"My son used to kick me when he was in my womb. Why make an issue when he kicked me in my old age?" reasons a very forgiving Shakti Dasi. The widow travelled 2300 kms from Tripura to Vrindavan after her only son violently beat her with a burning plank of wood and broke her knee one evening. She had to leave behind the business she had built with her husband who had died a few years back. Shakti ended up on the streets of Brindavan begging for food and shelter. But when Winnie Singh of Maitri saw Shakti in a frail state in tattered clothes, she brought her to the shelter home where Shakti gets food, care and medicines. What more, with Maitri’s intervention, Shakti reconciled with her son - and daughter-in-law, and now travels home to Tripura twice a year to spend time with her grandchildren. But she is not leaving Maitri, as this has become her family.Not every elderly widow who comes to Vrindavan after being abandoned by her family gets as lucky as Shakti. Many of them often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ce101369-528c-4d37-bc1d-1118b9925af3.jpg" />Maitri’s Project Jeevan to the rescueAbandoned, elderly widows are the amongst the most vulnerable in India. After being thrown out of their often abandoned by their own children and are forced to beg for food and shelter. “Through Project Jeevan, Maitri houses aging widow mothers in two ashrams in Vrindavan and Radhakund (Mathura), providing them with wellness and well-being. The programme also reaches out to widow mothers beyond the ashrams with fruit, milk and healthcare services,” explains Winnie Singh, co-founder and executive director, Maitri India.Save homeless elderly widows from begging on the streetsMost widows who make their way to Vrindavan are abandoned by their families, often after years of abuse. They come here hoping they will spend the rest of their days in prayer and devotion. But most live in impoverished conditions on the streets and in dingy rooms. Since poor living conditions often cause a wide range of health ailments, including respiratory infections and chronic conditions, Maitri comes to their rescue through its Project Jeevan.The project aims to:<ul><li>Provide meals leading to improved health and wellbeing</li><li>Make physical and mental health services accessible</li><li>Offer necessary quality aged care and assisted living support</li><li>Increase awareness on and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul><img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Project Jeevan needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. Donate now.“Maitri urgently needs your support to provide food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie.Maitri believes in a woman’s right to dignity in life and death, more so a mother. Our help will enable Maitri to save hundreds of abandoned widows from a life of begging, and restore the respect, dignity, and identity they deserve.

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

“They insert a candle in the vagina, fingers are inserted (in the vagina) and tortured, and if children don’t relent even then, they put chilli powder so that children will say “yes” because of the burning of the skin… There are teeth marks on their bodies, and their vaginal parts are burnt. When children stay in these conditions, it is painful even to hear,” says Lalitha SA of Society for Participatory Integrated Development (SPID), in course of talking about many heart-rending stories of trafficked children in red-light areas.In over three decades, the SPID led by Lalitha, has saved over 3000 children from the red-light areas, many from clutches of sex trafficking.Sadly, many more children need to be rescued and in need of a loving home. But Lalitha needs our support to carry on the mission, to move out of her small facility so that she can rescue more children, house them in a permanent location and give them all the love they deserve. Your support can help her give these children the care and upbringing they need. Donate now.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).A movement to protect vulnerable childrenAs a social worker, Lalitha has worked for decades in GB Road, the red-light area of Delhi and helped many women escape the clutches of being forced into sex. But it was the exploitation of children, many of them hardly ten or twelve or even less. The SPID has focused on rescuing such children and giving them a new life.Lalitha plays a vital role in the survival and safety of vulnerable children in the red light areas. As SPID is almost entirely dependent on donations from the public, we can support and strengthen SPID’s mission to save children. Donate generously.Donation to SPID’s fundraiser on Give.do“I have limited funds and very limited space, and if I had the funds, I would be able to rescue many more children and provide them with more comfort. With folded hands, I plead with you that you help us with funds in large numbers and support us in providing us children with a decent life. Become a part of the mission,” pleads LalithaDonate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help Lalitha give hundreds of children rescued from brothels a life away from violence and abuse.NGO's 80G number: AADAS3217RF20212NGO's 12A number: AADAS3217RE20214

This Navratri, help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

“I used to be sexually abused repeatedly, and when I screamed in pain, they hit and threatened me with more violence,” says Priya (name changed), a rescued child sex worker. Priya was abducted by traffickers and sold into a red-light area house before she was rescued by Guria led by Manju. For over two decades, Manju has been rescuing young girls forced into prostitution across the country. She has been shaken to the core seeing some of the most horrifying crimes that young girls have to undergo. “You can’t imagine the state of girls forced into sex work. The girls are given electric shocks and burnt with cigarette butts just to get kicks out of it. And if they get pregnant, the "owners" kick them repeatedly in the womb so that the child inside dies…If you want to see hell, it is here on this planet where young girls are sexually abused,” says Manju.Manju needs your help to rescue more young girls from forced prostitution and reunite them with their families. Donate now.Guria’s work over the yearsBased out of Varanasi, inarguably the holiest place in India, Manju and her organisation Guria, fights the sexual exploitation of girls, especially minors, by taking on the traffickers head-on, and rescuing and rehabilitating them.Started in 1993, Guria has rescued over 5500 persons from slavery, sex trafficking, and child prostitution so far. It has also been instrumental in shutting down hundreds of places that housed trafficked girls and putting scores of traffickers out of business and in jail.For instance, in 2005, a Guria-led rescue operation in Varanasi's red-light area led to the freeing of 49 women and girls, including minors. Many of them were kept against their will. Some of the traffickers were also arrested and tried. Since then, Guria has rescued thousands of young girls.Manju and her husband, Ajeet Singh began rescuing girls from Varanasi’s red-light areas and then working to stop the sex-trafficking of young girls within Uttar Pradesh and outside. The organisation’s aim is to eliminate the sex trafficking of women, especially minor girls, end second-generation prostitution and child prostitution, and rehabilitate women and girls who are rescued from the trade. Manju has faced violent backlash from the traffickers and other vested interests, but it has not deterred her from carrying on rescuing young girls from trafficking. Rescue and rehabilitationBesides rescuing girls trafficked for sex, mostly from low-income families, from across the country, Guria fights on their behalf in courts and also provides education, food, vocational training, and other facilities until they are united with their families. But because of a lack of funds, Guria is finding it difficult to rescue more girls and also take care of them once they are away from the clutches of the traffickers. Take the case of Sameena (name changed), who was abducted from Uttar Pradesh all the way to Telangana. Guria took it upon itself to rescue the girl with the help of its own work and also the authorities. After months of rehabilitation, Sameena went back to her family and even completed her education. With your support, Manju can rescue many more young girls from trafficking and help them live the life of their dreams.

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

This is a sample description for Livelihood. For the purpose of testing I will use the word LivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihood.

Livelihood

This is a sample description for Women Empowerment. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Women EmpowermentWomen EmpowermentWomen Empowerment.

Women Empowerment

CIRTD is a non-profit organization with a period of 20 years, registered in the year 2000-2001 under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. As a community based organization, it intensively works in 5 Blocks in Sundargarh district of Odisha state among the people of socio-economically weaker sections of tribal and agrarian communities with priority to the needy women, children, adolescents and youths. It has gained knowledge and grassroots level experience in livelihood promotion, capacity building, networking, project/ program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It has built up good rapport with people of the targeted communities and familiar with their socio economic issues, problems and needs through participatory processes of study, problems analysis and addressing the prioritized needs.CIRTD envisions a society where existence of its people is without any threat, the basic needs for leading a dignified social life is satisfied; where everybody irrespective of caste, community, religion, culture or sex enjoys equal privilege and opportunity to attain mental excellence, material achievement and scope for self actualization in a beautiful and healthy environment in an atmosphere of peace, belongingness and love which s/he could feel proud of belonging as inseparable and equal in the same society.

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Samima Begum

CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED RURAL AND TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT

This nonprofit is registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This means it can accept donations from foreign nationals.

Nata Kishore Mishra

When COVID met a tribal migrant &amp; FRA act- Technology Convergence se AtmanirbhartaMs. Kamala Ekka is a resident of Gothbandha village, Sanpatrapali Gram Panchayat, Tangarpalli block, Sundargarh district. The village is situated at the boundary of a dense forest. The nearest Pakka road is about 8 km. The village is about 22 km from G.P office. There are about 24 houses in the village and all belongs to Oram Tribal community. This is a declared forest village. All 24 houses are individual forest right land holders. All families belong to marginal farmer category.The only available water sources are 2 hand pump &amp; 1 unlined farm pond in the village. Since the farm pond is unlined, the pond goes dry post October. There is no irrigation facility in the village. Post-Kharif season, there is no livelihood opportunities for the villagers. Ms. Kamala Ekka and her husband Mr. Sukhlal Ekka used to migrate to Goa and Himachal Pradesh after Kharif season in the search of a livelihood option. Mr. Sukhlal Ekka has developed serious liver problem due to pathetic living condition during migration. The family stopped migration after Sukhlal’s health issue came into light. Since then, Kamala is the only bread-owner in the family of 5 including 3 children.Kamala started kitchen garden in about 50 Sq. m of land post Kharif season. She used to collect NTFP (Non Timber Forest Produce) like Mahua, Saal seed etc to sell in and around village. She started participating in the NREGA to earn cash to bear the medical expenses. Due to lack of irrigation, production from kitchen garden was too low.Sukhalal came to know about Jalkund coupled with treadle pump and drip kit in July 2020 from Poornima Nayak’s field in Kankajura village. The technology was disseminated in the district by an IIT Bombay supported start-up – RuKart. RuKart had signed a MoU with district administration in 2019-20 for the dissemination of technologies like Subjee Cooler, Treadle Pump, Jalkund, Drip Kit and Peek-Rakshak.The Treadle Pump is a manual foot operated pump. Hence, it does not need any external power source. The pump is very suitable for forest and hilly terrain. Power availability during dry spell in Monsoon and Rabi season is a big concern for farmers. Most of the marginal farmers cannot afford Diesel/ Kerosene operated pump. With Diesel or Kerosene price at all-time high, farmers are not able to irrigate their farm during the dry spell. The Treadle Pump was coupled with a Jalkund to ensure protective irrigation for a small vegetable garden during rabi seasonin the Hilly/ Forest region. A typical small vegetable garden must not have more than 300 plants.A Jalkund is a small water harvesting body with the capacity of about 6,000 to 7,000 liters of water. The Jalkund is lined using a plastic sheet to prevent water losses through seepage. The Jalkund is designed to acts as an insurance water body and provide protection irrigation during the dry spell.A farmer was needed to invest Rs. 3,500 to get the three technologies - Treadle Pump + Jalkund + Drip Kit. Sukhlal discussed with Poornima Nayak about the usefulness of the technologies. He got inspired by Poornima and decided to install these technologies in his Kitchen garden. He convenience Kamala about the technology and purchased the same from RuKart. Kamala installed the system in her field in August – Sept. 2020.She received training about Organic cultivation technique from a local ngo, CIRTD. The NGO was promoting Organic farming under the Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yogana (PKVY) project. Later, Kamala joined as a local resource person (LRP) under the PKVY project. She adopted Organic method and did not applied any fertilizer or pesticide into the Kitchen garden. Kamala increases the size of Kitchen garden from 50 Sq. m to 1,000 Sq.m. She planted Tomato, Chilli, Papaya and few other vegetables.Figure 1: Kamala Ekka with her Jalkund.She harvested the first crop in November before the Diwali festival. She received Rs. 40 per Kg of Tomato. Before and during the Diwali festival week, she received very good price of the produce at about Rs. 40 to Rs. 45 per Kg. She sold a total of 3 quintals during the Diwali’s week. Post Diwali season, the rate came down to Rs. 30 per kg for Tomato. She even hired a tanker to supply water once the Jalkund dried-up in December. She harvested vegetables till the end of January month. She saved a total of about Rs. 25,000 from the Kitchen garden.Vegetable and Fruits production during the Rabi season enhanced food and nutritional security of the family.In April 2021, Kamala Ekka hired a few labours and dug a well near to his field. She spent about Rs. 35,000 for the Dug Well. She invested saving from Vegetable selling (Rs. 25,000) and Rs. 10,000 which she had saved from her earning as a LRP (Local resource person under the PKVY scheme). A dug well was a dream of Kamala. A Treadle Pump coupled with Jalkund fulfilled her life-long dream. She has now a perennial water source and she now dream for a brighter future for her children. She cherishes her dream now.Figure 2: Kamala Ekka's Dug Well. The well is about 25 feet deep and 5 feet wide.Figure 3: Sukhlal operating Treadle Pump.IFRA land needs convergence with appropriate technologies to mitigate the migration of Tribal population. Due to lack of Irrigation facilities, farmers are not able to cultivate crop post Kharif season. Thus, migrate to cities in the search of a better livelihood option. Technological convergence will mitigate the migration and will help forest dwellers to earn cash during the lean seasons.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEeX0gTOpF0&amp;ab_channel=NATAKISHOREMISHRA

When COVID met a tribal migrant & FRA act- Technology Convergence se Atmanirbharta

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<ul><li>Sundargarh district is a hilly &amp; tribal dominated district in Odisha. About 40% of the total geographical area in covered under forest. The tribal population is dependent on forest for their food including alcohol, fuel and livelihood. The traditional water storage methods like Dug Well, Bore Well or Farm Pond did not yield the desire result. Hence, water is a big concern in the hilly patch of the blocks &amp; irrigation is limited to only in plain areas of the district. There are no or very few options as a livelihood for the tribal in the district. Most of the tribal working population migrate to Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu in the search of better livelihood.</li><li>Reverse-migrant (mostly Youth/ Women) returning to the district with many health related issues like kidney problem, STD - some with loss of body parts like hand or eye also. This is because they are often get engaged with low or no skill but high risk job like at brick kin or in mining activities etc.</li><li>With no livelihood opportunities at home or high risk job in other states, the working tribal population is trapped in a vicious circle.</li></ul> 
 <ul><li>Last year, CIRTD tracked a number of reverse-migrant. After many focus group discussions, the conclusion was - tribal population is migrating due to lack of irrigation during the Kharif season (Oct - Feb) only. A start-up - RuKart - designed an innovative irrigation system suitable for hilly land - Treadle Pump coupled with Jalkund.</li><li>More than 15 migrant families from the district adopted the innovative system. The result was that for the first time in their life these families cultivated vegetables. A typical plot area was about 200 to 250 sq. meters only.</li><li>Farmers like Kamla Ekka earned a much needed cash after selling the vegetable in the weekly market called as Haat. She earned a total of about Rs. 23,000. For the first time in their life, the family have had vegetables in their lunch and dinner.</li><li>This year, with new COVID strain and migrants are coming back, CIRTD is looking to prevent migration among 200 families in the Sundargarh district. We are looking to support 200 families with a set of Treadle Pump and Jalkund. The total cost for a unit of Treadle Pump coupled with Jalkund stands at Rs. 12,000. A farmer needs to contribute Rs. 4,000. CIRTD is seeking a support of Rs. 8,000 per family.</li></ul> 
 200 tribal families will cultivate vegetable crop during September to February season. This is to strengthen the food security of these families &amp; help them to earn much needed cash during the September to February season. Thus, these families will stay in their respective villages only.

Preventing migration among Tribal communities in Sundargarh district, Odisha

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

This Navratri, help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

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