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| Name of Organisation : Women's Welfare Society |
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| One Line Descriptive Slogan : improving the status of the pavement children |
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| About us : The Women's Welfare Society of the Diocese of Bombay originally known as All Saints' Convent was started by the "Sisters of the Poor", who came from Wantage in England in the year 1897. They established Two Homes for the aged: one for homeless women, and the other for working girls of the lower income group. In 1954 the Sisters left India for good, and entrusted the institution to the Diocese of Bombay. In 1966 the Women's Welfare Society of the Diocese of Bombay was formed to manage the Homes and the Hostel. The project was started for the pavement dwellers' children who were staying just in front of the Women's Welfare Society at Dockyard, initially in the form of a Balwadi and then as informal education for illiterate young people who were working at Dockyard fish market. Later this got the shape of community level interventions initially at Dockyard and then also at Cotton Green and Sewri. A report prepared by the project holder reads: "Initially we started working with the children who are staying in front of All Saints Home. Women's Welfare Society (W.W.S) has a vision to start a center for the children only during morning hours until their mothers return. We started this project 8th March 1988 as a small Balwadi. We catered for 16 children with the help of one teacher and one helper. Later we reached out to more than 600 children with 15 staff and have 6 contact points." |
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| Vision : Our VISION "is an empowered community which is capable to manage and respond to the changing times effectively and thereby provides a healthy nurturing environment for its children to grow, thus ensuring that the Rights of the child are not violated". |
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| Mission : To work for the holistic development of the children To enable the community to be self reliant To create awareness on social issues To empower the women to address their issues and to exercise their Rights To develop a resource centre |
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| Services Offered : . |
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| Impact Data / Statistics : . |
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| Brief History : History of the project The project was started for the pavement dwellers' children who were staying just in front of the Women's Welfare Society at Dockyard, initially in the form of a Balwadi and then as informal education for illiterate young people who were working at Dockyard fish market. Later this got the shape of community level interventions initially at Dockyard and then also at Cotton Green and Sewri. A report prepared by the project holder reads: "Initially we started working with the children who are staying in front of All Saints Home. Women's Welfare Society (W.W.S) has a vision to start a center for the children only during morning hours until their mothers return. We started this project 8th March 1988 as a small Balwadi. We catered for 16 children with the help of one teacher and one helper. Later we reached out to more than 600 children with 15 staff and have 3 contact points." The project area Pavement Children Project, Mumbai, has its interventions in 3 pavements in Dockyard, Cotton Green and Sewri. In Dockyard the pavement dwellers are mainly from Andhra Pradesh. They are illiterate and not interested in anything except to work in the fish market and get minimum wages for survival. 8 months starting from August to March they remain in Mumbai and the remaining 4 months they go to their village seeking some work during the rainy season. The parents as well as the elders get up early in the morning and go to the fish market to fetch something between Rs. 20-100 daily while the children are left in the darkness to mend for themselves. Until WWS's intervention children never received education. Still many young girls below 14 years work as domestic servants for Rs. 300 per month. The parents expect them to bring money home. In Cotton Green mainly Maharashtrians and Muslims live. Since both belong to two communities they do not live in harmony. Bringing them together is difficult for the project holders. But it is important, too. The Muslims do not show much interest in education of their children. The men mistrust their wives and thSewri, like Cotton Green, hosts a mix of Maharashtrians, people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, there is a common place where children can come for the tuitions as well as meetings. Some parents are interested in the activities of the children. I met a person who has been staying there for almost 35 years. All these centers are not very far from project head quarters. Dockyard is just next the door itself, while Cotton Green is just 20 minutes journey and Sewri is just 30 minutes journey from the project head quarters. Distance wise these areas very close to railway stations and easily approachable. at is why women are rarely sent to social activities. |
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| Brief Projects / Achievements : Achievements 1. The pavement dwellers' attitude to education has changed. This has been experienced from the talk with the pavement dwellers as well as from the staff. In Dockyard none of the children used to go to school before PCP's intervention. After five years 80% of the children are in schools. Staff has reported this. 2. Asha Pagare, who stayed at Dockyard pavement in the pavement with her brother from 1998, has now shifted to a better place in Govandi. Asha was part of Mahila Milan promoted by SPARC. Asha and her husband saved their income and could afford to get a pucca house. I think Asha is a role model for other women in the pavements. 3. PCP also intervened in cases related to harassment of young girls. One of the activists told me that young boys harass young girls at schools. Such incidents were taken up and solved. 4. The women show greater concern about nutrition of the children. Before PCP's intervention the women did not pay attention to that matter. They used to get unhealthy food from the street and gave them to the children. Now some families give diets including vegetables and fruits. 5. In Dockyard women were not very hygienic before the initiation of PCP. After the intervention the families show great care in hygiene not only for the children but also surrounding their homes. 6. Prior to the project in Dockyard 100 percent deliveries took place at pavements. This resulted in no registration for birth certificates. After PCPs intervention almost all the deliveries happen in hospitals so that birth certificates are easy to get. Children as well as mothers are safer. 7. Women as well as young adults have been empowered and motivated to save money in the bank. 8. The project was able to build relationships with various network bodies such as CCVC, Rationing Kriti Samiti, Build, SPARC, MDACS, Nair Hospital, etc. This has helped to bring synergy to the project. 9. The project was able to reach out to children, women, youth and men in terms of moral value education. |
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| What do you exactly do for a beneficiary?: to help them to build their self reliance by providing the support systems to chieve the goal. |
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| Info sources: brochure, Annual Activity Report, Financial Report, Annual Activity Report, Financial Report,
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| Programmes organised during the year: many programme relaed to women,children girls, and youth |
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| Other links: |
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| Financials: |
| - Yearly Budget: 15 lakhs |
| - Revenue Sources: grant donation IGP |
| - Key Sponsor: hilostic child development india |
| - A corporate can adopt us at yearly funding of Rs. years / 15 lakhs |
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| Organisation: |
| - full time: 10 |
| - part-time: 5 |
| - volunteers: 5 |
| - trustees: Managment committee consists board members and the President is the head of Board and the Chairman of the committee. Rt. Rev. Prakash Patole is the Bishop ,and the President and the Chairman of the Board at present. |
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| Registration Data: |
| Public Trust Act - Public Trust Act 1950,Reg .No. F-339 |
| Income tax Act - Income tax Act 1961Reg. No. INS3039 |
| FCRA - |
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| One moving testimonial: Let's hear from 'Kavita Birwadkar! I have been a part of the Women's Welfare Center since the age of 3. Life was difficult in those times; we led a hand-to-mouth existence. Our parents and grand-parents could not afford to educate me, my brothers and sisters. Thanks to this organization, which funded my school expenses and school fees, I have managed to complete my X std. education at the 'Balwadi'. I now have dreams to study further and stand on my own feet and live on my terms. I want to improve the financial and living conditions of my home. This organization focuses on not just our studies but also our overall development. We are taught to talk to our elders with respect and to help them. The teachers provide us with guidance and counseling and encourage us to participate in sports and extra-curricular activities like Dances, Sports, Picnics, Fancy-dress contests, etc. which are frequently held at the institute.. They also continuously endeavor to enhance our personality by encouraging our participation in extra-curricular activities outside the institute. We get toys to play with, books to read, stories to enjoy, which greatly help us in enjoying our school holidays. They provide us with school uniforms, text books, note books, pens, pencils, art, craft and handicraft materials for school Tiffin and certain items that are required for our houses, etc. In times of examinations, we are prepared for the same with guidelines on how to attempt the papers. We are taught to be punctual and complete all work on time, since time wasted is time that will never come back. We are taught how to spend our time most effectively. Both physical and mental health information is provided to us. There are medical camps conducted, they arrange for doctors who do our medical check-ups. We are tutored on the aspects of cleanliness and health. We are at the institute from 9 A.M - 4 p.m.. We are given breakfast, lunch and fruits to take home in the evening. The visitors who come to see us ask about our schedules, schools and studies. They also give us toys. Those children, who do not attend school are also taught lots of things at the institute. I really wonder how life would have turned out if not for this institute. If not for their presence, their encouragement and proper guidance, we would not have the privilege of studying and being self-reliant. I hope that each kid, in this institute studies like I have done and stands on his/her feet and makes his/her parents, teachers and our institute proud. Thank You, everybody at All Saints' Home! Your student, Kavita Birwadkar |
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