Sahaara Charitable Society

Thousands of women who have been deceived and trafficked are shocking examples of modern-day slavery. These women are treated as the personal property of individuals and are sold and traded at will through a network of pimps and brothel owners. Most of these women come from extremely poor economic backgrounds and lack basic education and skills required for safe alternate livelihood opportunities. Sahaara seeks to break this cycle of abuse and injustice by offering these women recovery-based rehabilitation and focused reintegration services. Recovery-based rehabilitation is achieved through relationship and trust building; awareness, mentoring and counselling leading to mindset and behavioural change. In our focused reintegration, we develop and implement focused Individual Reintegration Plans (IRPs) that ensure literacy and educational support, skills building and preemployment training leading to safe and stable livelihood opportunities.

A study by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has revealed that the children of sex workers face abuse and discrimination, which results in them isolating themselves from society due to the associated stigma. Most of these children attend schools with limited resources, leading to poor learning outcomes, a sense of failure and a frustrated academic journey. Parental neglect and inability, the lack of a responsible father figure and the prevailing anti-social influences in a red-light area negatively impact the worldview and value system of these children that could potentially lead to delinquent behaviour. Hence, these children are extremely vulnerable and experts fear they could either follow their parents into the flesh trade or turn to crime if they remain uneducated and unskilled. Our vision is to facilitate a better and sustainable learning ecosystem for children in red light areas and ensure strong educational foundations, mental and physical well-being, career enhancement and parent and community strengthening.

The red-light areas are a harsh place for any child to grow up in. The high level of exposure to risk and lack of opportunities poses a threat to the child’s future. Sahaara Charitable Society works with the victims of commercial sex exploitation in red-light districts and runs education centres for their vulnerable children who are prone to abuse, neglect and second-generation trafficking. Through our work in the red-light areas, we identify the most high-risk children of female sex workers and admit them in the Sahaara education hostels with the consent of the mother. Here they are provided with safe accommodation, wholesome nutrition, mental wellness and quality English-medium education. This is undertaken with the goal of offering a safe environment for their holistic development through Individual Care Plans (ICPs). Concurrently, we also work towards reintegrating their parents towards a lifestyle of safety and stability so that the child can ultimately be restored to the family in a 5-year window period. We achieve this through developing and implementing focused Individual Reintegration Plans (IRPs) that ensure literacy and educational support, skills building, and mind-set and behavioural change, leading to safe and stable livelihood opportunities. At Sahaara, we believe that reintegrating the whole family will break the cycle of abuse and injustice, and lead to lasting change.

The Indian government has established its network of childcare institutions to take care of children who are in need of care and protection (CNCP). These children are vulnerable for a variety of reasons such as being orphaned, lost, runaways or victims of child labour, trafficking or abuse. These children enter the government child care institutions at varying ages, possess differing backgrounds and experiences, and are equipped with skill sets and competencies that are rarely common. However, despite the lack of commonality, the children are placed in a one-size-fits-all educational program known as the municipal school, where they struggle to develop grade-level competency. As a result, they face educational challenges, identity crisis, emotional stress and behavioural issues arising from their weak performance in school. They also run the risk of becoming delinquent as they are bogged by a sense of failure, which leads to irritation and rebellious behaviour. Project Pragati’s vision is to facilitate a better and sustainable learning ecosystem for children in government child care institutions and ensure strong educational foundations through remedial education, mental wellness, career enhancement and institutional strengthening interventions.

The red-light areas are a harsh place for any child, especially girls, to grow up in. The high level of exposure to risk and lack of opportunities poses a threat to the child’s future. Sahaara Charitable Society works with the victims of commercial sex exploitation in red-light districts and runs education centres for their vulnerable children who are prone to abuse, neglect and second-generation trafficking. Through our work in the red-light areas, we identify the most high-risk children of female sex workers and admit them in the Sahaara education hostels with the consent of the mother. Here they are provided with safe accommodation, wholesome nutrition, mental wellness and quality English-medium education. This is undertaken with the goal of offering a safe environment for their holistic development through Individual Care Plans (ICPs). Concurrently, we also work towards reintegrating their parents towards a lifestyle of safety and stability so that the child can ultimately be restored to the family in a 5-year window period. We achieve this through developing and implementing focused Individual Reintegration Plans (IRPs) that ensure literacy and educational support, skills building, and mind-set and behavioural change, leading to safe and stable livelihood opportunities. At Sahaara, we believe that reintegrating the whole family will break the cycle of abuse and injustice, and lead to lasting transformation.