By Kate Unsworth – Intern, Development Division

World Health Day is an annual commemoration of the founding of the World Health Organisation (WHO). This year, Centre for Social Research and Fortis La Femme hospital celebrated World Health Day by organising a comprehensive health camp for 1000 women and girls at the CSR Crisis Intervention Centre in the Sangam Vihar community of New Delhi. In addition to providing healthcare to an underserved population, this event incorporated the theme of Ageing and Health. Health experts educated the community about how individuals’ healthcare needs change as they age, and explained how older people can continue to be active and productive if they are healthy and have the support of their family and community.

This health camp positively impacted women’s lives by directly addressing their unique health concerns. Several gynaecologists, endocrinologists, dieticians, orthopaedists, and other medical specialists:

• Provided confidential, free, and easily accessible medical consultations for women and girls;
• Recommended treatments for gynaecological issues and concerns;
• Provided quality medications and dietary supplements to those in need;
• Indentified the most pressing medical concerns faced by women and girls in the community, in order to target these needs in future initiatives.

The health camp was a great success, and we look forward to organising similar events in the future.

Shot, edited, directed by Ankur Kapoor, ‘Second Wind’ is a 20 minute documentary, which takes up the cases of three survivors of domestic violence, and narrates their life journeys, from the beginning of their abuse, to their current state.

‘Second Wind’ tells the heartwrenching stories of Ruksana, Nanhi Devi and Shabnam. Ruksana was married when she was young, as her family feared that she being crippled would affect chances of marriage in the future. She faces humiliation and endured abuse by her husband, in front of their children, and one day decided it was enough. She went to one of CSR’s Crisis Intervention Centres (CICs) initially to seek help, and today, she is appointed as an assistant counselor there. Nanhi Devi, was abused to such a great degree by her husband that she became handicapped, and would crawl in order to move around. Some women took her to the CIC, which collected money for her operation, and subsequent medical care, and today she’s able to walk on her feet. Shabnam was married when she was 13, and had her first child when she was 14. Her husband tried to poison her when she had contracted tuberculosis. But it was only when he poisoned her young son, subsequently killing him, did she seek divorce. Today she lives with her one surviving son, attends CIC meetings as often as she can, and manages to earn her own money.

The documentary covers not only the life stories of these three women, but it also shows what an important and supportive role which the CICs play. They act as an initial contact point for these women to share their problems with, and then, they act as a bridge between the police and these women, in case they need to seek police intervention. The documentary displays how the CICs provide the distressed women with information about their legal rights, and once they’re on their own, the CICs help them to stand on their own two feet, and become independent- not just in terms of working and earning money, but also becoming stronger individuals.

‘Second Wind’ is a crisp, hard hitting and soul stirring piece of work, which raises awareness about the plight of not just Ruksana, Nanhi Devi and Shabnam, but also of the countless, nameless women across the country and the world. It also provides hope and strength, especially when the women talk about their lives as of now, and how help from the CICs has changed their lives for the better. Above all, ‘Second Wind’ makes the viewer think about domestic violence and its repercussions, long after it’s over.

To watch this video on our Youtube channel Click here

“There is a need to start looking at women as human beings first rather than victims. Women are capable of looking after their own issues if the government gives them the right to governance, which has been on the back burner for decades”, said Director Ranjana Kumari at CSR’s National Conference 2011 on Why Gender Matters on Monday.

The conference, held at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi on 21 November, brought together leaders from India’s government agencies, civil society and renowned academic institutions to discuss action-based solutions to the issues of gender inequality and women’s rights and empowerment. Various speakers took to the mic throughout the day to address some of the key problems troubling women and girls across the country: pre-natal sex selection, domestic violence, human trafficking and gender and governance.

Kicking the event off during the inaugural session, Bharati Saliwal from UN Women said, “Changing the status of women needs a mindset change. Violence against women is not excusable, acceptable or pardonable.”

Three brave survivors then recounted their experiences of gender discrimination and of overcoming incidents of domestic violence and trafficking. One of the victims was forced to undergo the abortion of her second child since she already had one girl. When she subsequently fell pregnant with a third girl child, she was forced to leave her home and was abandoned by her husband. Another victim, a 48-year-old woman from Western Uttar Pradesh, talked about being married to a HIV positive man who died a year later. She tragically suffered domestic violence at the hands of her in-laws. However, with the help of CSR, the woman has since been able to obtain widow pension and register her daughter for the government’s Ladli scheme.

Nonetheless, the work to be done extends far beyond individual efforts and empowerment. Speakers of all four sessions at Why Gender Matters spoke passionately of the need for better laws and better implementation of those laws in order to improve Indian women’s lives. They also stressed the need for more interaction between media and the government.

Focusing on the promotion of action-based change through experience sharing and participatory discussion, Monday’s conference aimed to establish policy, programme or budget input for government agencies and representatives. The relaxed environment provided a strong platform for collective action amongst non-government organisations and civil society, and resulted in innovative recommendations for new approaches and activities for those working at the grassroots level on gender.

Attendees included key figures from the government, civil society and academic sectors. Esteemed speakers included Smt. Bharati Silawal, EVAW Specialist, UN Women, Dr. Roma Debabrata, President of STOP, Ms. Varsha Despande, a Lawyer from Satara, Maharashtra, Ms.  Bijayalaxmi Nanda,  University of Delhi, Ms. Poonam Kathuria, SWATI, Ms. Lotty Aloric, Lok Sabha TV, Ms. Padma Devasthali, CEHAT, Ms. Indira Jaisingh, President of Lawyers Collective, Ms. Madura Dutta, Resident Manager of Banglanatakdotcom, Mr. N. Sanyal, Additional Sec. MOWCD, Professor Simhadri, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, Ms. Arti Dogra, District Magistrate Bundi, Rajasthan, Ms. Anupama Jha, Transparency International, Ms. Sunita Sehrawat, Ex-Sarpanch, Haryana and Dr. Praveen Kumari Singh, Ministry of Home Affairs and ACP Pratima Sharma of the Special Police Unit for Women and Children.

We’re excited to announce CSR’s annual event for 2011, Bring Her to Light, celebrating 28 years of efforts toward empowerment of the women and girls of India. Do join us on Thursday 15 December from 4-9pm at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi for an unforgettable evening of celebration through music, film, art and dance!

Bring Her to Light is an opportunity for our team, supporters, community members and friends to come together, share experiences and promote women’s rights. Doors open at 4pm. Get there a bit early to browse arts and crafts made by the women and girls of our four Crisis Intervention Centres (CICs) across Delhi.

Some of Northern India’s most promising young bands are providing live entertainment for the evening and are not to be missed:

8.15pm - Sonam Kalra & The Sufi Gospel Project (Delhi)
7.30pm – Jasleen and Sahil (Chandigarh)
7.00pm – [Premier screening of our new short film, a collaboration between CSR and award-winning director Ankur Kapoor]

6.30pm – Delhi Drummers (Delhi)
6.00pm – SlumGods (Delhi)

RSVP on Facebook and help us spread the word by inviting your friends!

HEALTH CAMP IN SANGAM VIHAR, DELHI: We are looking for volunteers for CSR’s latest project ‘Shuruaat: A new Beginning’ in Delhi. Can you help?

Shuruaat is running a Health Camp at our Sangam Vihar Crisis Intervention Centre (CIC), Delhi on  8th & 9th November to provide vital medical treatment to women and children from the local community. One doctor, one nurse and one assistant from Fortis Hospital will be joining us for the two-day health camp and free medical check-ups, vitamins and de-worming tablets will be made available to all patients attending.

We’re looking for young, enthusiastic, caring volunteers who can spare one morning or afternoon on Tuesday 8th or Wednesday 9th November to assist with running the Health Camp. Volunteers will assist in registration of patients, patient care, distribution of medication, and to provide basic healthcare information to the women and children of Sangam Vihar.

Volunteers are requested to bring one packet of multivitamins (iron/calcium/vitamin-E) or pack of glucose powder. Volunteers can sign up for either a morning shift (10.30am-1pm) or afternoon shift (2-5pm) and refreshments will be provided for at Sangam Vihar CIC.

If you are interested in this unique opportunity to give something back to the local community, and would like more information, please email Anubhuti at anubhuti@csrindia.org or leave your number by calling 011 26899998 and we will call you back the same day.

Rape is one of the most distressing and prevalent forms of violence against women in India today, with as many as two women being raped every hour across the country, according to the latest National Crime Bureau statistics. Owing to an alarming increase in the number of rape cases in the Capital, in July of this year our Development division undertook a study which examined the First Information Reports (FIRs) registered at CSR’s Rape Crisis Intervention Centre from early 2010 to July 2011. A total of 58 cases were examined, and additional field visits to South Western district police stations were conducted to review the quality of the implementation of Delhi High Court directives dealing with child sexual abuse cases.

So far, to date, the study has been covered among national and international outlets including the Times of India, Daily Pioneer, Asian Age, and Outlook India. While much of this media attention focussed on timing and location of the incidents, the study also revealed a trend in the age of victims and perpetrators. The majority of rape victims seeking assistance and filing reports at the CSR Crisis Intervention Centre are below the age of 20 (66%, with 22% of victims under the age of 10). On the other hand, 67% of accused were over the age of 20.

Additionally striking, was the discovery of a high prevalence of sexual assault committed by persons known to the victim: 51 out of 58 persons accused were relatives, neighbours, friends, teachers or acquaintances; only 7 out of 58 persons accused were either strangers or were not further specified by the victim.

By Kara Brown, a Centre for Social Research Intern in the Media & Communication Division. Kara is a recent graduate from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect before moving to New Delhi to join the Centre for Social Research team. Although I secretly feared that I’d find the extent of poverty and crime against women here discouraging, I was also determined to avoid forming any pre-conceptions. Two months into my internship, I had the privilege of visiting one of CSR’s four Crisis Intervention Centres (CICs) in Delhi, where grassroots-level work to end violence in families and communities takes place.

Accompanied by friends and family visiting from as far as Scotland, England and Germany, a handful of CSR staff headed to Chattarpur, in the southwestern most reaches of New Delhi, for the monthly Parivartan Mahila Swawlamban Samiti (Women’s Change Committee) meeting on Tuesday 30^th August. Women and girls, some as young as 8 years old, from all four of our CICs across the city had gathered in Chattarpur to greet us. A few introductory songs and dance performances later, and Chattarpur head counselor Rekha opened up the floor to a question and answer session between our guests and community members. After one teenaged girl raised her hand to ask my own mother if she’d had an arranged marriage, the entire crowd cheered, squealed in excitement and applauded when my mother shyly answered that she’d had a love marriage.

Next, we ran an art workshop where we asked everyone to paint or draw their hopes and dreams for the future. All of the women who come to our CICs for assistance have been through unthinkable traumas in their past, and many are still suffering in the present. On that Tuesday afternoon, however, in a little shaded corner of Chattarpur, after finishing their jobs and household chores, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of Delhi life and the hardships they face every day, the women and girls were all sitting there smiling, singing and laughing as they dreamed up futures of happy families, brilliant careers, palm trees, beaches and endless good weather.

One young woman in particular caught my attention. During the earlier discussion, she rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She showed signs of someone who had experienced the kind of difficulties I have only read about in books: the type of childhood stories that would no doubt reduce you to tears. However, as guests and community members alike took turns to introduce themselves, she had confidently introduced herself to the group and told us that she has been coming to the Chattarpur CIC for a long time. As everyone separated into smaller groups and jostled for a portion of the art supplies, this girl began to draw one of the most colourful and expressive pictures of all. If I did have any pre-conceptions of a bleak future for the women and girls of India, or the frustrations that come with working to change mindsets in a society steeped in patriarchy, they disappeared at least for a while that afternoon in Chattarpur. These young women, with the help of an invaluable support network around them, are finding the strength to believe in themselves and gradually working towards making Delhi a safer place to live. They give me hope for the future generations of men and women in India and organisations working in the field of human rights and development, like CSR.

As some of the middle-aged women and primary school girls began approaching our guests in order to explain and eventually gift us their artworks, a few of the teenagers grabbed a set of drums and broke into song. Some of the younger girls pulled the CSR office staffers and our guests out of our seats to dance and insisted that we couldn’t leave before they’d painted mehndi (henna) designs on our hands and feet. While the henna on my own hands has since faded, it remains clearly etched in my mind just how supportive the women and counsellors in the CICs are of each other, and how warmly and selflessly they welcomed a group of strangers into their community.

By Rana Kattan, a Centre for Social Research intern in the Media and Communication Department. Rana is a recent graduate of McGill University in Canada.

It was definitely the hottest day I’ve seen so far. Armed with a bottle of sunscreen, chilled water and a cap protecting my head, I was anticipating a scene unlike any I’ve been exposed to before. With minimal expectations and preconceptions, I was only certain we were headed towards one of our four Crisis intervention Centres in Delhi, particularly the one in Uttam Nagar, West Delhi for a community meeting to discuss women’s health, network progress and education.

The narrowing streets with filled with children playfully running, sweet shops on the pavement, dogs and cattle dozing the heat away signaled that we’ve reached our destination. I stepped into the centre itself, which young women covered like a carpet and was greeted by the crowd with wide, enthusiastic eyes. Stationed at the other end of the room were the CSR counselors. Two large fans ventilated the room, but were hardly sufficient to combat the heat. Interestingly enough, that didn’t seem to dampen the young women’s eagerness to listen and participate in today’s discussion. Once all was settled, the CSR counselors brought fourth the topics on the agenda: starting with women’s health concerns, as my fellow interns interpreted for me. Although the girls seemed thrilled to voice their opinions, the topic took a turn when a man and women entered the room to join the counselors at their desk.  While it was difficult for me to fathom what they had come for, a scan of the young women’s facial expressions indicated they shared my curiosity.

As the man proceeded with his speech, I was able to detect the words “English Language”, “Computer Education” and “Personality Development”. I asked one of our Indian interns, Pallavi, for the interpretation necessary for me to connect the dots. Then, I understood that these newcomers represented an NGO named “Etasha” and were here to share with the local community the services they targeted at young women (especially those from a disadvantaged background and lacking access to a proper education despite passing the required examinations). These services included vocational training a, as well as a more inclusive, career guidance program for which the vast majority of attendees (seemingly between 14 and 20 years old) were eligible.

At this point, the floor was yielded to a woman Ms. Anindita Kar Gupta, who explained the concept and emphasized the importance of organised sectors, focusing on the service sector (such as areas of customer care) and how Etasha provided placement for young graduates in these sectors. Perhaps merely due to the fact that she was a woman, a factor that served as a strong common bond with the young listeners, the audience instantly perked up, seeming more open and interactive with her. The offering of refreshments and freshly cooked Samosas (a personal favourite) marked the end of the CIC meeting, with the young women quickly rushing back to their interrupted daily routines. The key representatives from the two NGOs remained behind to roughly sketch a collaborative action plan and stipulate the responsibilities of each party.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick up any Hindi from that trip. However, applying my observation skills enabled me to squeeze out some valuable life lessons. These young women set an example of how persistence and determination can yield vast crops out of tiny seeds and minimal resources, while CSR and Etasha’s unfaltering commitment and cooperation symbolized the fertilizers constantly nourishing the growth and development of these seeds.