Yearly Archives: 2019

Padma Patnaik

With a view to mark the International Women’s Day, CYSD launched an unique programme ‘Women on Wheels’ (WoW) in last March. WoW programme is to empower poor women to become professional drivers enabling them to gain remunerative ‘livelihoods with dignity’. This would help the disadvantaged girls and women come out of veil and take control over the resources as well as break the gender stereotypes of the male dominated commute system in partnership with AZAD Foundation, and Mahindra Finance. The programme will also enhance their awareness on rights and enable them to become independent and confident individuals in charge of their lives. WoW works with young women mostly aged 18-35, living in urban slums and resettlement colonies in cities, with too little economic capital. Most of them are either out of work, or work in low paid professions.

The  programme not only teaches driving but also makes a women stronger by providing every types of exposure during the training programme as the trainees would learn driving and complete 3 modules, like (i) Technical Module (Learners Module, Maruti Driving School, Permanent License, on Road Practice, self drive and map reading); (ii) Self Development Module (English, communication, first aid, work readiness); and (iii) Empowerment Module (Self Defense, Gender and Legal Rights, Sexual and Reproductive Health). In addition to this, the trainee will get the Insurance Policy on accident and a uniform.

To mobilize the potential candidates, CYSD organized community level meetings in different slum areas among candidates, parents and community. The objective of the meeting was to know the availability of potential resource-poor women and willingness to be driving as their profession.

So far 24 candidates from different urban slums are selected through rigorous selection process. They have attended the induction programme organised in mid April and subsequently enrolled as first batch with the Maruti Driving School. Now they are undergoing practical classes and simulation training.

 Ananta Kishore Swain

Immediately after cyclone FANI, a Rapid Assessment was undertaken in 48 villages covering 5 Blocks of Puri district and 3 slums of Capital City Bhubaneswar to assess the damage and need of the community. Based on the assessment, the following works were initiated by CYSD:

• Volunteer Mobilization: 103 volunteers (Male 81 & 22 Female) from different organizations including Antarang, National Youth Project (NYP), National Service Scheme (NSS) and Indore School of Social Work (NSSW) joined their hands with CYSD and facilitated drone-based damage assessment at Arakhakuda in Puri district and engaged in relief and restoration activities.
• Cyclone Response Hubs:  One Hub each in Brahmagiri- Satyabadi, Nimapada and Delang blocks of Puri district; and one in Bhubaneswar Urban Slum were set-up to facilitate services to the cyclone victims.
• Supply of Drinking Water: 32268 ltr. of drinking water supplied to 2150 affected households in Bhubaneswar urban slums. Water purification system installed in collaboration with Tata Trusts.
• Health and Hygiene Camps were organised in the affected areas mobilizing volunteers, doctors and medicine from different quarters.  24 health camps organized where 2527 people have visited the health camps, got treatment and provided with medicines free of cost. Hygiene camps organized in 51 villages/ urban slums in the affected areas of Bramhagiri, Satyabadi, Nimapada & Delang blocks of Puri district; Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC); and urban slums under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Balianta block of Khurda district. In this process road clearing, village cleaning and decontamination of water bodies were undertaken mobilizing the volunteers and the community people.
• Material Distribution: Materials including Dry Ration Kit (4442), Dignity Kit (3344), Survival Kit (487), Education Kit for children (300) and tarpaulin covers (1290) distributed to the affected households. In this process, CYSD has reached out to 18941 households in the districts of Puri, Khurda and Cuttack.
• Civil Society Coordination: CYSD became part of the “Civil Society Responds to FANI” set-up for collective humanitarian action in the most difficult situation in coordination with the Government and the District Administration and facilitated its meetings and logistics support.
• Documentation and Communication: A regular Bulletin capturing stories from the ground with photographs, initiatives taken by the CSOs and Government, and media highlights shared all across.
• Sharing of Recommendations: The recommendations of the Forum “Civil Society Responds to FANI” shared with different Media Houses for policy influencing and advocacy.

The cyclone response works have been undertaken in collaboration with Humanitarian Aid International (HAI) and support from different organizations including Plan India, Tata Trusts, Odisha Forum, Americares India Foundation, Vaishnabi Centre for Enlightenment, Goonj, NIINE, Samaja Relief Committee, Procter & Gamble, Himalaya, Marwari Yuva Manch and individual supporters.

CYSD is really thankful to all collaborators, donors and individual supporters for their valuable support and cooperation at this difficult hour.

[singlepic id=3 w=240 h=160 ]