Breakthrough Trust

Breakthrough is a human rights organisation seeking to make violence and discrimination against women and girls unacceptable. It uses the power of art Read mores, media, pop culture, and community mobilisation to inspire people to take actions and infuse dignity, equality and justice in the society. The organisation works with communities especially with the youth through trainings that help them develop stronger identity and the confidence to make their own life decisions. The organisation through its mass media campaigns reaches out to people with an objective to imbibe change in attitudes and to provide people with a sense of personal accountability in prevention of violence and discrimination against women and girls. The focus areas of work include Adolescent Empowerment which involves an initiative 'De Tali' working towards creating safe spaces in schools and within communities. Further, the organisation works towards helping women gain confidence by acquiring life skills, exploring opportunity through education, getting access to healthcare services, receive counselling on gender equity and reproductive rights. In the area of Domestic Violence the organisation has introduced an initiative 'Bell Bajaao' which involved people stepping up and ringing the bell to interrupt overheard domestic violence. In the area of Sexual Harassment to combat violence against women (VAW), Breakthrough’s Preventing Violence: Change Starts Now (PVCSN) programme has worked with youth (15 to 35 years) to lead actions against sexual harassment. The programme aims to create safer spaces for women both at home and in public by creating greater institutional accountability. It further aims to guide men and boys to say “NO” to gender based violence. In the areas of Gender Biased Sex Selection and Child Marriage, the organisation has partnered with the Ministry of Women and Child Development under its national ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign and has reached out to 17.7 million people through community programmes and mass media in Haryana. Further, ‘Taaron Ki Toli’ programme is another initiative where the organisation reaches out to 18000 school children across 150 government schools with a 3-year gender sensitisation curriculum in partnership with the Ministry of Education. In this programme it works with both boys and girls to initiate the process of questioning established gender norms as well as build mutual respect and empathy.