In Vrindavan, thousands of elderly widow mothers face the harsh reality of abandonment and suffering. With no one to turn to, many are left begging on the streets, exposed to heat, cold and rain,Donate so that Maitri can provide shelter, food, clothes and medical support to abandoned elderly mothers now. Give generously.Winnie Singh has witnessed many cases of widow mothers being abandoned on the streets of Vrindavan, one of the holiest places in India. “Children leave their mothers as soon as they become widows. The children start feeling the burden. This has become a practice in today's society that money comes first and everything else later,” says Winnie whose Maitri India, rescues widowed mothers from the streets of Vrindavan.Many widowed elderly mothers often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. And Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help, but because of lack of funds, Winnie and Maitri are in a position to do it."Elderly widows don't have shelter. They sleep in cowsheds over sacks. They don't have a blanket. Nights are really difficult for them," shares Winnie Singh. <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Maitri aims to:<ul><li>Provide shelter and nutritious 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 and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul>Why donate to MaitriWinnie needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. “Maitri urgently needs your support to provide nutritious food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie. “You can become the family they were denied. Hold their hands so they don't need to beg ever again,” she adds. Let’s rescue abandoned widows mothers from the streets of Vrindavan and give them a better future. Donate now.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.

Help provide shelter, food, clothes and medical support to abandoned widow mothers of Vrindavan. 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.

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A period or menstruation is a natural, biological process of the female body. Unfortunately, it has become a source of suffering and illnesses for women and young girls from poor families as they can’t afford sanitary pads. “Proper menstrual hygiene is every woman’s right but has become a curse for many. No one should be denied this right, and sanitary pads should not be a luxury. Just for the sake of a ₹5 sanitary pad women and girls are putting their health and even their lives at risk,” says Khyati Gupta founder of Pinkishe Foundation. Khyati and her NGO are committed to ensuring that no woman or girl is deprived of something as basic as sanitary napkins.Pinkishe Foundation has identified 4,000 women and young girls from acutely poor backgrounds who need to be supported with monthly sanitary napkins. Without this support many girls might be forced to use unhygienic alternatives, putting at risk their health and wellbeing. Donate now to protect the right to safe menstruation.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).The shocking truth“In villages and tribal areas, girls cannot afford sanitary pads and therefore are forced to use things like dirty cloth, ash, hay, old newspapers, or even cow-dung cakes, to manage their period blood. Because of this, girls suffer various illnesses such as rashes and urinary tract infections, and these illnesses at times turn into cancer as well. Out of all the cervical cancer cases in the world, almost one-fourth of them occur in India. A major reason for that is that women are unable to maintain hygiene during periods, shares Khyati.According to Khyati, lakhs of girls are even forced to drop out of school after their first period because of their inability to manage their periods.Your donation can ensure that the health and future of women and girls from poor families are not compromised because of their inability to afford sanitary pads. Donate generously to give every woman and girl her right to safe menstruation.Donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help young girls and women from poor families receive free sanitary pads.NGO's 80G number: AADTP3680QF20218NGO's 12A number: AADTP3680QE20178

Join Khyati’s mission and ensure that no woman or girl is deprived of sanitary pads due to poverty

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

Women Empowerment

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

Livelihood

Kat-Katha works with women and children living in brothels, who were trafficked/forced into sex work at a young age. Over the years Kat-Katha has been creating safe spaces and life choices for the women and their children to learn, explore, and come alive with a sense of connection, expression, and possibility.Registered under the Societies Registration act 1860, Kat-Katha was born on the streets of G.B. Road, the largest red-light area in the National capital region. Since its inception, Kat-Katha has been guided by the vision “To End Forced Sex work’. Our mission is to enable women and children living in brothels to live a life of their own choice and pursue their dreams with Dignity, Ownership, and Compassion. In a span of over eight years, Kat-Katha has worked with 1500 trafficked women and 200 children on GB Road through efforts in education, health awareness, counseling, and skill development. Our work is majorly in the areas of:1) Community Building: Deep understanding of the needs and building of trust in the community through research, festival celebrations, and awareness drives.2) Education: We enroll children in regular schools as well as have an after-school run on the top floor of one of the buildings in the red light district where academics, exposure, and life skill activities are conducted. We also conduct literacy classes for women inside brothels.3) Livelihoods: We have a delivery kitchen in Pandav Nagar, New Delhi, where women from GB Road, lead a culinary business called Maitri Meals, where women are trained on employable cooking skills and get a chance to earn a livelihood through it. We also conduct livelihood and skill development training for young adults from the community.The efforts by Kat-Katha have been recognized at several prestigious forums including L’oreal Paris Femina Women Awards, Times Now Amazing Indian Award, Mahindra Rise Award, Reebok Fit to Fight Award, Radio 98.3, Delhi ke Heroes,  and so on.

Donations through Give Foundation, registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961 are tax-deductible.

Anurag Garg

Kat-Katha

This nonprofit is registered as a charitable trust under section 12A of India's Income Tax Act, 1961.

This nonprofit is registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961. This means you can deduct 50% of the donation you made through your tax return.

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Current ScenarioGB Road is home to 78 brothels where over 2500 women live along with their children. These women are victims of sex trafficking, abuse, and violence. Due to the ongoing lockdown, some of them left for their homes as business declined, whereas hundreds of them are stuck in dingy brothels as they have nowhere to go. The current times are especially hard on these women as they have no other source of income, negligible savings to fall back on, and little support from family and society to sustain themselves. Role of Government BodiesWithin two days of the lockdown, Kat-Katha and a couple of other NGOs came together with the SDM of Karol Bagh to ensure that the sex workers on GB Road have access to enough rations for the coming month. In all our relief drives, the local police and the SDM office support us in the procurement and distribution of supplies in the community. However, the majority of the women cannot avail Government’s subsidized food supply as they do not have ration cards and as of now, there hasn’t been any allocation of public relief funds for the area by the Government. Role of Local NGOs &amp; Why Kat-Katha?In these times, it is truly the onus of local organizations to leverage their deep networks and relations in the marginalized communities to reach out and provide relief support to the most vulnerable people. In a span of over 8 years, Kat-Katha has developed all the prerequisites to bring immediate impact such as a vast network in the community, a dynamic team of 100+ volunteers, and professional rapport with the local administration to facilitate smooth implementation of our plans. 
 Kat-Katha’s COVID-19 Resilience Project Experts predict it might take up to 6 months for social distancing measures to relax and 18-24 months for the economic conditions to revive. In this context, persistent poverty and lack of jobs in the near future would mean more women getting trafficked into sex work, lesser paying capacity of customers and more exploitation. Hence, Kat-Katha's Resilience Project is not only preparing to support the community during the lockdown but also for the economic aftermath that follows.We plan to work through the following initiatives: 1. Karuna Relief DriveWe have mapped close to 800 people on GB Road who need our support and we expect this number to double as the lockdown is relaxed during the next three months. Karuna Relief drive will primarily focus on providing necessary food and medical supplies to all these people. It would be carried out in three phases of which Phase 1 has already been implemented as an immediate response to the lockdown. Phase 2 will be carried out from May to July and subsequently Phase 3, from August to October.Under Karuna Relief Drive, we are distributing the following supplies.<ul><li>Ration Kits: Monthly Ration Kits for every person ₹660/kit for the next six months to ensure food security until economic activity resumes. </li><li>Infant &amp; Hygiene Kit: Monthly distribution of infant kits ₹850/kit (diapers &amp; baby food) and essential hygiene kit ₹105/kit (sanitizer, soap, masks &amp; sanitary pads) </li><li>Health Support: Health support of ₹250/family for the next six months to selected families as a lot of women have health ailments like thyroid, diabetes, skin diseases and low immunity due to the nature of their work and long experience of abuse</li><li>Cooking Gas: ₹200/month for refilling cooking gas will be allocated to each person.</li></ul>2. Livelihood PlatformWe plan to set up a Livelihood Training Centre on GB Road which will act as an alternative livelihood platform for the sex workers. Women will get a chance to acquire training in either professional cooking or product tailoring, depending on their interest. From an initial need analysis, we have received an affirmative response from over 40 women.The plan will be implemented in two phases.<ul><li>Phase 1 (During Social Distancing Norms) - Training will be held virtually in the initial months. We are setting up an online learning platform and ensuring smooth internet access for the trainees. We plan to enrol 10-15 women in the first two quarters i.e. Q1, May-July &amp; Q2, Aug-Sept.</li><li>Phase 2 (Post Social Distancing Norms) – We are planning to set up the skill centre on GB Road during Aug-Sept (Q2) and shift from online classes to the offline centre in October. With an operating skill centre on the road, we expect to enrol women in larger numbers in the last two quarters (Q3 &amp; Q4) making the total number of attendees approximately 50 by the end of year. </li></ul>We plan to pay all trainees ₹2500/month as apprentice fees which would act as a compensation for their outputs and an incentive for learning. We have already partnered with Craftroots and Goonj for selling women’s output in product tailoring. For the culinary business, we have our own successful venture, Maitri Meals. Finally, to make these initiatives truly a success, we plan to identity Community Leaders who will be responsible for<ul><li>Spearheading the mobilisation of their community into alternative livelihood activities. </li><li>Helping us in execution of need analysis and impact assessment on our relief drives and initiatives in the coming year. </li></ul> 
 What Have We Done So Far? As an immediate response to the pandemic and the following lockdown, we developed and effected the following initiatives on ground - <ul><li>Relief Drive (First Phase): Kat-Katha organized COVID-19 Karuna Relief Drive to distribute ration and hygiene kits to more than 600 people on GB Road for one month’s sustenance. </li><li>Digital Campaigns: Awareness campaigns to sensitize people on GB Road about the coronavirus pandemic driven by leaders from the community. </li><li>Need Analysis: Analysis of the situation on the field and designing of a comprehensive plan to support women and children.  </li></ul>Scope of Impact <ul><li>Providing necessities for survival : ration &amp; medical supplies to ~2200 women on GB Road ensuring no woman or child falls prey to hunger or disease</li><li>Preparing the community to face similar adversities in the future by providing alternate livelihood opportunities to the women on GB Road</li><li>Identifying Community leaders who will own and</li></ul>

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