Help Returning Migrant Workers Recover From COVID-19 Crisis

As you read this, millions of migrant workers and their families continue to be stranded across India - unsure of their next meal, deprived of an income, and unable to get the assistance they need. Out of sheer desperation, tens of thousands of them undertook the most arduous of journeys – men, women and children walked hundreds of kilometres to get home. Many lost their lives on the way.

Even for those who did reach home, the troubles have continued. A lot of daily wage earners who are out of work are struggling to even meet basic ration needs and have been forced to take on exploitative, high-interest loans from private moneylenders. The coronavirus crisis and the nationwide lockdown have hit these workers the hardest. They do not have the privilege of working from home, nor the resources to wait this out.

But can we come together to help them?

As this crisis of unprecedented proportions unfolds before us, a collective of NGOs led by survivors of human trafficking is working relentlessly on the ground to assist migrant workers and their families. Helmed by the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT) and Tafteesh, in collaboration with HELP, we are conducting relief operations across the country.

Now, we need YOUR HELP – to continue and expand our relief work. Each contribution goes a long way in helping fight this crisis.

While most campaigns are structured on a top-down strategy, where the NGOs involved standardize the relief package and distribute it across all sections of people, often resulting in a mismatch of the relief provided as compared to the needs of the people affected, we believe in facilitating a different approach. Through our campaign, we will be constantly reassessing the situation of the affected communities via the various organizations we have tied up with and using the funds we raise accordingly, based on what is needed the most in that community.

What will your contribution be utilized for?

1. Providing monetary support for rations and supplies to workers and families left without cash and any source of income.
2. Providing debt burden relief for low-income workers – to help pay off loans accumulated during this crisis, and prevent them from falling into exploitative debt traps set by moneylenders.
3. Providing monetary support to address healthcare needs (both mental as well as physical health) of families coping with the fallout of the ongoing crisis

Who is conducting this campaign?

This relief initiative is a coordinated effort by several reputed NGOs, led by ILFAT and Tafteesh, with assistance from HELP.

Here’s a little more about the organisations leading the collective.

The Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT) is a national platform by and for survivors of human trafficking.

Tafteesh is a coalition of survivors of human trafficking, lawyers, social workers, probation officers, psychologists, researchers, and human rights activists who work to empower survivors of human trafficking to claim justice, and to support governments in preventing and combating human trafficking.

HELP is an NGO working on the rescue and rehabilitation of victims, especially children, who are trafficked for sexual exploitation in Andhra Pradesh.

All of these organisations have joined hands to help counter the migrant crisis across the country. But they need your support. And so, we are counting on you. 

Every contribution matters. Will you help us improve the plight of our migrant workers and their families?