Annual Report 19-20, Frea-Akshara Annual Report 19-20, FREA-AKSHARA

Annual Report 19-20, Frea-Akshara Annual Report 19-20, FREA-AKSHARA

Annual Report 19-20, Frea-Akshara Annual Report 19-20, FREA-AKSHARA AKSHARA CENTRE Dhuru Building, 2nd Floor, [Opposite Bank of Maharashtra] Gokhale Road, Dadar (West), Mumbai 400028, India Tel: 022-24328699 Email: [email protected] Akshara is a project of FREA-India, a registered Trust, No. F 1656 (BOM), with an exemption from Income Tax under Section 80G and with a FCRA regulation. Acknowledgements Report written by Sriparna Ganguly with support from Nandita Shah and designed by Sakina Sehorewala. 2 3 Table of Contents 7 11 Message from Key Achievements the Founders in 2019-2020 13 58 Strategic Partnerships Objectives 60 63 Governance Financials 4 5 Message from the Founders We are delighted to present the Annual report for the year 2019-2020. We made noteworthy progress this year, however the year unfortunately ended with the Covid -19 pandemic and lockdown. Our programs with youth continued to plant the seeds of gender equality and justice, our advocacy resulted in services for women and our awareness campaigns created a public splash. The annual report gives a glimpse of our achievements. Our collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai also sawprogress.Ak- shara has been instrumental in the structuring and setting up of the Gender Advisory Com- mittee of the MCGM. Thanks to the collective work of our partners, we have been able to make greater eforts to make Mumbai city and its infrastructure safer and more accessible to women. Over the years Akshara has always tried to stay updated and disseminate up to date infor- mation on gender equality. The launch of our research report ‘Big Small Steps’ on the ac- ceptance of gender equality and gender beliefs amongst urban youth was a big step in that direction. We surveyed a total of 6428 youth within the age of 15-29 years and were able to create a Gender Equality Acceptability Index for diferent cities. We hope the insights from this research will help other civil society organizations in their work on gender. In 2019 we collaborated with national award-winning Director Vibha Bakshi to screen her flm ‘Son Rise’ for college students. We were also fortunate to launch Eve Ensler’s book ‘The Apology’ in Mumbai. Using these two events as discussion platforms we were able to engage with men to change the way they think of violence and build their partnership for moving towards an equal world. At Akshara, we recognize the need to work closely with men to build them as allies to our gender equality work. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our donors, supporters and Akshara team who have made it possible for us to undertake this work.Your partnership has given us the strength to continue with our intensive interventions to build a gender equal, gender just and a violence free world. As we write this, we are in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic. According to the National Commission for Women domestic violence has more than doubled since the lockdown began in March 2020. It has also adversely afected young women’s access to higher education, health and well-being. The lockdown has also changed the way we, as Civil Society Organiza- tions, have traditionally responded to the crisis women are facing. As we look ahead to 2020, we need to look at new ways to engage and rebuild in a more inclusive manner. We need your support more than ever now to ensure that the progress we have made in our struggle for gender equality is not lost and instead translates into meaningful change for women and girls in the coming years. Nandita Gandhi Nandita Shah 6 7 About Akshara Akshara’s Principles Akshara Resource Centre is a women’s Our principles are fundamental to our work. It informs the way we design and right organization committed to build- implement our programs in the community as well as partnerships with our ing a gender equal, gender just and a stakeholders. These principles guide our decision making at all levels and in- violence free society. We work together spire us in our mission to achieve gender equality. with our partners to strengthen action for transformative change at the indi- vidual, local, state and national level. We empower young women and men from resource poor families so that 1 2 they can challenge deep rooted gender EQUALITY PARTICIPATION inequalities and claim their rights to ed- v ucation and opportunity to break out of We believe gender equality is a We will ensure that young people’s voices, their cycle of poverty and achieve their fundamental human right and we will especially young women, are represented full potential. work to ensure equal opportunity for and amplifed every person irrespective of caste, We raise awareness on existing ine- class, gender, race, disability and qualities, discrimination and violence religion and support young women and men to amplify their voices in their quest to re- defne gender norms and attitudes and prevent violence in their daily lives. We collaborate with governments and 3 4 municipalities to accelerate eforts on INCLUSION COLLABORATION making cities gender inclusive and safe for women. We will support young women and We will build fruitful partnerships and men to be allies in building a gender constructively collaborate with youth, We are a Mumbai based organization equal world governments, funders and other with national and international net- relevant stakeholders works. Akshara has been on the Civil Society Advisory Group of UN Women since 2013 and is an active organizer for World Social Forum and One Billion Rising campaigns. 5 TRANSPARENCY & Akshara was founded in 1995 by its co-founders Nandita Gandhi and Nandita Shah in Mumbai with the intent of forging a convergence between women’s movements ACCOUNTABILITY and women’s studies in India. The idea was born out of a mission for creating a gender equal and gender just society where all women can live a dignifed life; free We are committed to transparency and accountability in our work from violence and discrimination. in building gender equality 8 9 2019 - 2020 at a Glance Key Achievements in 2019-2020 Akshara has identifed fve key strategic objectives which form the focus of its work. This section highlights its achievements in each of these areas in FY 2019-2020 REACHING ACROSS IN 5 LAKH 14 19 PEOPLE WARDS IN COLLEGES MUMBAI OF MUMBAI 342 GENDER PLEDGE TO BUILD CHAMPIONS AN EQUAL WORLD 2000 THROUGH YOUNG WOMEN & MEN PARTICIPATE 6 TO MAKE PUBLIC PUBLIC SPACES SAFE CAMPAIGNS 94 MOU SIGNED SAFETY AUDITS WITH WESTERN UNDERTAKEN RAILWAY POLICE 45 39 POSTERS PARTNERSHIPS & PUBLISHED ALLIANCES BUILT & SUSTAINED 1010 11 Strategic Objectives Our work is underpinned by fve strategic objectives: OBJECTIVE 1 Empower young women and men with leadership skills to be gender champions and take action to access education, employment and overcome violence OBJECTIVE 2 Infuence public opinion with ‘new gender narrative’ campaigns for making public spaces free from violence and sexual harassment of women and girls OBJECTIVE 3 Collaborate with the government to encourage action on making public infrastructure safe and accessible to women and girls OBJECTIVE 4 Be an unique resource centre by increas- ing the evidence base on gender dis- crimination and violence against women and creating communication material on gender equality OBJECTIVE 5 Support the women’s rights movement nationally and internationally to build a gender equal society 12 13 Pathway To Empowerment Self Esteem & Resilience Informed Voice & Choice Gains confdence Seeks information Builds relationships based on trust Negotiates relationships Has a positive self-image Challenges gender & social norms Asserts independence Asserts opinion with friends & family Builds problem solving skills Participates in discussions Respects self & others Pursues higher studies & career Is able to assess risk Takes social action Speaks openly to elders Understands rights and laws Improved Mobility Aspiration & Goal Setting Objective 1 Identifes and avoids unsafe areas Believes in dreams Is able to travel alone Articulates needs & wants Empower young women and men with leadership skills to be ‘Gender Champions’ Uses public transport without fear Trusts adults and take action to access education, employment and overcome violence Relies on peers Sets goals Builds networks Forms networks Accesses public spaces Builds technical skills To create a gender equal society, Akshara’s Stands up for violence, sexual Makes life & career plans strategy has been to work closely with harassment & discrimination Has a long term perspective young women and men from resource poor backgrounds and empower them to become gender champions so that they are able to demand gender equality and seek gender justice. Through the Empowering Dreams Program (EDP) Akshara works with under- privileged young women from Bastis across Mumbai and through the Youth for Change Program (YCP) Akshara engages with both young women and men from 19 resource poor colleges in Mumbai. This year 342 students took the pledge to become Gender Champions. 14 15 Empowering Dreams Breaking Barriers Akshara works with young under- and workshops, 2 public events, 2 privileged women from marginalized exposure visits and 6 open space backgrounds living in Bastis to build activities. We partnered with Quest Dialogue with parents their aspirations and capacities for Alliance, Regional Vocational Train- accessing higher education, employ- ing Centre, Mumbai, FICCI FLO, TISS, ability and work place readiness. SNDT College, Savitribai Phule Gen- Coming from resource poor back- der Resource Centre and EDP Alum- grounds, girls often drop out after ni to conduct the trainings and with Capacity Building Programs in 2019-2020 Class 12 as their education is usually ISME, Accenture and Tyco Johnson not prioritized by their families. By Control for their mentoring and in- EMPLOYABILITY AND WORKPLACE READINESS WORKSHOP providing financial assistance and ternship programs.

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