Kolkata Rista

Kolkata Rista (hereinafter, ‘KLR’) is a transgender community-based organization (CBO). The organization working in four states of India for the last Read more14 years (West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh), with various subgroups of the broader LGBTQI community as well as general populations specially youths, i.e. those of non-normative sexual orientation and gender identity. This includes people who identify as Transgender, Hijra, Kothi, Lesbian, Gay, Queer, and also the often ‘hidden’ populations of Dupli, Parikh, Giria, etc. who rarely publicly identify. Amongst these groups are male and transgender sex workers. Kolkata Rista is run by members of these communities themselves and over the years the programmes and strategies of the organization represent an approach sensitive to the ground level experiences of exclusion and marginalization due to gender and sexual divergence from the heteronormative structures of society. KLR is sensitive to socio-cultural diversity and celebrates pluralistic nature in the surrounding: ‘All roses are roses but all roses are not red!’ The early years of KLR’s work had been in the context of health, and more particularly vis-a-vis HIV/AIDS interventions. It has been a primary partner for a range of governmental and international interventions providing HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment information and services from a Human Rights perspective - i.e. recognizing that vulnerability to HIV/AIDS is strongly correlated with broader social, economic, and political marginalization. From here KLR has broadened its work to other elements of health and healthcare, including work on tuberculosis within the transgender community. KLR also has a strong track record of working on broader issues of gender and patriarchy, including in the context of domestic violence, the right to education, and supporting families in extreme poverty. KLR has worked and continues to work with a range of local, national, and international campaigns, including the Wada Na Todo Campaign and the One Billion Rising Campaign. KLR has, over the years, focused on building a strong presence, especially amongst working class Transgender communities while also establishing relationships with a range of stakeholders in its attempt to bring about an Enabling Environment for the realization of rights. It has established mechanisms for collective deliberation and action by communities in the context of violence and crisis intervention. KLR has given special emphasis on working with the police and focused on administrative-level advocacy as a strategy to minimize stigma, discrimination, and violence against the community. In this regard, KLR has concrete expertise in organizing workshops and sensitization programs for high-level officials, police personnel, and government administrative offices.

Energize, Involve and enable community to realize to their potentialities

Kolkata Rista is a transgender based organization, working with transgender people for last 20 years, currently the organization is working in 4 states of India and these are West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The organization is working with national and international donors. Kolkata Rista one of organization who is implementing 3 projects which are supported by West Bengal State AIDS Prevention & Control Society. currently we are serving community like these -- MSM, Transgender, Hijra, FSW, Migrant labor, Truckers and other vulnerable youth groups.The organization nationally and internationally performed based on the issues of awareness and advocacy. currently the organization strongly doing advocacy with different kinds of stakeholders. very recent the organization took part to server pilgrims of gangasagar mela at Kolkata Moidan.