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Month: December 2021

2021, a year of persistent strength

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2021, a year of persistent strength

It has been a journey of persistent strength as we look back at 2021 – we continued to adapt, embraced learnings and marched on to empower women and girls and help them make choices to live a life free of violence, abuse and exploitation. I would say that learnings are mutual – at every Safe […]

It has been a journey of persistent strength as we look back at 2021 – we continued to adapt, embraced learnings and marched on to empower women and girls and help them make choices to live a life free of violence, abuse and exploitation.

I would say that learnings are mutual – at every Safe Village Program, at every counselling session, every phone call we received on our anti-trafficking helpline and domestic violence helplines or through the messages on our digital platforms, we have learnt how determined and resilient women and girls are. They inspire us to do more.

“Never doubt that a small group of passionate, committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

– Margaret Mead

As the saying goes, what we do, we cannot do it alone. It gives me so much joy that you are with us, encouraging us and championing for My Choices Foundation all along.

Thank you very much for all your generous support as we steer forward with hope, courage and a deep determination into 2022 to make India safe for all women and girls.

Join us in celebrating our highlights of 2021!

Elca Grobler

Founder, My Choices Foundation

January

In partnership with Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and Seefar, we launched Surokhito Gram Karyakrom – Safe Village Program – to end child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children in West Bengal.

February

12 Youth Hosts took part in The BoyTalk Project’s vision day, an initiative partnered with Aangan Trust to guide India’s boys through conversations on gender and masculinity.

March

We organised 10 capacity building sessions for our counsellors focused on how to understand trauma and help people develop emotional regulation skills.

April

A huge milestone was achieved with our 5,000th Safe Village Program. A proud moment on how far we have come since 2012 and impacted 2.5 million people.

May

We were brought on board by Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, Telangana to support the emotional well-being of police personnel with counselling sessions.

June

We won the Xel-Research award for the most trusted NGO for Women Rights and Education.

July

Our 3rd Asian Anti-Trafficking Forum focused on community stakeholders brought together more than 150 Implementing and Strategic Partners and other experts and served as a platform to network, collaborate and share best practices.

August

Our Founder and Director, Elca Grobler was awarded the International Achievers Award and recognized as Change Maker, Champion for Justice and fighter for the rights of every woman and girl in India. Watch Elca’s Interview.

September

We developed online training protocols for survivors of domestic violence on Dial 100, an initiative in partnership with the Telangana State Women Safety Wing.

October

We marked Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a digital campaign – Recognise, Report and Prevent Domestic Violence.

November

In partnership with the Women Safety Wing of Telangana State Police, we launched Empowerment Programs for Anti-Human Trafficking Units.

December

We made inroads into  Chhattisgarh and Odisha with our Safe Village Programs and now, My Choices Foundation is active in 10 states of India.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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Our first Safe Village Program in Odisha – we are now active in 10 states

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Our first Safe Village Program in Odisha – we are now active in 10 states

Located at a height of 3500 feet above sea level and nestled in the lap of the Eastern Ghats of India, Koraput district in the state of Odisha is a spectacular place with lush greenery, majestic mountains, fast-flowing rivers and all the more lovely, hospitable and down-to-earth people – the Bondas, a vulnerable tribal group […]

Located at a height of 3500 feet above sea level and nestled in the lap of the Eastern Ghats of India, Koraput district in the state of Odisha is a spectacular place with lush greenery, majestic mountains, fast-flowing rivers and all the more lovely, hospitable and down-to-earth people – the Bondas, a vulnerable tribal group known for their secluded lives away from the mainstream. But the lack of access has not prevented young Bondas from leaving their homes in search of a better life, even low-paid jobs in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states. The COVID-19 pandemic further threw their lives out of gear and forced them to cross borders to put food on the table. Mounting economic pressures have triggered the disturbing trend of young Bondas leaving their education and entering into a very high-risk labour market.

It was a long journey and when we reached the place to conduct our first Safe Village Program in the Hanumal village, the hospitable villagers treated us with a warm cup of tea and their lovely smiles. In partnership with our Implementing Partner, we made efforts to gather people from the surrounding villages. It wasn’t an easy walking journey on the hilly terrain, but 60 people – fathers, mothers, boys, girls and even grandfathers and grandmothers showed up.

With the help of the translator from our Implementing Partner organisation, we introduced the My Choices Foundation and our vision to be there in the village. They listened attentively and asked questions. It showed the curiosity and interest of people who want to protect their children from any harm. Comic books were distributed and story narration took place with engaging flip charts in the local language.

Here’s a moment that welled up our eyes(in each Safe Village Program): 17-year Malati who trekked eight kilometres along the muddy roads and bumpy hills to attend our Safe Village Program said, “I will be forever grateful for you to visit this place. You have made an effort, acknowledge our existence and talk about safety, which is kind of rare these days. I am going to talk about all your messages to my Mother and Father as soon as I reach home. I will also share it with my neighbours. It is highly needed to keep ourselves and our children safe from traffickers. Thank you very much. Please visit us again.”

Safe Village Program

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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My Choices Foundation hosts multiple activities for #16DaysOfActivism

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My Choices Foundation hosts multiple activities for #16DaysOfActivism

Every year, the annual campaign #16DaysOfActivism kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the campaign as it was originated in 1991 by activists at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute. The theme […]

Every year, the annual campaign #16DaysOfActivism kicks off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the campaign as it was originated in 1991 by activists at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute.

The theme for 2021 is Orange the world: End violence against women now! As a part of the campaign, Operation PeaceMaker of My Choices Foundation organised and participated in multiple activities across the 16 days to engage the youth to create awareness about gender-based violence. We began the campaign by joining One Future Collective in an Instagram live session on Civil society response to domestic violence survivors during COVID-19. Here, Dr. Farzana Khan, Head of Programs, discussed how we supported survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic through our counselling and safe home and built a support system for survivors.

To initiate a discussion about gender stereotypes and gender-based violence we hosted a movie screening to sensitise the students at Government City College, Hyderabad about gender-based violence and its impact on women and girls. Various short movies like Black White, Impossible Dream and Babul were screened which was followed by a discussion on building perspectives about gender norms and their impact on the lives of women and girls.

“Inculcate gender equality in your life. If you want gender equality, remember to give a fair chance to women in your life, act on it. This world would be a better place”

– Student, Government City College, Hyderabad.

Focusing on creating awareness among the youth who we believe are the leaders of tomorrow, we collaborated with Youth Red Cross – VIT to conduct a YouTube Live session on Break the Silence on Violence. In this session, Dr. Farzana Khan shed light on the issues of violence against women and youth and how to address them.

To create awareness among the marginalised sections of the community, Save the Children, organised a session for women on dealing with gender-based violence in their communities. This interactive and informative session was conducted by Pearl Choragudi, Head of Interventions and Mumtaz Fatima, Counsellor from Operation PeaceMaker of My Choices Foundation. More than 30 women attended this session to discuss the various issues they face in their communities related to gender-based violence and our expert counsellors supported them to discuss the next steps to break the cycle of violence.

Our team of PeaceMakers and counsellors also conducted awareness programmes for women in the community in Hyderabad where they discussed the issues of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, child marriage and legal support available for survivors of domestic violence.

We focus on delivering awareness messages in creative ways that would inspire girls and boys to think about the issue we are discussing and also act on it. We organised a signature campaign where we encouraged the participants to discuss the myths that they would like to bust to achieve gender equality. A Street play was organised by our team in Howrah on “Hinsa Mukt Samaj ho, sabka Samaan Adhikaar ho” to bring awareness about gender-based violence and challenge conventional attitudes of men towards women. Our team in Warrangal organised another street play that focused on the impact of domestic violence on children and how the presence of our SuperSmart Shakti Girls Network in the community is helping young girls. The SuperSmart Shakti Girls’ Safety Network prioritises the safety of girls through creating awareness about gender-based violence and connecting them to a strong peer network. We adopt a multi-fold approach: connect girls to a peer network, equip them to recognise risks and resist pressures of early marriage, hazardous work and dropping out of school.

Beyond the campaign for #16daysofactivism, we conduct awareness programmes all year round. We have tailormade curriculums for each demographic of the society that ensures that the members of the community are sensitised and educated about issues of gender, masculinity, violence, gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and laws related to them.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to know more about our upcoming events and programmes.

Movie screening at Government City College, Hyderabad

Community awareness session organised by Save the Children

Girls participating in the Signature Campaign

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

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My Choices Foundation makes inroads into Chhattisgarh with our Safe Village Program

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  • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

My Choices Foundation makes inroads into Chhattisgarh with our Safe Village Program

We are excited to announce that we organised our first Safe Village Program in the region of Bastar, Chhatisgarh, thus marking the beginning of a new (ninth) state to raise awareness and empower the community about sex trafficking with our innovative tools – comic books, flipcharts, helpline and counselling. During the sunny mid-afternoon on Saturday, […]

We are excited to announce that we organised our first Safe Village Program in the region of Bastar, Chhatisgarh, thus marking the beginning of a new (ninth) state to raise awareness and empower the community about sex trafficking with our innovative tools – comic books, flipcharts, helpline and counselling.

During the sunny mid-afternoon on Saturday, 4 December 2021, villagers happily welcomed the team of My Choices Foundation. Our team found shade to begin a meaningful exchange. When our Program Director, Vivian Issac, explained the purpose of the visit and what the Safe Village Program is all about, villagers paid careful attention to anti-trafficking messages. It instilled their curiosity and they had questions. This also helped our team to rediscover the passion and the intent of the work we do – as it happens in each of the Safe Village Programs – to create a safe living and thriving environment for every girl in the nation of India.

We started with our Safe Village Program in Jagdalpur, Chattisgarh due to a newspaper article we came across two years ago and have been working to make inroads in the state since then. In February 2020, a leading English newspaper daily reported that six trafficked children were rescued in Andhra Pradesh and one little girl was from Jagdalpur. Her little fingers were soiled and toiled because of numerous hours of labour work. We had been working with our network to find the right partner, who aligns with the mission of My Choices Foundation and were elated when we found one who is equally passionate as us.

As time passed, comic books were distributed and our engaging flip charts were a huge success too. The messages of Good Fathers, Informed Mothers, Guardian Girls and Smart Boys resonated with the villagers. It was an active and participatory discussion. As people made sense of the messages, two families came forward and said that two boys and one girl had gone missing two years ago. We gathered as much information possible to file a police complaint and with the help of our stakeholders are making efforts to get the children back home.

The community agreed to have all our sustainability elements of our Safe Village Program – Nodal Teacher, Gram Mitra, Rakshak and Community Leadership to ensure that the village is safe.

Reflecting on the Safe Village Program in Chhatisgarh, each Safe Village Program is a passionate exchange of knowledge that creates a lifeline of awareness for many people and a towards the path for a safe society.

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

Share this story

Support Our Work

Your donations make it possible for us to give women and girls the choice to live a life free from violence and exploitation.

I WANT TO DONATE

or sign up to our newsletter