spark the rise project: support it!

Mahindra recently launched a campaign called Spark the Rise. It is a platform for launching projects and hopefully getting resources mobilised for those projects. It takes the idea of crowdsourcing to the realm of social entrepreneurship.

Swati Ingole, who is a founder of Shield Foundation, has a project on Spark the Rise. It is a Multi Service Centre for senior citizens in Dharavi. It is envisioned as a single go-to centre for medical, legal, educational, nutritional, recreational needs of the senior citizens. It will also serve as an information desk on government schemes relating to the elderly.

If you support this project, or can help in anyway, please visit the project page on the Spark the Rise website. If you can't support the project and are just curious, we'd very much appreciate if you forwarded the link to anyone who could pitch in with resources or information.

If you are not aware of this Mahindra campaign, click here.

Spark the Rise Commercial

shield foundation annual report: 2010–‘11

Here’s a blog-friendly summary of the first annual report of Shield Foundation. If you are interested in reading the detailed report, kindly email your request to shieldfoundation@gmail.com
It has been the initiative and zeal of professional social worker Swati Ingole (MSW) that formed and has led Shield over the last year. Before starting Shield Mrs Ingole worked as a social worker and networked hospitals and NGOs to give home-based care and counselling to senior citizens and houses with a history of domestic violence. Last year, she got together like-minded people from fields as diverse as education, medicine and banking to start Shield Foundation.
The year gone by has seen the following major activities:

1. Community outreach: For assessing the needs of the people and to publicise the work and programmes of Shield, community outreach is a must. Volunteers form a secondary line of workers who help with the social work and make self-sustaining groups in the communities. Senior citizen clusters have been formed in Kamala Raman Nagar, Bhagat Singh Nagar, Azad Nagar, Matunga Labour Camp and the rag-pickers’ community at Mahim. Women needing vocational training to be financially independent have also been identified in surveys.
   
   
2. Case work: Counselling was offered for academic, vocational training, pre-marital and domestic violence cases. In all 35 cases were resolved by this way. Two cases of domestic abuse were referred to the Government Legal Aid Cell for legal counselling. The follow up continues on those cases
   
   
3. Education: As a pilot project that lasted three months, 10 session of English speaking training were organised for a total of 14 students. The course dealt with the basics of grammar and spoken English.
   Apart from that, vocational training was offered to over 75 girls between 17 and 35 years of age since January 2011. The target group was girls from the minority and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities. The courses were conducted at a nominal fee of Rs 100. Shield provided all the material needed for training.
   An underprivileged girl was given educational aid of Rs 1,000 to continue her studies.
   
   
4. Medical: Fifteen school children with poor eyesight were given free spectacles, courtesy of the Twinkling Eyes Foundation, Mumbai. This was preceded by a free eye check-up that was jointly organised.

Apart from this, the following events were organised in the year that passed:

1. January 12: A ‘Youth Festival’ exclusively for the women of Dharavi. Not surprisingly, the turn out was low, though the 14 women that did participate had a blast!
   
   
2. January 19, 21, 23: Free eye check-up camps were organised over three days in Dharavi. Of the 70 people who got checked, the underprivileged were later given free spectacles too.
   
   
3. January 25: In keeping with the imminent Republic Day, a session on the making of our Constitution and the fundamental human rights of citizens was organised.
   
   
4. January 28: A cultural programme was organised at the ‘Samaj Mandir Hall’. Number of participants: 22; number of attendees: 98.
   
   
5. February 15: Shield collaborated with schools in Dharavi to organise sessions on relaxation from school stress and ways to remember what is taught at school through pictorial representation. 56 primary school students participated.
   
   
6. February 20, 22: For senior students, the topics of cognitive developments in adolescents and the importance of relaxation were discussed. 36 students attended this session. See this blog post for details.
   
   
7. March 9: Women’s Day (March 8) was celebrated in Dharavi jointly by Shield and Jan Shikshan Sanstha. A musical show, ‘Bharud’ was organised – it focused on the lives of women. Adolescents from Dharai emceed the programme. A total of 52 women attended.
   
   
8. March 23: At the Nagpur Centre, a legal awareness workshop was conducted for women. District Judge Mr. Hatrote, Member Secretary of District Legal Aid Authority Mr. Kakde, Advocate Kalyani Joshi and Advocate Borkar were the speakers on topics such as Domestic Violence Act, Maintenance Act and awareness on free legal aid. 56 people attended.
   
   
9. April 2-12: Competitions – rangoli, mehendi, poster making, hair dressing – were organised for women. The idea was for them to discover their creative potential and was a welcome means of recreation which is often missing in the underprivileged community. 95 women took part.
   
   
10. April: All through the month, Shield publicised vocational training courses that it runs for the people of the community in collaboration with the Jan Shikshan Sanstha. The education requirement is grade 4 passed.
    
    a) For women: Hair and makeup, mehendi, and catering.
    b) For men: Electrical repair, mobile repair
    
    
11. June: In collaboration with St. Aloysius College, Jabalpur, Shield Foundation organised a two-day awareness campaign to sensitise community people about themes such as health and hygiene issues, disability, polio, literacy, nutrition, eve-teasing, adolescents’ issues, seasonal skin problems & care.
    
    1. June 6: Street plays were performed on the above mentioned subjects. Venues included – Matunga Labour Camp, Dharavi 90 feet road, Jasmine Mill road, Samata Nagar, Ekta Nagar, ‘A’ Ward, Milind Nagar-1, Shahu Nagar, Mahim, Siddharth Nagar, ‘F’ Ward, Ambedkar Nagar and Muslim Nagar-2.
       
       
    2. June 7: A sensitisation ‘unconference’ was organised with the Integrated Child Development Services, Dharavi. Gokul Deware, the Child Development Project Officer of ICDS Dharavi was present as ICDS team workers involved in community outreach were briefed about common concerns of people living in the area of their work.
       
       For the people of the community Dr. Meghna Pikse, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and Hospital explained the causes, care, cure and prevention for various seasonal skin diseases. The most popular topic for adolescents, of course, was ‘Pimples!’, and Dr. Pikse’s team discussed it at some length. The importance of hygiene was also discussed in the programme that lasted three hours and was attended by 60 people (apart from volunteers and ICDS workers).
       
       
12. September 21, 25: World Alzheimer’s Day was marked by street plays on the subject in Dharavi in collaboration with the nursing school at Sion Hospital and Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI). On the 25th, an Intergenerational Sensitisation Workshop was held for various stakeholders. Detailed blog post , including speakers’ profiles, is here. And here are the pictures.
    
    
13. October 11: 77 people attended a seminar on World Mental Health Day. Since Alzheimer’s is a recurring theme in the community, tips were given to care givers. 54 health workers also came in addition to community members. Detailed blog post, including speakers’ profiles, is here. And here are the pictures.
    
    
14. October 30: A one-day workshop on personality development, etiquette, presentation, marketing skill, dressing and communication was conducted for girls doing the ‘Beauty Course’ (vocational training) supported by Jan Shikshan Sanstha. 20 girls participated.
    
    
15. November 29, 30: A two day workshop on women’s reproductive health was organised for young mothers and girls. Nursing tutor Reshma Arote addressed the 20 women who attended.
    
    
16. December 20, 21: A four hour orientation spread over two days, for nursing students of Sion Hospital. Purpose – to educate them about data collection on geriatric issues for a survey designed by Swati Ingole of Shield. 40 students attended.
    
    
17. January 1: To lighten things up, 30 girls from the vocational training centre got together to celebrate the New Year – dances and mimicry followed!
    
    
18. January 12: An ‘Intergeneration Sensitization Programme’ was organized by networking with the organisations like Acron foundation, SIES College, Sion, ICDS and senior citizens from the area. Competitions were organised for senior citizens, vocational training students from Dharavi. The Government of India’s Field Publicity Department sponsored cash prizes. Number of stakeholders: 197.
    
    
19. January 21: Socio-cultural celebration was organised as a part of Makar Sankranti in Kamala Raman Nagar and Matunga Labour Camp. A total of 113 women attended.
    
    
20. February 2: A diabetes, memory and dental check up was organised for senior citizens of Kamala Raman Nagar. The medical team was from S. L. Raheja Hospital, Nair Dental Hospital. Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI) was also involved in these check ups. Number of beneficiaries: 78.
    
    
21. February 24: A prostrate check up camp was organized at Vaibhav Sanskritik Mandal at Matunga Labour Camp. Tests like PSA and consultation with urologists were provided. 22 patients were identified with problems. The next day they were taken to S. L. Raheja Hospital, Mahim for ultrasound and final consultation with all the reports of tests done earlier in the day.

Apart from all this, community outreach has become a regular feature. Mahila Mandals, Youth Mandals and resourceful people within the community have been given information about Shield Foundation so that they may refer cases to us. The needs of various communities were also identified. Five cases needing legal assistance were identified and referred to the Legal Service Authority for free legal assistance.

And that was the year that was!

mobility liberates

At 68, Rati Mala’s* arthritis got so bad that she couldn’t walk; she was homebound. Her husband, though he could move about, had Elephant’s Foot caused by filariasis. The couple lived with their married son who was the only earning member in the family.

Rati’s daughter-in-law and husband helped with the daily chores around the house. However, having a bed-ridden Rati didn’t help. While hers wasn’t an emergency case, timely intervention could get her back on her feet. She was referred to Shield by the department of preventive and social medicine at the Urban Health Centre (UCH) at Dharavi. As part of the intervention, home based care was given to her considering her restricted mobility. Doctors from the PSM department made house calls and instructed her in basic health care.

Due to rigidity, initially actions were difficult. When she could move with some difficulty, she was referred to the department of physiotherapy of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General (LTMG) Hospital (aka Sion Hospital). More than anything else, it was her will to follow through with her physiotherapy that helped her. She was eager to get better and practised religiously. A paraprofessional dropped in on her from time to time to make sure she was doing her exercises right.

Both  Rati and her husband received medicines and nutritional supplements. At the behest of Shield, Sion Hospital began a physiotherapy class at the Dharavi UCH. The couple attend classes regularly.  Rati can walk now with a walker that was provided to her. Her husband too was given a walking stick. With proper nutrition, medication and exercise, the couple is now fairly independent.

*Actual name withheld for privacy.

a brief round-up

Firstly, apologies are in place for the delay in posting here. Hopefully, such delays won’t happen again. Anyway, to give a quick round-up of the activities since our last post:

• The semiweekly outreach programmes in Dharavi mentioned earlier have now become a daily feature. Shield is encouraging more and more adolescents and underprivileged children to join vocational training courses run by us.

• Talking of courses, these vocational training exercises are now offered at highly subsidised rates of Rs.100/- The material needed for the stitching/mehendi work is provided by Shield. This is a collaborative endeavour with the Jan Shikshan Sanstha.

• As for new work in progress, Shield is conducting a rapid survey of residential institutions and facilities such as transit accommodation homes for women, observation homes, orphanages and juvenile delinquent homes in Mumbai. The purpose of this survey is need assessment and avenues for activities for NGOs like Shield. Ten such facilities have been surveyed mainly along the Sion-Trombay highway.

There is some good news in the offing, but that will have to wait till another post!

what’s been up: january & february

The past two months have been full of activities and we have been off to a good start as a nascent NGO. Just to fill you guys in on what’s happening at Shield, here’s a brief update:

January

Jan 12: As one of our first activities, a ‘Youth Festival’ was organised at Dharavi, especially for women. The turnout was a slim 14; however, the participants had a good time.

Jan 25: Sensing an alarming ignorance about our constitution and fundamental rights of citizens in India, we organised a session on the same. Many people attended the session.

Jan 28: The highlight of the month was the cultural programme at the Samaj Mandir Hall, Matunga Labour Camp, Dharavi. A total of 22 persons performed on the day and 98 people were in attendance as audience.

February

Shield is looking at tying up with schools in Dharavi to conduct workshops/seminars and talks on various issues that most urgently need to be addressed for the students in these schools. Most of the issues discussed are the ones that are not covered in the school syllabi. We have already made a start at that front – three of the sessions were conducted in February.

Feb 15: Indian education is high stress education. For the primary school students coping with this, we discussed the importance to relax from studies and how to do it. For ease of remembrance, we also taught the 56 students present the method of pictorial representation of concepts to be learnt in education. It is common knowledge that visual memory is strongest in children. The idea was to help these kids learn better.

Feb 20: Teenage years are the toughest and yet, often the best and most productive years of our lives. It is therefore important for adolescents to know the ways in which they develop cognitively. If they learn to anticipate and foresee the huge physical and emotional changes that they will go through in their adolescents years, coping with these changes would be easier. To this end, a session was conducted for secondary school kids. Attendance was 36.

Feb 22: As if the growth pangs weren’t enough, secondary school students also have to deal with high-stress examinations. In order to address this, a session extrapolated from the one conducted for primary school students was conducted for the secondary school students too. Thirty-seven students were in attendance.

Here are some pictures of the students at school:



Since then, we have been running a pilot project – a free course in English speaking. At the time of writing, over 10 sessions of the course have been conducted for 14 beneficiaries. Success rate and further updates should be available soon.

Apart from these initiatives, vocational training in mehendi and basic beauty courses is being imparted at the centre everyday from 12 pm to 4 pm to 19 ladies.



We will update soon with the work in March.