Nimaya Foundation, an organisation based in Mumbai, has floated India’s first not-for-profit seed fund aimed at enabling aspiring women entrepreneurs to turn their idea/ambition into a reality.

The organisation’s aim will be to reach out to aspiring women entrepreneurs from across India and enable them to achieve independence, self-sustainability and provide all the necessary support systems (monetary, mentorship and other auxiliary resources) required to transform their idea into a sustainable business. Their focus will be to help women who otherwise do not have any other direct source of attracting the seed investment required to kick-start their venture.

In the process of building the organisation’s structure, Nimaya Foundation is looking for two passionate and experienced individuals who can be a part of its administrative team on a full-time basis to help run the organisation.

1. Designation: Chief Operating Officer

Requirements:

• Should be based in Mumbai
• Minimum 2 years full-time work experience in a corporate organisation (Preferably in a C.S.R / Marketing role) or an NGO (does not need to be a famous/reputed one as long as the work done by the applicant is of significance)
• Fluent in English/Hindi
• Willing and able to travel
• Minimum educational qualification – A Masters Degree / PG Diploma

Indicative Remuneration: Rs 6,00,000 per annum

Job Functions:

• To head the daily operations of this organisation
• To spearhead the outreach process aimed at reaching out to prospective women entrepreneurs
• Build associations with relevant NGOs
• Assist in Fund raising
• Coordinate with existing donors/board of advisors
• Oversee the application/selection process

(More details available on request)

2. Designation: Project Manager

Requirements:

• Should be based in Mumbai
• Minimum 6 months part-time experience in a corporate organisation or an N.G.O (does not need to be necessarily a famous one/reputed as long as the work done by the applicant is of significance)
• Fluent in English/Hindi
• Willing and able to travel
• Minimum educational qualification – A Bachelor’s degree

Indicative Remuneration: Rs 3,00,000 per annum

Job Functions:

1. To carry out the outreach process aimed at reaching out to prospective women entrepreneurs

2. To manage the application/selection process

3. Write progress reports to be sent to donors

4. Coordinate with mentors/experts

5. Monitor progress of investments

6. Liaison with other auxiliary resources

(More details available on request)

Interested candidates can email samyak.chakrabarty@gmail.com

Coming from a humble background, newspapers in which the names of prominent colleges featured during the admission season were the only source of learning more about quality education for 21-year-old Kavita Khandekar.

Read more in this DNA report.

Iconic India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will now lend help in preventing domestic violence against women. The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) in collaboration with the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) and Apanalya and with the financial support from NIKE Foundation launched ‘Parivartan’.

Parivartan will use cricket as a medium to teach boys how to be respectful towards women which in turn will help reduce violence against women and the project, on the lines of the famous American programme ‘Coaching Boys Into Men’, has been endorsed by Tendulkar.

In a letter to the coaches of 25 schools, Tendulkar said, “Winning a match is important for a coach but a big part of the job is helping to develop a solid, responsible young player who is able to become an upstanding citizen.”

To help stop violence and harassment of women and girls, ICRW and its partners aim to engage cricket coaches who will pass on the message to over 1,000 budding and aspiring cricketers through training programmes.

– Times of India

Women from Awaz-e-Niswaan at the Kala Ghoda festival

Using media creatively to give women a voice 

 In the next few months, people all over Mumbai will witness an intensive campaign against domestic violence. Perhaps through an installation in your neighbourhood that uses broken objects to tell stories of violence, or an entertaining play or dance that incorporates an awareness message, or even a college website that talks about how to carry on healthy relationships.

In an ambitious 18-month undertaking, Point of View, an organisation that draws attention to women’s issues through various media, is reaching out to people in slums, neighbourhoods, colleges, BMC hospitals and colleges. 

This is the latest in a long line of projects since 1997, when Point of View launched with a photographic exhibition that captured what 50 years of independence had meant for Indian women. “We found that women’s issues were being dealt with in a manner that was inaccessible – jargon-heavy conferences, unwieldy books – so we thought about how to take these issues public by contributing through what we do,” says founder Bishakha Datta, a filmmaker and writer. She adds, “I have always been interested in the worm’s eye view, telling the story of people who are marginalised.” 

A poster for the Sculpting Lives exhibition

And so, Datta and other women working in media came together to figure out ways to put forth the points of view of women. For instance, a few years ago, the organisation helped stage My Mother, The Gharwali, Her Malak, His Wife, a play starring 25 sex workers that challenges ideas of prostitution. Data has also made a documentary on the subject called In the Flesh. Over the years, Point of View has produced various films, books, ads, reports and even games on issues of sexuality, gender, violence and health. 

More recently, Point of View helped Awaz-e-Niswaan (which works with Muslim women) raise money and trained women, who are victims of domestic violence, in photography and sent them out to click the world around them. The result was a photography exhibition, Sculpting Lives, that was on view at the Kala Ghoda arts festival. 

“We want to reach as many people as possible so we always make sure we are in spaces that aam janta (common people) have access to, such as Kala Ghoda, Prithvi, Prince of Wales museum, etc,” Datta adds. But their work often hits roadblocks in the form of censorship or ignorance. Plus, it could often seem like a futile exercise as there is no way of measuring tangible change. 

And though it’s very difficult to change people’s mindsets, Datta believes that the most important thing is to give women a voice and a point of view. 

For more information, go to www.pointofview.org  

– A.S.

The NGO Pearls Wave – Ek Leher, which uses the slogan Nari Shakti Ko Salam recently helf the Pearls Wave gala award night to salute and celebrate Indian women against violence.

The evening was meant to empower women to take a stand against violence and highlighted the efforts of the people working together to make a world free of violence and abuse.

Many celebrities also pledged their support to the ‘Women against Violence’ cause.

DNA