NGO Nav Srishti empowers 60,000 underprivileged women and children to lead a dignified life

Delhi-based Nav Srishti is changing the lives of women and children from marginalised sections through various initiatives, including providing education and vocational training.

Five years after the Nirbhaya case, there’s no letup in the physical violence against women. A poll by Thomson Reuters Foundation recently ranked the Indian capital along with Brazil’s Sao Paulo as the world’s worst megacities for sexual violence against women.

The statistics – be it instances of physical violence or social evils against women in India – are scary. They are scarier in case of women belonging to marginalised communities.

However, an organisation in Delhi is working to help women combat social evils, through various initiatives.Nav Srishti has been working to strengthen a lot of underprivileged children and deprived women by providing education and vocational training.

The organisation was started by Reena Banerjee, along with two more people, in 1994 with a seed grant of Rs 1 lakh from Unnati Foundation. It initiated its efforts from Nangloi, in West Delhi. In the last two decades, it has expanded its reach in and around the national capital, with more than 150 people working for the cause.

The NGO runs various programmes that focus on skill development and provide livelihood support to women and work for the holistic development of children and adolescent girls.

“Through various initiatives, we have been able to change lives of more than 60,000 people,” Reena says.

“We seek to establish a society free from violence and discrimination against women and children. Over the last 20 years, more than 5,000 girls with whom we worked have not only become independent but are also working as a cadre of active citizens, extending support to other women and children who face oppression or violence,” Reena adds.

Nav Srishti’s major objectives include improving the overall women and child rights scenario, helping and enabling weaker sections of society to raise their voice for socioeconomic development, and promoting gender equality. The organisation is working in the areas of child protection, women’s empowerment, and health and education, with government and other non-government organisations.

The beginning

Reena started working with Shaktishalini, an NGO working towards gender equality, in 1987. During her stint at Shaktishalini, Reena had a close encounter with the problems women and children from the marginalised section face. She found that most of them were denied basic rights and had no platform to raise their voice.

She realised the only way women could get rid of the injustice was through education, skill development and awareness of their own rights. So she decided to work to empower them and she established Nav Srishti in 1994.

Over the years, Reena has been recognised at various platforms for her work to promote human rights.

Empowering women and children

“We are working intensively with marginalised sections of society. Majority of these people are migrants from various parts of the country. These people have been living in pathetic conditions. Atrocities against women, women and child health, education, hygiene , gender inequality, domestic violence and child safety are the major challenges these communities face,” she says.

To ensure child rights and capacity building, the organisation runs a programme for Child Rights and Community Development. The lives of more than 10,000 people have changed through various interventions. This project has been operational since 1998 with support from Child Rights and You (CRY). It is operated with the Gosain and Banjara communities in West and North West Delhi.

The organisation is also running the Child Centered Community Development Programme (CCCD) in partnership with Plan India, which is providing financial and strategic inputs since July 2008. With an objective to work on rights-based approach, more than 10,000 families and 20,000 children have been covered under this programme. It mainly focuses on promoting health, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), education, Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), child protection, child participation and Eriksson Digital Dynamic Learning Programme (EDLC) among others.

The Digital Dynamic Learning Programme, with support from Plan International, has been operational since February 2015. The key objective is to improve educational skills and increase access to opportunities for self-development for girls in the age group of 15 to 25 years. Through a central hub at Dwarka in South West Delhi, the programme covers four digital learning centres where girls learn by watching through conferencing. They also clarify their doubts through online support from a counselor. Nav Srishti is also supporting the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) in running a Crisis Intervention Centre in outer areas of the national capital. The programme provides assistance to victims of sexual assault through counseling support, registration of FIR, medical examination and treatment, professional investigation, financial assistance, nutritional support and other services required for the complete rehabilitation of the victim.

Nav Srishti has been implementing various programmes in the community with the support of central and state governments, national and international donor agencies, civil society organisations and individuals. They receive financial support and other inputs from various institutes and individuals.

Apart from these, the organisation is also running the Young Health Programme, supporting DCW in running “Mahila Panchayat”; Beti Ko Padhayenge desh ko Agey Badhyenge with support from Oracle; Swabhiman, a skill development programme in partnership with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC); and promoting self-help groups and Early Child Care Education (ECCE) for children of migrant labour.

Addressing the challenges

Perception regarding women, encouraging victims to raise their voice, insensitivity of administration regarding women and children related issues, and mobilising people and resources are some of the challenges faced, Reena says.

At present, the organisation is working across south, north, north-west and west districts in Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana and Ghaziabad in UP. They are also actively working on missing and child trafficking issues in Delhi.