Strengthening our stance against violence

“Geet ga rahe hai aaj hum, Ragini ko dhoondte hue, Geet ga rahe hai aaj hum,Ragini ko dhoondte hue…”

As SNEHA Centre transitions from direct intervention to creating a mechanism for sustainable health action in the community, the initiative to create and develop Community Action Group Volunteers
was started. Since 2016, identifying community volunteers and forming community groups has been in process. The volunteers are provided with periodic capacity building sessions.

We currently have 234 CAG volunteers active in the three intervention areas in Govandi and Mankhurd of M/E Ward of Mumbai. The volunteers have begun to support health processes and have also initiated their own community development initiatives.

One of SNEHA Centre’s areas of focus is prevention of violence against women and children. Violence and abuse is a taboo topic in the intervention areas of SNEHA Centre and therefore requires a specially trained team of volunteers in order to be able to optimally intervene and manage when crisis counseling and advocacy is required. Therefore, SNEHA Centre created a special group of Sanginis (Female Community Volunteers) who will be specially trained on topics, resources and methods of intervention in cases of violence and abuse. On Feb 7th, SNEHA Centre conducted its first Sanginis Workshop in the community.

The four hour workshop had 30 Sanginis participate from all three SC intervention areas in Mankhurd and Govandi. The first workshop’s goal was to develop an understanding of what the women already know and think about domestic violence and abuse in their community.

The Sanginis began the workshop with sharing personal stories about opportunities they wish they had been given, the key opportunity being an education. The Sanginis expressed that due to being uneducated, they had to abide by rules such as not leaving the house alone, waiting for their husband to give them money for conducting household purchases or providing medical care for themselves and their children. The Sanginis expressed that if they had been educated, they could have fought for their autonomy.

The Sangini’s experiences were then tied back to different types of domestic violence such as Physical, Emotional, Sexual, Economic and Psychological abuse. The activities during the workshop progressed to give the Sanginis the chance to brainstorm on ways in which they could engage at the community level to prevent violence and abuse and create more awareness amongst the community residents on the subject.

Also Read: Talking Gender In Dharavi