Enable counselling help for domestic violence victims by Apnalaya

Enable counselling help for domestic violence victims

Thank you!

This program is fully funded because of donors like you.

Impact

Nafiza left an abusive home to create a better life for her daughter.

Nafiza married a man whom she loved thinking that she would have a good life ahead. She had no idea how things would turn out.

Very soon, her husband turned abusive. His behaviour did not change even after they had a daughter. He continued to harm Nafiza, and now hurt their daughter too.

He wanted money and did not care how he got it. He convinced Nafiza to be a surrogate mother to childless couples to earn money. He spent all the money on his bad habits and gave nothing to support Nafisa and their daughter.

He forced her to become a surrogate three times. He abused her even during the pregnancies. When he forced her to do it again for the fourth time, she became frightened. She was in poor health and did not want to get pregnant again.

She approached Apnalaya for help. They explained to her what she had to do to get out of the painful situation she was in. They gave her the courage to speak to her husband and bring him along for counselling. The center tried to counsel her husband but their efforts were in vain. He continued to abuse her.

Apnalaya knew that Nafiza needed the support of someone she could trust to keep moving forward. So they encouraged her to tell her brother about the situation.

After Apnalaya spoke to Nafiza’s brother, he convinced her to leave her abusive husband, taking her daughter with her. When she did so, her husband became angry and tried to threaten her at first. When Apnalaya warned him with legal action, he left her alone.

Nafiza is now staying with her brother’s family. She found a job and is able to provide for herself and her daughter. She leads a simple life with dignity and is hopeful for a better future for her daughter.

You can help women like Nafiza suffering in abusive homes by donating for their counselling. You can give with confidence because every program on our platform is GIVEASSURED.

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About The Program

What the beneficiary gets
Therapy
What you get
Tax Exemption
Periodic Reports
Program Description

Family Counseling Centre (FCC) is a haven for victims of exploitation, violence, infidelity, deprivation and blackmail. Here, they find a friend who listens offers advice and helps find the strength within them to fight and win their legal and personal battles.

The objectives of the program are supporting victims of domestic violence and family conflict through Family Counseling, Support Group (Apnapan) meetings, creating community counselors (Sahara Group), and awareness on women's issues. Apnalaya is a government-appointed service provider under the Domestic Violence Act 2005.

Apnalaya trains women to fight domestic violence, conducts awareness sessions and organizes women to come together and help each other. It is completely run through the help of benefactors who donate to Apnalaya's general causes. Today Apnalaya is a pillar of hope for many women. Donate to this program and help Apnalaya to save women from domestic violence.

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About The NGO

Apnalaya
Apnalaya Logo
Apnalaya

Apnalaya is a secular voluntary organization, that has been building self-sustaining communities since 1973. It aims to empower the disadvantaged to overcome the social, political and economic barriers and help them lead a better quality of life. They work with the most marginalized people dwelling in the slums of Mumbai. There are 4,200 children under 6 years of age at the center of Apnalaya’s Health Program.

The Health and Disability related interventions emphasize on empowering community members to improve health seeking behavior and access healthcare instituted by government agencies. The Livelihood program equips young boys and girls, men and women to identify the potential of opportunities and turn them into economic productivity. They provide sewing classes, enroll and train women who otherwise have been under cultural restraints to stay away from income-generating activities.

209 women have economically benefited from Self Help groups organized by Apnalaya. The Education and citizenship program aims to bring together the volunteers from the community so that they have a better understanding of the challenges faced by their community and identify their responsibilities towards it. In 2017, Apnalaya was awarded the Champion Level- GuideStar India Platinum for highest levels of transparency and public accountability.

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founders
Founded in 1991
NGO Leadership

Arun Kumar

areas of operation
Area of Operation
Area of Operation

Maternal health | women

location of work
Location of Work
Location of Work

Maharashtra

Apnalaya has

helped 322 underprivileged people earn a livelihood in FY 17-18

awards
Awards And Recognitions
Awards And Recognitions

2017: Girl Power Awards

2018: Yeh Hai India award

last audited
Last Audited
Periodic Compliance Checks by GiveIndia

Renewals FY 19-20

Program Updates

Program Updates

22 September, 2023

An update on the program you are supporting

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

35 victims of domestic violence (women) were impacted through this program in Mumbai


Challenges faced and next steps

Apnlaya�s livelihood project with women at the core is focusing on their empowerment and livelihood through the following approach : - Strengthening self-help groups and grassroots leaders - Access to affordable and safe childcare- Community Childcare Centers - Improving access to livelihoods - Facilitating access to government schemes and identification documents Apnalaya works with the leadership platform of SHGs to equip participants with skills and competencies to provide peer support and protect each other from family or community backlash. These leadership platforms interact with duty bearers in the community to hold them accountable for providing safety and security to women and girls. SHG members come together as pressure groups to persuade, negotiate and motivate families and community members to follow and adopt positive and changed behavior, which contributes to reduced vulnerabilities for women and girls. Out of 45 SHGs leaders we trained, 25 have taken initiatives to create awareness in the community regarding domestic violence and creation of sensitization about the issue. They have referred a total 69 cases of domestic violence. 35 victims of domestic violence were given support to became entrepreneurs.


Stories from the ground

Ruby, 38 years old with 4 children, has been living in Padma Nagar for 12 years with her husband who is daily labour and does odd job. She was referred to Apnalaya by SHGs leader for support. During the counselling session, Ruby talked about her husband's abusive behaviour and alcohol addiction. Apnalya team had multiple sessions with Ruby and her husband. It was revealed by husband that due to the loans he had taken before the Covid lockdown, and now he is not able to repay it as he had lost his earlier job and current job is paying him very less salary and unable to support his family. Apnalaya team supported Ruby with business basics training and helped her to apply for the financial support under government programme. She was also provided with floor mill as there was no floor mill in community. Meanwhile, government has also sanctioned her a loan of Rs. 2 lakh. With this government support, Ruby has started a laundry shop with her husband. Currently, they are earning a good amount of money to support their family.


5 December, 2022

Helping women to set up Community Child Care Centers

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

Women who are victim of domestic violence, Apnalaya has enterprise development training programme to support them to become entrepreneurs as per their interest, skills and providing access to skill development as per requirement. This includes:

○ Training in entrepreneurship skills

○ Skills development as per related trade/ sector

○ Facilitating access to relevant government schemes and loans

○In reporting period we referred 10 women who are survivers of domestic violence to set up community child care cents . We have been able to complete all 11 modules (Introduction to CCC model, personal strength and value system, digital literacy, financial literacy, CCC as a social enterprise, know your community, growth of a child (physical and psychological), being aware and managing the child needs, health, personal hygiene and nutrition, child rights and child safeguarding, learn to art and craft) and usage of startup kit through training sessions. . As a result of these trainings 8 women are able to set up CCCs with help of their mothers . They shared that their knowledge on child rights improved and they felt confident to run their CCCs


Challenges faced and next steps

Due to COVID 19 restrictions, it was important to ensure that all our programme participants maintain COVID -19 protocols and reduce the risk of spread. Due to restrictions, team also faced some challenges in mobilisation of women on ground. Since our field staff is from the community, while following covid protocols, the mobilisation was done in smaller groups. We conducted training sessions in smaller batches of 4 women at a time. We also did lot of trainings online. In next six month our goal is that these women set up CCCs at their homes and start earning income. We will also provide them support to develop their business plan for earning more income and link them to government schemes like availing Udyog Aadhar, Mudra loan for setting up small enterprises. .


Stories from the ground

Reshmi is survivor of domestic violence. She had interest in teaching, Apnalaya team helped her to set up community child care at her mothers home. Feroza Shaikh during our interation shared following narrative about Reshmi “I am Feroza Shaikh and I have 4 children. I work as domestic worker and my husband work as an assistant. He earns Rs.5000 per month and which is not sufficient to run the house. I decided to work, but who will take care of the child was an issue. I heard about Reshmi’s CCCs and she agreed to take care of my children in affordable price. I enrolled my two small children in her CCC. My children are safe in CCC. My children stay there from 9 am till 6 pm every day. Reshmi also helps them to complete their homework and teach them on various craft activities and good behaviour. Now I am rest assured and concentrate on my work without worrying about children and help my family financially. (CCC mother)”


3 June, 2022

Educating Community Volunteers

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

In the last 6 years, the CCC model has been able to meet the need for affordable childcare within the Shivaji Nagar community as well as provide a source of income and employment for the CCC partners. The timings were flexible enough to cater to parents working at odd hours, which has set the CCC model apart from anganwadis in the area. They also provided the children with the basics of early childhood education and helped them socialise with other children of similar ages. This benefited children before they could begin formal schooling, and it encouraged parents who were not looking for childcare options to consider the CCC as a place where their children could learn. As a part of 12 days of training for new CCC partners, one day of training on child safeguarding was held with 99 CCC partners in small batches in the reporting period. This training introduces the principles of child safeguarding and the ways in which community child care workers can keep children safe. The CCC partners were also trained to look for signs of abuse in children and were guided to talk to parents about such issues.


Challenges faced and next steps

Due to the pandemic, some of the training was done online for the new batch of CCC partners, as multiple in-person meetings were not safe due to COVID-19 safety norms. Plan for the next 6 months-

  1. Training for 11 new CCC pairs on child safeguarding
  2. Bal Suraksha Mela with SHGs members

Stories from the ground

Nasreen is 31 years old and a resilient survivor of domestic violence. Even before the birth of her third daughter, she was going through emotional and physical abuse from her husband and his parents. Nasreen’s husband refused to accept her into the home, saying that they were not happy with the third baby girl. He completely stopped giving her and her daughters any support. Nasreen is the 12th pass. She approached Apnalaya and, after her counselling, Nasreen was referred to a PVWC (Prevention of Violence against women and children) center, and the Apnalaya team helped her to find a job. Nasreen has completed her GDA (General Duty Assistant) course and is now working with one of the hospitals to support her daughters.


29 September, 2021

Community Childcare Centres: Safe and Affordable Childcare for women in Urban poor settlements

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Activities and work undertaken in the last 5-6 months

Community Childcare Centre: The Community Childcare Centre (CCC) model is a project that addresses the demand for affordable child care services for women who want to access livelihood opportunities outside the community while providing an income generation for women who are not able to go out from the community due to various barriers. Every CCC unit is set up and strengthened by a pair of community women micro-entrepreneurs. The women are trained in early childhood education and care, business concepts and financial management. Through community outreach, they generate the demand for the CCC services and ensure all quality in all aspects of the unit’s services and maintenance. They receive a start-up grant and basic equipment to invest in the development of their centres. For a two-year period, Apnalaya guides and supports the women and the parents, such that every unit becomes a successful business for the women and creates a positive and safe user-environment Milestones:1. 28 women have been trained and supported to set up 14 new CCCs during the reporting period2. 94 children were registered in 14 new CCCs3. 47 mothers were linked to livelihood activities. Major Activities:1. 8 modules have been completed with 28 CCC partners (14 CCCs). 2. 28 partners given and additional training on Child Protection Policy.3. Distribution of start-up kits ( toys, mats and teaching-learning aids)done during the reporting period. Areas Covered:6 slum clusters covered from Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, Mumbai, MaharashtraSeveral people impacted? 169 (CCC partners, CCC mothers and CCC children) How were they impacted or helped? 1.28 women have started an income generation activity since January 2021. 2. 47 women have continued their income generation activity.  3. 94 CCC children between the age group of 6 months to 6 years were provided safe and affordable childcare


Challenges faced and next steps

  1. With the increased intensity of the second wave of COVID-19, it was important to ensure that CCCs maintain COVID-19 protocols and reduce the risk of spread. This meant a reduction in the number of children in the CCC. To address this, CCCs have been running in shifts along with ensuring that not more than 5 children are present at the centre during one shift.  2. Lack of mobility is a major deterrent in ensuring livelihood linkages for women:  From March 2021 onwards, the local trains are not open for the public other than essential workers. This has resulted in an additional challenge for women who travel long distances for their livelihoods. Thus, we had to depend on locally available opportunities for women.The goal for the next 6 months:1. To continue engagement with 14 CCCs.    2. Monitoring visits of the 14 CCCs   3. Completion of training with CCC partners with remaining 3 modules   4. Referral of mothers of CCC children for livelihood opportunities

   


Stories from the ground

Forty-year-old Yasmin Aslam Shaikh, who worked as a ragpicker, now does embroidery work for a garment factory. But, it has not been easy. The Shivaji Nagar resident moved to Mumbai several years ago, along with her husband and eight children in search of a better quality of life. However, Yasmin was struggling to make ends meet after her husband died of tuberculosis last year. A single mother, Yasmin sent five of her children back to her village in Bihar, as she could only manage to take care of three. These children, aged four to five years, were registered with Apnalaya’s Community Childcare Centre (CCC). During the monthly monitoring visit, the Apnalaya team found that Yasmin worked as a ragpicker and earned Rs 3,000. She was also constantly falling ill and having to visit the dumping ground late in the night. None of her children had birth certificates. The CCC partner then helped her get these documents for her children and began following up with her. When the team found that she was good at embroidery work, they connected her to a garment factory, where she now earns Rs 7,000. “I am glad that this job will help me take care of my health and I never have to step out in the middle of the night to pick garbage again,” she says.


23 March, 2021

Enabling support and counselling for Child Protection cases

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Due to the lockdown and school shutting down, there has been a rise in Child Protection cases in the Shivaji Nagar community. The domestic violence and abuse on children has been observed as one of the major determinants of drop out as well.
Following is a synopsis of cases that Apnalaya intervened with in the reporting period:
• Child Marriage: Two child marriage cases were reported. The first case was reported by a Youth mentor in September. Parents had informed the mentor that their child had gone to their grandmother’s house, but as the girl was a part of the education programme of Apnalaya, constant follow up was being taken. Eventually it was informed that the girl was 16 years of age and had gotten married. The case was reported to the police and child line counsellor was involved. The case is still under process.
Following the case, parents meetings were initiated in the community where issues regarding child protection and laws were discussed. This fast forwarded the process to gauge any child protection issues within families. In October, another case was reported by a parent and this time it was reported before the marriage took place. Initially, the concerned field officer tried to counsel the family to not get the girl married but as it was leading to conflict, therefore, Child-line was involved. The counsellor involved the police and reported the case. The marriage was stopped and the family was presented to CwC. The girl is back with her family and the family has promised to not get their daughter married before the age of 18.


• Child labour cases: Multiple child labour cases came up during the lockdown. Young boys were being pushed in child labour as many families had lost their income. Therefore, such issues were also discussed in the parents meetings and as per the reports of Youth mentors, many parents had stopped sending their children for work. But, there were few cases which needed family intervention. One such case came up in September.
The child was sent to his village to work and the team was not able to reach out. One night his mentor got a call from the boy and was informed that he had been working in a factory for 10-12 hours a day, he did not have a phone and his father refused to get him back. Following that, a family intervention was planned, wherein the mentor with a field officer talked to the mother. As mother was also undergoing abuse, therefore, they were told to contact women’s helpline. The field officer talked to the father and ensured that within a week boy was back home. Since then, the child has been coming to the centre, attending sessions with adolescent boys and the family is being followed up.


• Child abuse/protection case: Most of the child abuse cases have been dealt with by intervening with the families. But a case came up in October, a School Saheli student had ran away from home, after leaving her house she contacted her mentor and action was taken immediately. The police was contacted and Apnalaya’s counsellor went with the mentor to meet the girl. The girl had ran away with a boy, as the girl was rescued she and her family along with the boy were taken to the police station. All this while the counsellor supported the child and her family. Police took a statement and it was reported that child was facing physical and emotional abuse at home. After which, she was kept in a children’s home and later presented to the CWC. As the CWC intervened, the family reconciliation process was carried out, now the girl if back with her family and continuing her education.



5 July, 2020

Engagement with Stakeholders on prevention of violence against women and children

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Engagement with Stakeholders on prevention of violence against women and children




December 2019:
The first week of December is celebrated as Apnalaya week. The theme for two events during the week involving Prevention of Violence against Women and Children (PVWC) was Child Sexual Abuse, particularly addressing under-reporting of Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act cases in the community. When we approached the Shivaji Nagar police station for real time data on the number of POCSO cases reported, the data was baffling. Not more than 30 cases were reported in the year 2018-2019. This, within a population of roughly 6 lakh people seemed skewed.
The PVWC counselling cell, too, had not received any case of child sexual abuse since it began in April 2019. Clearly, this goes on to show that there is a lack of awareness in the community regarding reporting of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse in itself is a very sensitive issue, one that people do not wish to talk about or address as it comes with a lot of stigma, shaming and ostracization attached to it. Therefore, this issue was taken up by the PVWC volunteers in order to encourage conversations about CSA and disseminate information about POCSO. Given below is a brief description of the two events.



  1.    A networking meeting with 10 organizations:

    The objective of the networking meeting was to bring together organizations that work on child protection in different capacities in order to build a network as well as a referral and information pool.
    The volunteers attended the networking meeting on 6th December 2019, with 10 organizations that came together to discuss the barriers to implement POCSO effectively. Discussion ensued at length on the need for collaborating with stakeholders like the police, CWCs etc. as well as collaborating on running an online and offline campaign for the same. The PVWC volunteers spoke about the issues that were contextual to their community like daily wage earning parents leaving their children alone at home puts them at risk or the fact that they were not aware of signs of CSA (child sexual abuse) before they were trained and the lack of knowledge within the community etc.

  2.    Baal Suraksha Mela: 

    The aim of the Baal Suraksha Mela was to normalize and educate people about Child sexual abuse, its impact, symptoms and legal procedures. The volunteers belong to the community, which led to the community being more accepting of the sensitive and controversial topic of CSA.
    The PVWC volunteers underwent a series of meeting sessions for Apnalaya week’s Baal Suraksha Mela till the first week of December. They were trained extensively on the Protection of Children against Sexual Offenses Act. The aim of the Baal Suraksha Mela was to engage the community in conversations around child sexual abuse. It was an attempt to interact with members of the community and bust the myths around CSA and bring the salient features of the POCSO Act to the community. People from the community were invited, especially focussing on stakeholders that work with children like schools, anganwadis etc. Prerana, an organization working on commercial sexual exploitation and Majlis, a pro-bono legal aid organization also had stalls. Prerana’s stall had different activities where participants (community members, attendees) were educated about commercial sexual exploitation, how one can be more vigilant toward such practices in the community etc. The Majlis stall had pro-bono lawyers working on POCSO, debunking myths about court structures, difficulty in accessing justice etc. They handed out contact details and brochures to the community in case they needed any counsel. The members of the community were taken on a journey of myth busting, features of POCSO, roles and responsibilities of the Police, rights of the children, Child welfare Committees and Fast track courts. The local police were also invited.
    The volunteers were taken to Dharavi on 31st December for a training with LEARN, an organization working with women in unorganized labour. Violence prevention in their community is a major aspect of what they do via volunteerism. The PVWC volunteers interacted with the volunteers from LEARN and also did home visits with them. There was a lot of sharing and interaction among all volunteers regarding roadblocks, success stories and real-life examples of volunteerism as a means to mitigate violence.



19 November, 2019

Counselling sessions extending care and support

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Counselling sessions extending care and support







22 July, 2019

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Program Update


Counseling center is mainly focusing on strengthening the victims of violence as well as conducting activities with community people to make them aware and capable of taking steps that could prevent domestic violence against women and children. Counseling center is an ongoing facility working 5 days a week from Sunday to Thursday from morning 9.30 till evening 6.30. Total 20 cases were registered and 49 counseling sessions happened during last three months from January 2019 to March 2019. Out of that 20 cases, 9 cases are of Physical abuse, 6 cases are of emotional abuse and 5 cases are of financial abuse caused by husband and in-laws.


Story from the field


Renee was 14 when her case was brought to Apnalaya; her father was abusing her sexually for last two years. Family and community were aware of the incident but were not ready to talk about it, it was, therefore, realized that approaching mother and child would not be easy. Apnalaya approached lawyers to understand legal process in detail.
Health team approached mother (sinjani) and child giving education as a reason to meet, as both of them came to the center, counselor sat with the child separately and tried building rapport, Renee was talking about herself and indirectly spoke about her father, In second meeting, play therapy helped her to open up even more. In the third meeting, the mother was counseled and was encouraged to support her daughter.
As per the instruction of the lawyers, police were informed and were called to the center. We faced difficulty when Police insisted that the child should be brought to the police station to give the statement, after a lot of effort they sent a lady police in plain clothes to the center. Next day after the statement of the child and mother was recorded child was taken to the hospital for medical check-up where again we had to deal with the behavior of medical staff, in the hospital the client was told to wait, the way doctor started probing the child so insensitively that the counselor had to ask her to be little polite and to not ask questions which is obnoxious for the child.
After this child welfare committee came into action, Renee’s father was absconding, therefore, for Renee’s safety, she was sent to shelter home. Continuous follow up was done with CWC and continuous counseling was provided to the mother as the community was against her for not supporting her husband. Her husband is now in the custody of police and has a case going on against him but Renee and her life has changed a lot ,she is the one who was not let to study after 3rd standard by school authority as she was taking more time to understand things in comparison to her classmates but today at her new home (shelter home)she has a tutor who teaches her, her way of talking has changed totally, she is learning her numbers and alphabets, she can also be heard expressing herself in amateur English and using cutlery to have her meal. Her mother goes to work and is managing everything on her own; she is also planning to send her other two children to the same shelter home.


What is the expected total number of beneficiaries in this program for FY18-19?20
What is the number of beneficiaries/ benefits provided in this program, Year-To-Date20
Village/City/State where project is locatedShivaji Nagar, Govandi, Mumbai
Total Budget for the project for FY18-19183850
Total Expenses for the project YTD117455

30 October, 2018

Apnalaya's Update

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Program Update


It is working towards prevention of violence and to empower victims of domestic violence so as they are able to take charge of their lives and rights. Apnalaya is also a government appointed service provider under the Domestic Violence Act 2005. Through adolescent and adult volunteers and the "Sahara Gat" (support groups) members, who are provided trainings to understand and take effective steps to deal with cases related to domestic violence in a non-violent manner.


Family Counselling Centre (FCC) is a heaven for weeping and battle worn women, victims of exploitation, violence, infidelity, deprivation and blackmail. They come from different walks of life. Here they find a friend who listens, counsel and offer help to find strength within themselves to fight and win their legal and personal battles. The cases vary in its duration depending on its complexity from a few months to even years resulting in an amicable resolution or separation as the case may be.


To strengthen the team, a counsellor has joined FCC to evaluate psychosocial aspect of the cases and give more individualized focus.


"Violence Prevention" is a program where all aged (17 and above) women and men from the community are given intensive training for the period of six to eight months to understand and take steps to prevent violence and deal with cases of domestic violence.


Story from the field


Renee (Name change) was 14 when her case was brought to Apnalaya; her father was abusing her sexually for last two years.
Family and community were aware of the incident but were not ready to talk about it, it was, therefore, realized that approaching mother and child would not be easy.
Apnalaya approached lawyers to understand legal process in detail.
Health team approached mother (sinjani) and child giving education as a reason to meet, as both of them came to the centre, counsellor sat with the child separately and tried building rapport, Renee was talking about herself and indirectly spoke about her father, In second meeting, play therapy helped her to open up even more. In the third meeting, the mother was counselled and was encouraged to support her daughter.
As per the instruction of the lawyers, police were informed and were called to the centre. We faced difficulty when Police insisted that the child should be brought to the police station to give the statement, after a lot of effort they sent a lady police in plain clothes to the centre. Next day after the statement of the child and mother was recorded child was taken to the hospital for medical check-up where again we had to deal with the behaviour of medical staff, in the hospital the client was told to wait, the way doctor started probing the child so insensitively that the counsellor had to ask her to be little polite and to not ask questions which is obnoxious for the child.
After this child welfare committee came into action, Renee's father was absconding, therefore, for Renee's safety, she was sent to shelter home.
Continuous follow up was done with CWC and continuous counselling was provided to the mother as the community was against her for not supporting her husband.
Her husband is now in the custody of police and has a case going on against him but Renee and her life has changed a lot ,she is the one who was not let to study after 3rd standard by school authority as she was taking more time to understand things in comparison to her classmates but today at her new home (shelter home)she has a tutor who teaches her, her way of talking has changed totally, she is learning her numbers and alphabets, she can also be heard expressing herself in amateur English and using cutlery to have her meal.
Her mother goes to work and is managing everything on her own; she is also planning to send her other two children to the same shelter home


Expected total number of beneficiaries in this program for FY18-19150
Number of beneficiaries/ benefits provided in this program this year44

30 April, 2018

Domestic abuse survivors reclaim their lives with Apnalaya's help

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The Counseling Center mainly focusses on strengthening the victims of violence as well as conducting activities with community people to make them aware and capable of taking steps that could prevent domestic violence against women and children.


The Counseling Center is an ongoing facility working 5 days a week from Sunday to Thursday from morning 9.30 till evening 6.30. A total of 77 new cases are registered in the counselling center and we could reach up to total 110 beneficiaries during last six months from October 2017 to March 2018. Out of 76 new beneficiaries, 47 cases were of women physically, mentally and financially abused by husband and in-laws.


Beneficiary story:


Renee (name changed) was 14 when her case was brought to Apnalaya; her father was abusing her sexually for the past two years.


Her family and community were aware of the incident but were not ready to talk about it. It was, therefore, realized that approaching the mother and child would not be easy.


Apnalaya approached lawyers to understand the legal process in detail.


The health team approached the mother (Sinjani) and child, giving "education" as a reason to meet. As both of them came to the center, the counselor sat with the child separately and tried building a rapport. Renee talked about herself and indirectly spoke about her father. In the second meeting, play therapy helped her to open up even more. In the third meeting, the mother was counseled and was encouraged to support her daughter.


As per the instruction of the lawyers, police were informed and were called to the center. We faced difficulty when the Police insisted that the child should be brought to the police station to give the statement. After a lot of effort they sent a lady police in plain clothes to the center. Next day after the statement of the child and mother was recorded child was taken to the hospital for medical check-up where again we had to deal with the behaviour of medical staff. In the hospital, the way the doctor started probing the child insensitively, the counselor had to ask her to be a little polite and to not ask questions which is obnoxious for the child.


After this, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) came into action, but Renee's father was absconding. Therefore, for Renee's safety, she was sent to a shelter home.


Continuous follow up was done with CWC and continuous counseling was provided to the mother as the community was against her for not supporting her husband.



13 March, 2018

Unique home-based creche program executed on Women's Day

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International Women's Day was celebrated at Apnalaya by the women of Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai who lead the community as health workers, entrepreneurs, volunteers and influencers. They form the backbone of our integrated community development approach. The women worked with Apnalaya's sustainable model of home-based crèche. The model follows a buddy-system between a pair of women, bringing 100% benefit to the participants by enabling them to become an entrepreneur and a working mother at the same time, while providing safe space for their infants. The model empowers women and benefits their families by increasing family income, bringing women to the workforce and public domain and reducing school drop-outs among older siblings, who otherwise would spend their school hours as caregivers.



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