Project Bindu

Maya CARE has dared to dream an audacious dream, of an organization in which PWDs take on 90% of paid work and leverage their strengths to provide a professional and highly empathetic free service to the elderly. Why Maya CARE? In a work environment across industries, Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are relegated to a tiny spot in a corner. This tiny spot often is an effort to comply with the policy, norms on diversity and inclusion and sometimes out of genuine sympathy. Even if there is sympathy, there is rarely an effort to teach the person a new skill, give them a new experience or guide them on the path of career progression. Also, the cause of the elderly does not appear on the agendas of donors as there are no success stories and the service only concludes with the death of a beneficiary. The services available expect beneficiaries to pay for them, which they often cannot afford. It is also emotionally difficult and demeaning for the elderly to accept that they need to pay for their emotional/intellectual/logistical support.

The founders started working with PWDs in 2010. They realised that given the right guidance, focus, and belief and more than anything else, the confidence to do something plus the intense training, nurturing for them to be able to learn new skills, the dedication of the persons to do the work was outstanding. In November 2020, we were able to collaborate with SVP Pune for a project which began in Jan-2021 and was to conclude in Dec-2021 where we were to hire 50 persons with disability and make sure that through project Bindu, three things were to happen:

● A full-time career in Maya CARE.

● They would be in a position to work on a freelance basis

● They will get a job as well

But given the intense effort that was taken to mobilise candidates, we were able to mobilise 400 out of these 100 today who are already working in Maya CARE.

Talking about the direct impact -Maya CARE has concluded over 10,600 free visits to the elderly through projects managed by persons with disabilities across 30 Indian and 4 UK cities. Moreover, we provide livelihoods and leadership development for persons with disabilities. Maya CARE recruited 400 PWDs, of which 100 are taking on team-leading roles like HR/city/state coordination, helpline management, accounting, recruitment, and fundraising. Out of these, 15 PWDs are being groomed to take on leadership roles.

Coming to the indirect impact of Maya CARE - the elderly are experiencing fulfilled lives again as they have someone to talk to, someone to assist them with medical and logistical support in the need of an hour. The indirect impact on the lives of pwds is that their families are now seeing a ray of hope for their future in terms of financial independence and purpose.