Several recent studies have shown that the effects of the epidemic are harsh on women and girls. A UN study said that the COVID-19 epidemic would adversely affect women and push more than 47 million women and girls into extreme poverty by 2021.
Women and girls have always been at a huge disadvantage due to issues like pandemics, mentality, female feticide and feticide, lack of financial empowerment and employment opportunities, taboos and misconceptions, periods, lack of sanitation facilities, digital literacy.
Many civil society organizations have often taken steps to help empower women in many areas. Here are some people who “want to change this world”.
Anaht for change
Anahat for Change, founded by East Tanwani, is a Kolkata-based NGO working to empower women through self-help groups and address issues such as menstrual hygiene and toilet facilities in government schools, gender-based violence, etc. Has been doing.
The NGO campaign, “Bleed and Learn Freely”, aims to ensure proper menstrual hygiene management (MHM) facilities in schools. Through surveys with girls in public schools in West Bengal, Purvi felt that lack of proper facilities and hygiene in the toilets were some of the main reasons, which led to the absence of menstruating girls.
“A girl has to spend an average of seven hours a day inside the school premises, making a total of 32 hours a week. She is entitled to safely manage her menstruation in a clean environment, ”Eastern said in a conversation with BusinessKhabar.
It has reached 70 government schools in West Bengal with its Happy Period Program, which aims to question socio-cultural status, disseminate appropriate information about menstrual health and hygiene, menstrual products and bursting myths and taboo To do.
The Collective Impact Partnership
This collective effort by five global organizations empowers women leaders at the grassroots. An effort led by Rise Up, How Women Lead, Public Health Institute, Global Fund for Women and World Pulse, the Collective Impact Partnership works with various leaders of women’s organizations in Maharashtra to advance economic empowerment for women.
The cohort works on a gamut of women-centric issues, such as increasing property ownership by women in agriculture, addressing gaps in labor rights for women workers, through the implementation of a policy for the prevention of sexual relations To make university places accessible and safe for women. Building gender budgeting skills among women for better budget accountability and projects that identify barriers to implementing women’s participation from minority communities.
An example of grassroots empowerment, non-profit Avni co-member in Kolhapur Anuradha Bhosle , Which seeks to increase the recognition and respect of women in garbage picking.
OneProsper and Rural Development Science Committee (GRAVIS)
Canada-based nonprofit OneProsper partnered with the Rural Development Science Committee to work with desert communities and empower rural communities in India.
The partnership has helped 260 girls from over 130 families living below the poverty line realize their dreams of going to school. The girls come from villages in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, where they spent most of their day helping their mothers collect water.
To help them stay in school, OneProsper encouraged traditional rainwater harvesting techniques by installing tanks. The organization also provides school fees and other requirements such as school bags, books and uniforms. It helps women to set up a kitchen garden next to tanks to grow fruits and vegetables.
Goal
Social entrepreneur Rashi Anand Established by, Lakshyam works in the field of women empowerment through skill development and education for children.
The biggest initiative of the NGO has been to get children from begging, ripping and other dangerous employment by getting them admitted to nearby government schools.
Lakshyam is working with slum women, providing them with skill training of handcraft cloth bags for livelihood. It has trained more than 8,000 women to make cloth bags and to market to produce vinyl from cow urine.
During the epidemic, it has helped women make and distribute cloth masks. It also established a dedicated phone line for victims of domestic violence.
Source: YourStory
