India

Report

This year heralded the initiation of the new India programme strategy. The strategy provides us with some key new directions. One element of the strategy was the need to focus more on drawing learnings from the work we have funded. It also rationalises the programme areas and stresses the need to work on enhancing the human and institutional capacities of the development sector.

The strategy identifies four thematic areas that will receive special attention and a proactive approach. However, we are continuing to support predominantly through Open Grants, which have positioned PHF as a supportive funder in the country.

The strategy also provides greater width to the programme in India by proposing to fund work at the macro and meta levels, including research and policy advocacy, which may build on the direct work done with vulnerable communities. It also provides space for working in collaboration with other organisations to achieve strategic goals.

‘Lost Childhoods’

The first of our new thematic initiatives to be taken up focuses on work with children who leave home and whose lives come to centre around the railways. Following a detailed study on the subject, we published a report, Lost Childhoods, outlining activities in this area. ¹ During 2013/14 we funded three organisations in this field. We are continuing our proactive approach to identify and fund organisations that bring special understanding of the problem, and are able to address at least one of the many issues identified as having a bearing on the lives and future of children in contact with the railways.

Learning and sharing are important components of our work under this theme. To facilitate sharing between partners, a seminar was organised in association with Railway Children – a UK-based charity that has also been supporting work in this area. Discussion at the seminar focused on the key aspects of the issue, particularly the need for better documentation of the work that is being done and a stronger focus on creating evidence of the experiences that NGOs have had in working with children in contact with the railways.

Participants agreed that this was a crucial gap, which was particularly felt when dealing with government and advocating for policies that recognise the situation of these children.

Another area of concern was the need for reassessing the effectiveness and efficacy of the processes for returning children to their homes. Of the new grants we made this year, two particularly look at this aspect. We expect that over the period of the grants some more proactive and creative approaches to home restoration will be developed as part of the work done by NGOs.

Following some path-breaking work done by PHF partner National Institute of Women, Child and Youth Development (NIWCYD), the issue of young runaway girls in contact with the railways was discussed. This issue has been overlooked in many cases and NIWCYD’s experiences of working with girls threw new light on the subject. Partners at the seminar took these ideas away with them and are expected to review their work on platforms. Drug abuse by children on the railways was also expressed as an area of concern. The Foundation’s role in facilitating dialogue and discussion on the issue was welcomed by partners. We expect to facilitate many more such discussions as work on the theme develops.

The coming together of the partners was also a first step towards the evolution of a coalition that can work in concert to help highlight the plight of children in contact with the railways so that it is of national concern, thereby encouraging and, if necessary, influencing action by the relevant departments of the Government.

Coordinated support

Another example of joining forces to address issues was seen in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Three PHF grantees located in the area have been working on issues such as labour migration, education and most importantly the abject disempowerment of women. The organisations decided to pool their strengths to form a common front on the issue of women’s empowerment and migration from the region. We encouraged such a move, and our partners are hopeful that their experiences can together make a significant impact on the social and economic factors that are at the root of poverty and deprivation in the area.

The three organisations are featured as case studies in this Yearbook. They represent the preferred bias of the PHF India programme to provide sustained support to small and remotely located organisations addressing critical issues, thereby helping them play important roles in representing the voices of the people.

Committee visit

The Programme Committee meeting held in Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in February 2014 was an opportunity for committee members to experience some of the work being undertaken by partners. Committee members visited three organisations.

Sangini in Bhopal has been working with female domestic labour in the city and is being assisted by our grant to collectivise domestic workers and thereby help them to demand better working conditions and wages. The members of Sangini shared their life stories through small skits as a precursor to an interesting and involved discussion with the committee. The meeting was held in a public park in the city.

Members then travelled to Betul district to understand the work being done by Gramin Vikas Sanstha. GVS has been helping poor communities access their right to employment and through the employment guarantee programme has helped them to revive their livelihoods by making strategic investments into their land and resources. They also visited Pradeepan, which has been working with forest communities to help them access their traditional rights to forests and resources – made possible through an Act of Parliament.

Both visits provided trustees and advisors with an opportunity to connect directly with partners. The village visits helped them to gain insights into the lives of people in rural communities, their livelihood conditions and concerns. The experience also helped them to understand how small but enthusiastic local organisations, led by committed and sincere individuals, are able to make a change and help communities to realise their potential and feel empowered.

The India Programme Committee approved 21 Open Grants and three ‘theme’ grants, as well as an emergency grant for disaster management, during the year, amounting to £1,360,082. Of these, 11 grants were to new organisations and 14 were renewals. With this, the total number of partners being supported by PHF India at the end of the financial year was 53.

The PHF India team saw a change of guard in the Eastern Region. Shwetank Mishra, who is based in Patna, replaced Veena Lakhumalani, who relocated out of the eastern region. Shwetank brings to the team his experience of working with children on railway platforms in Mumbai and a nuanced understanding of issues related to child rights and protection.

Sachin Sachdeva
Director, India

Open Grants

Janvikas Samajik Sanstha (JVSS)

£14,446 over one year awarded in 2008/09, £18,084 over one year awarded in 2009/10, £54,505 over two years awarded in 2010/11, and £49,055 over two years awarded in 2012/13

Marathwada in Maharashtra is a major centre for the sugar cane industry. Despite the availability of mechanised methods, sugar cane cutting remains labour-intensive and workers and their families are frequently exploited. Whole families migrate for several months at a time to live on sugar cane farms. There they live in makeshift shanties, with no protection from the harsh weather. There are no toilets or sources of drinking water, and the sites are hotbeds of misery and disease.

Janvikas Samajik Sanstha (JVSS), an education charity, works to get children who have been taken out of school to work on the farms back into education. To achieve this, it set up children’s day centres in local villages, leading to over 2,500 children rejoining schools. However, the day centres were not available to the large numbers of children migrating with their families.

Through a sustained effort, working with parents, school teachers and care providers, JVSS pioneered the idea of seasonal residential hostels in the workers’ home villages. With our support, JVSS was able to set up the hostels and secure government funding to continue running them.

The schools take responsibility for children during the day, and, if necessary, make accommodation arrangements for the child while their parents are away. Classrooms are converted into makeshift dormitories.

Since initiating the idea three years ago, JVSS has been able to hold back over 20,000 children from going with their parents to the sugar cane farms. Parents were initially hesitant to leave their children behind. However, JVSS managed to build their confidence in the scheme and assure them that their children would be safe and looked after.

There is now growing demand from parents in other villages to set up similar hostels. This year, JVSS will seek to reach even more children to keep them in education. PHF support of the initiative is in its fifth year.

Gramin Mahila Vikas Sanstha (GMVS)

£11,501 over one year awarded in 2010/11, £11,212 over one year awarded in 2011/12, and £31,432 over two years awarded in 2012/13

Samaj Vikas Sanstha (SVS)

£10,778 over one year awarded in 2009/10, £40,405 over two years awarded in 2010/12, and £38,785 over two years awarded in 2012/13

The Foundation has been funding GMVS and SVS to address another negative aspect of the seasonal migration of sugar cane cutters, namely violence against women.

When labour migrates, men, who make the deals with the contractors, include all family members to increase their income. The social systems in Marathwada permit men to marry more than once and there is often more than one wife in the contract. These contracts are not written down and are only explained orally. Many of them break almost every law of the land.

Women’s work at the sugar cane fields comes on top of taking care of the family. Exploitation of women occurs throughout the time families are at the sugar cane fields, and continues when they are back. On return, the additional wives are ‘released’. Desertion is a common phenomenon in the region. In most villages in Marathwada almost 10 per cent of the population is made up of single women.

Back home with no work through the summer months, men spend a lot of time and money on alcohol. Wife beating and other forms of violence against women tend to rise during this period.

GMVS and SVS have identified this as a major focus of their work. PHF has supported both organisations over the past five years to understand, analyse and address the issue. Through creative mobilisation of women, support through the legal system and the formation of village-level support and vigilance groups, these initiatives have been able to make a difference.

GMVS has created ‘zero-tolerance zones’ for gender-based violence. It has also mapped the extent of violence and forms of discrimination against women and adolescent girls, as well as documenting their coping mechanisms. It has engaged with government officials, including the police, protection officers and state-level bureaucrats to understand the underlying causes of violence and develop a plan to overcome it.

SVS has particularly focused on invoking the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and providing legal aid to women. Work in 100 villages has shown positive impact. Cases of marital discord, domestic violence, rape and forced child marriages have been reported and registered.

The organisation has been using street theatre and other forms of communication to create awareness among communities. It has worked proactively with village-level violence-redress committees to restructure the membership and ensure they act more impartially and judiciously. Representation of women from all castes and vulnerable groups has been ensured.

JVSS, GMVS and SVS have all had enriching experiences from their work in the Marathwada area. With our encouragement, the three organisations have come together to share their experiences, learn from each other and develop a common agenda to address the issue of violence against women. They are also addressing how migration can become less exploitative.

The three organisations have created a niche in the region by working closely with the police. They have been given space at the police station for counselling victims and perpetrators.

Staff from the three organisations are now members of committees addressing issues related to gender-based violence, education or marginalised communities in the districts.