraksh beads on the train, a maid washing dishes in a housing society, a waiter at your local restaurant, a family making bamboo baskets for the last 26 years, are all part of a loosely strung community that spends its life without a roof over its head.

Some of them have voter ID cards, ration cards, PAN cards. Some have children studying in municipal schools. They have a social structure, religious and regional groups, and they use alarm clocks to wake up.

How many they are has so far been unknown, and the BMC in its one-night-only drive that met with success in some parts of the city and not much success in others, is attempting to arrive at a figure, which it says, will help it determine how to ease some of the city’s housing problems.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

Also read:

Buldhana and UP meet on Borivli road, Mumbai Mirror

Living on two sides of the wall, Mumbai Mirror

Even on the road there is a hierarchy

BMC ropes in NGOs for census of the homeless

A headcount of the homeless, Hindustan Times

‘I’m glad the government has finally noticed us’, Hindustan Times

‘Will there be any benefits?’

Pooja Taparia and her NGO, Arpan, spread awareness to prevent child sexual abuse and help survivors reclaim their lives

By Aditi Seshadri

A chance viewing of a play changed the course of Pooja Taparia’s life. It was 2003, and Pooja came out of Lillette Dubey’s 30 Days of September, moved by the trauma of child sexual abuse portrayed, and convinced that it was an issue she wanted to work with.

Soon, Arpan, the charity that Pooja had started earlier that year, took up the issue and made the prevention and healing of child sexual abuse its main focus. The organisation works at two levels: Prevention — Empowering adults and children with skills to protect children from sexual abuse, and Healing — Enabling victims & survivors of abuse to heal and live beyond the trauma of their abuse.

“The first step is to spread awareness, among parents and teachers,” says Pooja, 33. “And there is always denial. Most people think that ‘this can’t happen in my home or my class’, but the truth is, it does.”

Data from the National Study on Child Abuse in April 2007, Ministry of Women and Child Development, seems to concur. More than 53% children report facing one or more forms of sexual abuse and 50% of sexual offenders are known to the victim or were in positions of trust (family member, close relative, friend or neighbour).

Through a team of psychologists, counsellors and volunteers, Arpan carries out a range of activities to tackle the issue at different levels. Since 2008, the organisation has been running a personal safety programme in two schools, for Classes 1 to 7, teaching children the necessary skills — such as how to behave with strangers or what constitutes inappropriate behaviour— to protect themselves from sexual abuse.

This, Pooja believes is essential as there is “too much of a taboo around sex, too many inhibitions”. Research shows that children as young as five years of age can be victims of abuse, and that boys are equally at risk as girls. “We get reactions like ‘the kids are so innocent, they’re too young to learn about all this’ but eventually schools and families come around.”

The organisation also helps survivors of child sexual abuse by offering counselling and therapy to adult and children, including rescued minors. “This is a more complex area, as there is a dearth of good counsellors, and we are not equipped to deal with trauma,” says Pooja. Arpan also makes it a point to conducting training workshops, to build a more skilled team of counsellors able to aid the healing process.

“When we first started, there was limited knowledge or expertise. It’s through our own research and field work that we’ve understood more and seen what the needs are.” By developing their programmes in this way, Pooja and her team have begun to see a tangible impact at various stages. “At the schools, the feedback from the kids shows a better understanding of the issue and more awareness; after counselling, many of rescued minors are visibly less violent and more hopeful about the future; the adults have better self-esteem and embrace the concept of self-care, addressing their own needs.”

In the last four years, Arpan has helped 8,500 children and adults. It has had some help on the way from Unltd India, a foundation that trains, support and funding social entrepreneurs. To keep the team in balance in the face of such a difficult issue, Pooja says they are all under compulsory clinical supervision. To ensure that they motivated, Pooja has established a flexible work culture and makes sure everyone gets enough time off.

As for herself, she says, “I found my life’s purpose.”

ARPAN FACTS

School programmes:
Statistics from one school in 2009-10
Total no. of children: 394
12% of children had experienced inappropriate behaviour or touching
2% of children had experienced sexual abuse

Statistics in 2008-09
Total no. of children: 766
11% of children had experienced inappropriate behaviour or touching
5% of children had experienced sexual abuse

Other programmes:

• In 46% of the cases the offender was either immediate family or a relative (incest)
• In 53% of the cases the offender was a known person (neighbour, family friend, building friend, watchman, etc.)
• In 1% of the cases the offender was a stranger
• A large number of the clients are adult survivors aged 20-40 yrs
• Sexual abuse in above cases ranges from showing children pornographic material, to molestation to rape.

— Aditi Seshadri

Arpan is a registered organisation working in Mumbai towards prevention and healing of child sexual abuse through multiple programmes. It began working on the issue in June 2006 and has reached out to over 12,000 adults and children so far. Driven by passion and commitment to the cause Arpan has been diligently working on the issue by addressing parents, teachers, children and mental health professionals.

The organisation is currently looking for a Programme Coordinator — Prevention Unit, see details below:

PROGRAMME COORDINATOR — PREVENTION UNIT

Terms of employment: Full time employment.

Reports to: Programme Manager, Prevention Unit

Location: Mumbai

Job Purpose: The purpose of this role is to coordinate and play a support role to the Programme Manager and team of the prevention unit in order to facilitate resource development, effective and efficient planning, implementing and monitoring of prevention projects.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

• Responsible for receiving and responding to all queries from external stakeholders and prospective clients regarding prevention unit projects and forwarding the same to the respective project staff members for further follow up.
• Responsible for coordinating all the projects in the prevention unit, including awareness sessions, events, Personal Safety Education Programme, college level prevention projects and capacity building initiatives.
• Play a supportive role to the Programme Manager in module development for the prevention activities and workshops with various stakeholder groups like civil society organizations, educational institutions, colleges, governmental and non governmental agencies etc.
• Responsible for identifying and training potential multi-lingual trainers for the awareness, college based and Capacity-building projects of Prevention Unit.
• Responsible for conducting awareness sessions, college modules, capacity building initiatives with various interested colleges, institutions and governmental and non governmental agencies, civil society groups etc with support from the team of multi-lingual trainers.
• Play a supportive role to the CEO and Programme Manager for raising funds and other resources for events.
• Be the primary point of contact within Arpan for any event-related activities
• Be responsible for supervising the day to day implementation and staff performance on the various of the prevention unit projects and report the same to the Programme Manager through the organisational update formats.
• Play a supportive role to the Programme Manager to prepare fortnight and monthly reports for submission to the CEO.
• Ensure that the Project Officers submit the data from the feedback, pre and post test formats for the various projects to the Research Unit within the stipulated time line.
• Play support role to the Programme Manager in finalizing a process document for the projects of the Prevention Unit as well as a process manual for the various awareness, PSE and capacity building modules.

Salary: As per market standards and relevant academic qualifications and experiential background of the selected candidate

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Post Graduate degree in Sociology/ Social Work/Social Entrepreneurship and other related disciplines.
• Minimum 3 years of work experience in the development sector preferably in areas of child rights, trafficking etc, wherein the candidate has shown capacity in handling coordination, capacity building, staff management and direct implementation and monitoring of programmes.
• Candidate should comfortable with extensive local travel and flexible working hours.
• Candidate should be a team player
• Candidate should present leadership and team management qualities
• Should be assertive and positive communicator
• Should present a working knowledge of English, Hindi and Marathi(preferable)
• Should be comfortable with working on computers and internet
• Should be a good negotiator and networker
• Should be able to work towards targets

If you are interested, please send your resume with 2 references by  February 28, 2011 to info@arpan.org.in. Please note that shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly and no correspondence with regard to the status of application will be encouraged.

For more information on Arpan, please visit www.arpan.org or watch this video.

Day two of the international conference ‘Combating Poverty in a Market-driven World’ proved to be as interesting as the first day, as passionate speakers and strong viewpoints took centrestage.

National and International Policies that Affect the Economically Deprived

At the opening session, Minar Pimple, former CEO of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), Mumbai, spoke about the dichotomy of globalisation, saying “there are 1 billion obese people in the world today even as 1 billion people around the world go hungry”. Ashwini Kumar, member of the Central Employment Guarantee Committee, discussed government policies that help the poor, saying: “In Maharashtra, the existing Employment Guarantee Scheme mostly favours rural contractors. Correct implementation of this act can help in stopping the farmer suicides in Vidarbha.”

Working Towards a More Just Market System

Biraj Patnaik, Principal Advisor to the Commissioner, started off this session by talking about the strengths and limitations of government monitoring. Patnaik said that while the outreach of government schemes was good, there was no emphasis on checking outcomes; the focus tends to be more on tracking if the money is spent, not how it is spent. “The most worrying aspect is the ‘outsourcing’ of social auditing to NGOs, who can bid for this at a panchayat for as little as Rs 500,” he said.

Another passionate speaker was Nicholas Hildyard, an activist with The Corner House, UK, who spoke about how private equity funds are used for infrastructure development. Hildyard denounced the market, saying, ”I don’t believe in a system that gives a cat in New York more bargaining power than a slum woman in Mumbai, and I am not interested in making such a system more just.” “Private equity and hedge funds are licking their lips at infrastructure projects in developing countries, but who gets this infrastructure?” he said, adding: “We need to address power relations; corporate and market power needs to be challenged. We need to not just empower the poor but dis-empower the rich.”

The conference ended with a summarising by several panellists from the two days, which was chaired by Dr. Parasuraman, Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

All kinds of people came together to discuss better ways to remove poverty. And Mumbai Smiles was privileged to be a part of it. This is proof that though the world is not perfect, there is optimism that it can be.

Photos: Snehala

Source: Mumbai Smiles

Day one of the international conference Combating Poverty in a Market-driven World got off to a great start yesterday with a spirited argument between the two speakers of the introductory session.

Arguing for Freer domestic and international markets as powerful instruments of poverty alleviation, Suresh Tendulkar, former Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister, made the point: “Markets do not recognise caste or religion, only economic skills… And rapid economic growth generates revenues, which results in government money going into social sectors.”

His points were countered by J. Mohan Rao, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, USA, in a talk titled Is a market-driven world antithetical to poverty alleviation? Rao’s view was that world trade was not a level playing field as developing countries did not enjoy equal privileges. He called for… “A new kind of globalisation that aimed to a) Free labour b) Shackle capital c) Free knowledge d) Create a true world democracy.

People for people: Fair Trade
One of the afternoon sessions tackled the concept of Fair Trade with an overview of the movement by Carola Reintjes, CEO of WFTO, case studies presented by Johny Joseph of Creative Handicrafts and Fredrick Masinde of Undugu Fair Trade, Kenya. The session ended with a critique of the Fair Trade Movement by Ram Bhat, an Options and Solutions Consultant.

A key point raised by the audience was why there was a lack of a domestic market for fair trade, despite the Indian market being mature enough. Some of the solutions suggested were creating a conscious consumer market, marketing the concept of free trade and intervention to control prices.

Profits for people: Use of Corporate and Government Funds to Alleviate Poverty
In a session chaired by Chairman of Mumbai Smiles, Jaume Sanllorente, two speakers shared their experiences of fundraising and donors.

Alan Machin, Head of Fundraising, WaterAid, UK, talked about observing ethics in fundraising, emphasising that it was important to always talk to all kinds of people in order to change behaviours.

Ajit Kanitkar, Program Officer, Ford Foundation, India, discussed the challenges donor agencies face, saying, “Donors have lost patience and communities have lost patience, and people want to see results in one generation.”
Both speakers agreed on the point that we live in a world of instant results, but that this also placed pressure on civil society organisations to work towards real change.

To see the programme for Day 2, visit http://povertyconference2011.org/

For live updates on the event, follow the twitter feed at #POVCONF.

Photos: Snehala

Source: Mumbai Smiles

As Head of National Fundraising for WaterAid, UK, Alan Machin has long been using the market for the benefit of the development sector, and know all about bridging the divide between the free market and philanthropy. Here, he talks about his plans for the conference:

Why do you think there is a need for this conference?

There is often a certain amount of mistrust between civil society organisations and companies, particularly multinationals. Whilst understandable, this can mean that opportunities to help the poor are missed or underexploited through our own prejudice. We cannot escape the fact that the world is market-driven and that we need to formulate appropriate strategies and responses. This conference will provide an excellent forum to discuss the issues and share collective learning. By the end of the event we will be in a better able to work within our own organisations to determine our responses to a market driven world

What are your thoughts on how to combat poverty in a market-driven world?

We must find ways of engaging companies to change their behavior towards combating poverty and environmental issue that have an impact on us all. There are many good examples of collaborations between multinationals and NGOs that have shown that behavior change is possible and can bring positive outcomes. If we do not engage, we cannot complain if there is no behavior change, we need to formulate our strategies, be proactive, positive and passionate about what we are trying to achieve and go out and do it.

What will you focus on in your session?

We need to engage companies in an ethical way. WaterAid has 30 years experience of working with companies, and we have developed ethical guidelines that I will share and discuss in my presentation.

Your suggestions on what attendees should look to take back from this event.

We will be coming with different expectations and experiences of working in a market-driven world. I hope that we can all take away some real insights and inspirations that will help us to better navigate our way through the many market related issues that we all face in our daily work.

Alan Machin will present his learning and experiences at WaterAid as an example of the fundraising experience and policies of an INGO. The session is part of a workshop titled The Use of Corporate and Government Funds by Civil Society Groups to Alleviate Poverty.

Date: February 7

Time: 4.30 pm – 6.30 pm

Place: The Residence Hotel, Powai

Visit www.povertyconference2011.org for more information.

Fredrick Masinde has over 25 years experience in the Fair Trade Sector and is currently the Marketing Manager of Undugu Fair Trade Limited, Kenya. A good deal of his work has revolved around grassroots mobilisation of artisans, and, thus, using the market to improve the lives of the deprived.

Why do you think there is a need for this conference?

Faced with escalating levels of poverty all around the world, coupled with unequal distribution of wealth, influenced by market driven economic factors, it is critical for various stakeholders to explore alternative means of addressing mechanisms that can result in an equitable and just distribution of the global wealth.

What do you hope the conference will achieve?

I hope that concrete solutions will come out of the conference that can enable all sector players to jointly engage in influencing the world market policies that are pro poor and gives equal opportunities for eradicating poverty in the world!

What are your thoughts on how to combat poverty in a market-driven world?

• Equal opportunities supported by pro poor policies.
• Elimination of unfair market based barriers.
• Fair and equity distribution of income through the supply chain.

What will you focus on in your session?

Sharing the experiences of the Fair Trade model as a means of combating poverty.

Your suggestions on what attendees should look to take back from this event.

• Learning from what others are doing to combat poverty.
• Picking ideas on how they can expand their engagements in the fight of poverty.
• How they can lobby the decisions makers to influence pro poor policies at national, regional and global level.
• Adopting the Fair Trade model in empowering the marginalized and poor.

Fredrick Masinde will present COFTA (Cooperation for Fair Trade in Africa) as a case study in a workshop titled PEOPLE FOR PEOPLE: Market Related Civil Society Initiatives to Overcome Poverty — Fair Trade Initiatives.

Date: February 7

Time: 2pm – 4pm

Place: The Residence Hotel, Powai.

Visit www.povertyconference2011.org for more information.