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The emotional wellbeing of Police personnel during the pandemic

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  • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

The emotional wellbeing of Police personnel during the pandemic

Rachakonda Commissionerate (Hyderabad, Telangana), under the leadership of the Rachakonda Commissioner of Police Mr. Mahesh Bhagwath, Indian Police Service initiated a quarantine follow-up for the staff of the Commissionerate who were tested positive for COVID-19 (mild and moderate cases). My Choices Foundation was brought on board to conduct counselling sessions, along with the routine medical […]

Rachakonda Commissionerate (Hyderabad, Telangana), under the leadership of the Rachakonda Commissioner of Police Mr. Mahesh Bhagwath, Indian Police Service initiated a quarantine follow-up for the staff of the Commissionerate who were tested positive for COVID-19 (mild and moderate cases). My Choices Foundation was brought on board to conduct counselling sessions, along with the routine medical team group consultations. The purpose of the counselling sessions was to help the staff navigate through anxiety or serious health situations during this difficult time.

These calls focused on encouraging the staff and their family members to watch out for any COVID-19 related symptoms, referring them to an isolation facility opened exclusively for the Rachakonda Police Personnel and their families. We also encouraged them to consult the Department Doctor regularly, seek any referrals from Covid Control Room, reach out to their Senior Officers if they are in any need and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Our team spoke and listened in a very empathic manner. Loneliness, fear of family members contracting the virus, fear of being hospitalized, hopelessness, uncertainty about their future, fear of losing their loved ones and the handling of the grief after losing their loved ones are some of the many things discussed and addressed during the calls. Some personnel were very deeply disappointed when they were tested positive again after their quarantine. Our team gently encouraged them to handle the disappointment till they tested negative. With time, the Personnel started looking forward to our calls as they enjoyed conversing with our team. It gave them an outlet to share their joys and sorrows.

Our team conducted follow-up calls to 330 Police Personnel daily until all of them tested negative. We conducted 3013 sessions from 26 May to 20 July 2021 with the police personnel to help them through these uncertain times.

It is difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and also be worry-free when someone is going through the COVID-19 crisis. The uncertainty and worries related to the spreading of infection to other family members, especially elderly parents, pregnant staff or family members of the infected staff and disruption of routines, our lifestyles can impact our mental health. The uncertainty about the future, the ceaseless news coverage and the constant social media-driven flood of messages can increase our sense of anxiety. Stress is a normal response in these situations. Stress disturbs our sleeping and eating patterns and leads to irritability or emotional outbursts and low motivation.

The Commissioner arranged for regular group consultations with the Medical team over the zoom along with Doctors and Senior Officials to encourage the COVID-19 affected personnel through this difficult time. Alongside the group consultations, individual follow-up calls were also conducted.

Feedback –

“My special thanks to the MCF team who succeeded to imbibe confidence at my depressive state once occurred.”

– Constable from the Rachakonda Commissionerate team.

“My Covid 19 report is negative. Thank you for supporting me during my time in isolation. Thank you for your moral support and motivation Madam.”

– Rachakonda Commissionerate team.

Mam, I wanted to share with you first about my negative report. Thank you for your support.

– Rachakonda Commissionerate team

My mother died yesterday night and my wife has been suffering from Covid for the past 4 days. I am in deep sorrow. Feeling very tensed about what will happen next? Thank you for these calls at least I can share my feelings in my difficult time.

– ARPC from the Rachakonda

Thank you Ma’am for the Pediatrician Contact number at the right time. Took consultation from the Doctor. Feeling relieved.

– Rachakonda Commissionerate team.

Evening: 4:45 Today’s call was all about how his day looked like. He shared that both he and his son are trying to follow the chart given by the Department. He can follow most of the activities mentioned, also spending time reading books, watching TV, He is also doing breathing exercises. Taught him a few relaxation techniques too.

– MCF Team Member notes

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My Choices Foundation at the multi-stakeholder hearing on the Global Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons

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  • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

My Choices Foundation at the multi-stakeholder hearing on the Global Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons

On 13 July 2021, My Choices Foundation participated in the United Nations Multi-stakeholder Hearing on the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The event was part of the consultation process leading up to a High-Level Meeting of the plenary of the UN General Assembly, which will take place on 22-23 November 2021 […]

On 13 July 2021, My Choices Foundation participated in the United Nations Multi-stakeholder Hearing on the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The event was part of the consultation process leading up to a High-Level Meeting of the plenary of the UN General Assembly, which will take place on 22-23 November 2021 and evaluate the progress made in implementing the initiative.

Sudha Upadhayula, Head of Operations of Operation Red Alert, an anti-trafficking arm of My Choices Foundation represented My Choices Foundation, addressing the emerging issues in human trafficking amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. She highlighted key ways to accelerate the anti-trafficking efforts, drawing from the experiences of My Choices Foundation’s seven years of work in the communities to prevent sex trafficking in India.

The event provided relevant stakeholders with an opportunity to provide input on responding to trafficking in persons and is intended to inform member states engaged in the negotiations on the High-Level Meeting’s outcome document of the practical experience shared by civil society organisations and all other relevant actors in responding to trafficking in persons.

Here’s the full statement of My Choices Foundation at the Multi-stakeholder hearing:

Namaste excellencies and dignitaries. I am Sudha Upadhyayula, representing My Choices Foundation from India. We have been working towards the prevention of sex trafficking for the past 7 years.

  • We believe that trafficking in persons is a grave human rights violation, shattering the core of a person and shaking the foundations of the community. We strongly condemn it.
  • We stress the importance of collaboration for effective prevention. My Choices Foundation has partnered with over 100 NGOs across the country, building a collaborative network.
  • We call for a greater focus on prevention. Community radio, social media, and grassroots awareness campaigns should be used to identify and empower at-risk populations. During Covid, we built comprehensive e-learning modules and utilized 16 community radio stations to spread awareness.
  • We emphasize building sustainable communities through evidence-based programming. Insights from our behavioural research laid the foundation for our flagship Safe Village Programs. We reached over 5,200 villages, empowering over 2.3 million people. Our 4000 grassroots volunteers act as local influencers and sustain the impact we have created.
  • We strongly recommend leveraging technology to advance and sustain the anti-trafficking movement at all levels. Our big-data enabled ‘Vulnerability Mapping Tool’ helps us identify at-risk villages and facilitates targeted intervention. We are partnering with Traffik Analysis Hub to expand this tool globally.
  • We insist on the strengthening of national anti-trafficking helplines and building a unified platform for data collection.
  • We urge the governments and other agencies to multiply the efforts to address the root causes of trafficking namely poverty, unemployment and systematic and gender inequalities.
  • COVID-19 exposed the vulnerabilities faced by at-risk communities when a disaster or pandemic strikes. Traffickers have been utilizing modern technologies for trapping, grooming and exploiting the victims. 

    • This is the time to act. Like Mr. Ban Ki-moon said, “….We cannot let this period be remembered as one in which the global community knew but did not act.” Let us work together to end this scourge.

    You can also watch the full event here.

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    COVID-19 relief support by PeaceMakers

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    COVID-19 relief support by PeaceMakers

    India has been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. Multiple lockdowns in the country resulted in restricted mobility, loss of livelihoods, and an acute shortage of essential goods for many families. Our counsellors moved to online platforms to provide counselling to survivors and our PeaceMakers – local community women trained in counselling and […]

    India has been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. Multiple lockdowns in the country resulted in restricted mobility, loss of livelihoods, and an acute shortage of essential goods for many families. Our counsellors moved to online platforms to provide counselling to survivors and our PeaceMakers – local community women trained in counselling and assisting survivors of domestic violence –  were proactive in maintaining contact with their community members and assisting whoever required help. (To know more about Operation PeaceMaker, click here).

    Our PeaceMakers are playing an indispensable role in providing support to the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Some of our PeaceMakers have years of training with us which encourages them to go above and beyond their roles. Before My Choices Foundation started COVID- 19 relief work in 2020, two of our PeaceMakers – Anees and Shah Jahan helped the community members by distributing grains, cooked food and providing money to people in need. The PeaceMaker programme aims to empower women in the community and the fact that Anees and Shah Jahan conducted these activities on their own, is a testament to the training we conduct for PeaceMakers. (To read more about our PeaceMakers and their journey of becoming a PeaceMaker, click here).

    During the pandemic, PeaceMakers were proactive in leveraging their position in the community to assist people in need. Through their assistance, we identified women and families who required help and assisted the PeaceMakers to essential resources were provided. They contacted all our beneficiaries to identify women who required assistance, pregnant women who were unable to access necessities or families infected with COVID-19 struggling for essential supplies. Our PeaceMaker coordinated with local authorities and the My Choices Foundation team to ensure help was provided. We assisted in the form of distribution of ration, providing monetary assistance through our Lotus Fund and a haven through our Safe Home.

    In 2020, by the end of the first wave, our PeaceMakers started entering the field with full precautions to conduct door-to-door awareness about domestic violence and our helpline service. Some of our PeaceMakers who are also ASHA Workers (primary health care workers) and Anganwadi (community creche’) Teachers played a crucial role in reaching out to women in the community. While everyone’s movement was limited during the pandemic, this team was still active in the community as they are government-appointed volunteers who provide invaluable aid to the communities. ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers (government-led initiative) helped many domestic violence victims to get the necessary help, be it assistance with Police, Legal, medicines and food essentials. Distressed women who still reach out to the Police are directed to our counselling centres for assistance.

    Our PeaceMakers play a vital role in our ability to reach the vulnerable communities in Hyderabad and Warangal. To help them continue their great work, we conduct drives to provide them with safety kits which include – N95 Masks, surgical masks, gloves, face shields and sanitisers. We distributed 40 safety kits among our 40 PeaceMakers who are actively involved in creating meaningful changes in the lives of women, children and families. Armed with the safety kit, the PeaceMakers are entering the field safely and interacting with the community members to create awareness about domestic violence and our counselling and helpline services.

    COVID-19 Safety kits distribution

    My Choices Foundation

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    Guide for friends and families of survivors of violence and abuse

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    Guide for friends and families of survivors of violence and abuse

    Sensitive and unbiased are two words that one must never forget when talking to a survivor of violence and abuse. Not providing a supportive environment can have adverse effects on the mental health of the survivors. Lack of support and reassurance can at times even make them tolerate the abuse for the sake of society. […]

    Sensitive and unbiased are two words that one must never forget when talking to a survivor of violence and abuse. Not providing a supportive environment can have adverse effects on the mental health of the survivors. Lack of support and reassurance can at times even make them tolerate the abuse for the sake of society.

    But, we must not forget that we are the change-makers of society and must work together to make communities a safe space for survivors.

    What can you do to help survivors?

  • Reach out to the concerned person in a safe space and time. Express your concern in a non-threatening manner. (Example – I am concerned that someone is hurting you and I am worried about your safety)
  • Be good listeners: many times even just listening to what a person has to share makes them feel strong and supported. A mere act of listening can make the survivors feel more comfortable and accepted in a society like ours. 
  • Let them know that you are there for them: Being there for someone can make them feel powerful. Look out for them and regularly ask them if they need your help with something.
  • Be respectful of the choices and decisions made by the survivor. You have to be patient about the choices the survivor makes. Self-empowerment is a long process. It will have to happen at the pace of the survivor and not yours. 
  • Try calling the domestic violence helpline yourself. Do not on behalf of your friend but call to learn about the help available and how to be more supportive in the situation you are in. 

    • Healing can be a long journey for the survivors, but your support can make a difference. Looking out for people who require support is the least you can do to make their lives easier.

    Be the friend, the partner, the parent or the neighbour that our society needs.

    Be the changemaker.

    If you or someone you know is being subjected to domestic violence please call 1800 212 9131, if it is unsafe to call please text us at 9333 40 4141.

    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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    Capacity Building Programme for our Counsellors

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    Capacity Building Programme for our Counsellors

    Aiming to empower our counsellors with skills and knowledge to assist people who exhibit suicidal tendencies, we organised a training programme for our counsellors for Suicide Assessment and Intervention. Dr. Sukriti Kushwaha, PhD, LMFT took 4-hour virtual session with 35 team members. The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a new global health threat. By increasing […]

    Aiming to empower our counsellors with skills and knowledge to assist people who exhibit suicidal tendencies, we organised a training programme for our counsellors for Suicide Assessment and Intervention. Dr. Sukriti Kushwaha, PhD, LMFT took 4-hour virtual session with 35 team members.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a new global health threat. By increasing the risk of isolation, fear, stigma, abuse and economic fallout, COVID-19 has led to an increase in the risk of psychiatric disorders, chronic trauma and stress, which eventually increase suicidality and suicidal behaviour. Owing to the current scenario across the world, it has become necessary to take all the possible precautions and prioritise mental and well-being.

    The Suicide Intervention and Assessment training programme focused on training the counsellors to:

  • identify direct and indirect signs of suicidality
  • learn techniques for determining the level of risk 
  • interventions for reducing high-risk and suicidal behaviour
  • how to intervene in crises 
  • how to reduce anxiety
  • increase self-confidence in engaging with suicidal individuals.

    • Feedback from our counsellors:

    “Thankful for arranging this session. It was insightful. Loved the bit where we need to focus on our thoughts and feelings when we deal with clients. Thank you.”

    “These sessions helped me to understand how we, as counsellors, should be focused on the survivor’s feelings but not on the second or third person’s problem for whom she approached.”

    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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    World Day Against Child Labour: Our actions towards ending child labour in India

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    World Day Against Child Labour: Our actions towards ending child labour in India

    Childhood should be a time to grow, learn, play and thrive in a safe environment. But an estimated 10 million children around the world don’t have that chance. They are forced to work into begging, selling drugs, work in the factories, quarries or brick kilns, and sold into sexual slavery amongst many others forms of […]

    Childhood should be a time to grow, learn, play and thrive in a safe environment. But an estimated 10 million children around the world don’t have that chance. They are forced to work into begging, selling drugs, work in the factories, quarries or brick kilns, and sold into sexual slavery amongst many others forms of labour.

    The pandemic has deepened the root causes of child labour. Children all over the world are falling through the cracks, evidenced by a spate of disturbing reports of school children reverting to child labour, increases in child marriage, trafficking, domestic violence and a sharpening digital divide in education.

    Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward report warns that global progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years. The number of children aged 5 to 17 years in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety and morals – has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016.

    In India, there are 10.1 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old engaged in some work, of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls. It is driven by various factors such as extreme poverty, lack of opportunities, societal discrimination and inadequate social protection measures.

    Child trafficking is strongly linked to child labour. Thousands of children are missing from India’s remote villages as human traffickers respond to a surge in demand for cheap labour and influx in sex tourism and child pornography – often children end up working as domestic help for wealthy families in urban areas or sold into brothels, and forced to commit commercial sex acts. It does not deprive children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, it exposes them to abuse and exploitation, and harmful to their physical and mental development.

    END CHILD CHILD LABOUR 2021

    12 June, World Day against Child Labour 2021 is an international day to raise awareness and prompt actions to end all forms of child labour. We can end all forms of child labour if we accelerate our efforts together at all levels – individuals, organisations and governments.

    We have legal frameworks in India that prohibit child labour – a child engaged in work under the age of 14. But it needs to be further tightened and more strictly enforced. The government also need to take measures to address the root causes of child labour and ensure that all children attend school to find decent work in their adulthood.

    OUR ACTIONS TO END CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA

    My Choices Foundation fights for all children across India. We work actively with children, communities, villages and grassroots organisations in the remotest part of the country to tackle child labour – from educating communities to helping child survivors of domestic violence get back on track and equipping our implementing partners to sustain the momentum and prevent children from being trafficked and forced into labour.

    Vivian Isaac, Programme Director of Operation Red Alert, the anti-trafficking arm of My Choices Foundation talks about our efforts to end child labour.

    YOU CAN GET ACTIVE AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

    There are choices that all of us can make to improve the living conditions for children and facilitate an end to the abuse and exploitation of children. As an individual, you can:

    • 1. Educate yourself about child labour, its problems and related laws
    • 2. Spread awareness in your community – you can share this blog on your social networking sites
    • 3. Be conscious of the products you buy and avoid buying from businesses that employ children
    • 4. Be vigilant and report abuse – you can call our helpline 1800 419 8588 to report it. All calls are confidential.
    • 5. Volunteer your time – you can volunteer your time with NGOs like My Choices Foundation
    • 6. Donate to make a difference in the lives of children – My Choices Foundation works in eight states across India (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and West Bengal). You can donate to support our work to end child labour and build safer and healthier communities for children to live and thrive.

    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 joins forces with Traffik Analysis Hub to end sex trafficking in India

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    My Choices Foundation joins forces with Traffik Analysis Hub to end sex trafficking in India

    “We, My Choices Foundation, have always believed in leveraging technology to better people’s lives. The Traffik Analysis Hub brings together cutting-edge technology and a fantastic amount of technical knowledge and expertise. By joining forces with the TAHub, we aim to advance and sustain projects and tools across the anti-trafficking movement at country-level and global-level”, said […]

    “We, My Choices Foundation, have always believed in leveraging technology to better people’s lives. The Traffik Analysis Hub brings together cutting-edge technology and a fantastic amount of technical knowledge and expertise. By joining forces with the TAHub, we aim to advance and sustain projects and tools across the anti-trafficking movement at country-level and global-level”, said Elca Grobler, Founder of My Choices Foundation.

    “Global collaboration and cross-sectoral partnerships are fundamental in the fight against trafficking and the TAHub initiative portrays a strong willingness to make it happen”, she added.

    It’s hard to comprehend the sheer scale of sex trafficking in India. The actual numbers may not reflect the truth because many victims become nameless and faceless, uncounted and unreported, and invisible and inaccessible. Every few minutes a girl in India is trafficked and forced to perform sexual acts with up to 20 men a day; her average age is only 12. Sadly, only 1% of these girls will be rescued. According to Dasra’s Zero Traffick report, approximately 16 million women are victims of sex trafficking in India.

    Prevention through awareness is the way to reach the rest of 99% of girls and empower them so that they never get trafficked in the first place.

    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – BASED VULNERABILITY MAPPING TOOL

    Human traffickers depend on a variety of factors influencing the vulnerability of families in rural India to target them for exploitation. Essential to the mission of prevention is being able to identify the vulnerable villages. There are more than 660,000 villages in India and each of them is vulnerable to trafficking at varying degrees. My Choices Foundation wanted to reach out to the most vulnerable villages first with targeted intervention.

    My Choices Foundation partnered with Quantium, an Australian data analytics company to determine villages that are at-risk to sex trafficking in India. We developed the ‘Vulnerability Mapping Tool’, a big data solution that analyses India’s census data, government education data and other factors such as natural calamities, poverty level, access to transportation, educational opportunities, population and distance to the highways and the nearest police station to identify the villages that are most at risk of human trafficking.

    Guided by the ‘Vulnerability Mapping Tool’, My Choices Foundation conducts the Safe Village Program in highly vulnerable villages. The Safe Village Program, our flagship prevention programme that is modelled based on 18-month behavioural research, provides education through community and school-based sessions and teaching families how to keep their daughters safe. To date, we have covered over 5100 villages across eight states in India and conducted sensitisation programmes to empower communities and prevent them from becoming potential victims of human/sex trafficking. Our approach is unique – we are using big data and technology to identify villages most at risk of girls being trafficked and prevent the trafficking with our Safe Village Program awareness sessions.

    USING DATA TO CRACK THE $150 BILLION BUSINESS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

    Human trafficking is a massive problem for all countries and communities. It transcends boundaries, industries and cultures. Victims cut across all ages and genders. Global statistics indicate that trafficking has exponentially risen during this COVID-19 pandemic. Given the widespread nature of the crime and the complexity, no single organisation can neither address this issue alone nor respond comprehensively.

    There are many technological initiatives in the anti-trafficking field and multiple actors capture human trafficking data from various sources, but the data is often limited to specific regions or areas within which they operate. The fragmented and disjointed development of technology initiatives does not match the size of the problem. It is important that our efforts must be collaborative. A coordinated action to scale up solutions and avoiding duplication of efforts will help in ending the trafficking for good.

    With a common goal of reducing the barrier to information-sharing and providing a mechanism for all stakeholders – non-profit organisations, law enforcement agencies and financial institutions – My Choices Foundation shares our intelligence with the TA Hub. This partnership will not only enable us to gather a wider and broader view of trafficking in India but will help all stakeholders to build a more complete picture of trafficking based on up-to-date, reliable and standardised data on human trafficking.

    The systematic collaboration, streamlined communication and unified partnerships are crucial in strengthening the anti-trafficking movement – from educating at-risk communities to prevent recruitment of victims, to rescue and reintegrate survivors. My Choices Foundation’s partnership with the TAHub is a significant step towards that.

    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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    A proud moment and a huge milestone – our 5000th Safe Village Program

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    A proud moment and a huge milestone – our 5000th Safe Village Program

    We are pleased to announce that we have completed our 5000th Safe Village Program in the state of Telangana, India thus making an impact on 2.5 million people since we began My Choices Foundation in 2012. The Safe Village Program (Surokhito Gram Karyakrom) is aimed at building child trafficking awareness among rural communities across villages […]

    We are pleased to announce that we have completed our 5000th Safe Village Program in the state of Telangana, India thus making an impact on 2.5 million people since we began My Choices Foundation in 2012.

    The Safe Village Program (Surokhito Gram Karyakrom) is aimed at building child trafficking awareness among rural communities across villages in India.

    The programme adopts a holistic approach and focuses on sensitising at-risk community members about child trafficking, its causes, risk factors, creating awareness about ways to prevent child trafficking, sustaining the awareness and conducting vulnerability-reduction workshops. It aims to mobilise communities to keep their children safe from trafficking. With knowledge and collective action, we believe that we can end sex trafficking together.

    Since the first Safe Village Program, it has consciously evolved: from our primary stakeholders – the Good Father, the Informed Mother, the Guardian Girl to the Smart Boy – to community stakeholders – Gram Mitras (friends of a village), Nodal Teachers (school teachers), Rakshaks (the vigilante) and the village leadership (the guide), who continues to spread the messages of Safe Village Program after it had taken place.

    One of the interesting elements of the Safe Village Program is a comic book. The comic book is a storytelling tool for all age groups. It tells the story of heroes in a community who discover that a young girl has been sent away to a big city for work and may be at risk of child trafficking and child sexual exploitation. It outlines positive behaviours for girls, boys, mothers and fathers.

    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 launches new campaign to address child sex trafficking in West Bengal

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    My Choices Foundation launches new campaign to address child sex trafficking in West Bengal

    My Choices Foundation, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) and SEEFAR, has launched ‘Surokhito Gram Karyakrom’ (Safe Village Program in Bengali) to empower children, their families and their communities to end child trafficking (CT) and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in three districts – Birbhum, Bankura and Bardhaman – […]

    My Choices Foundation, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) and SEEFAR, has launched ‘Surokhito Gram Karyakrom’ (Safe Village Program in Bengali) to empower children, their families and their communities to end child trafficking (CT) and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in three districts – Birbhum, Bankura and Bardhaman – of West Bengal, India.

    The GFEMS-study revealed gaps in knowledge and risk perception on the child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children are among some of the key drivers for continued exploitation in the state. The study found that individual factors such as chronic poverty, unemployment and the lure of a better life make children more vulnerable to child marriage, child labour and unsafe migration that could lead to CT and CSEC. Additionally, COVID-19 has fueled cases of child marriage and school dropouts, triggered by financial pressures and increased harmful online practices, as children spend more time on the Internet.

    If knowledge and risk perception gaps among children, families and the wider community are addressed, CT and CSEC can be prevented. My Choices Foundation and Seefar have utilised findings from the report to inform their integrated campaign ‘Surokhito Gram Karyakrom’, launched in three districts of West Bengal in February 2021. The campaign aims to promote the role that children, families and the wider community, including teachers, health workers, police and Panchayat leaders, can play in ending CT and CSEC.

    Surokhito Gram Karyakrom, which means Safe Village Programme in Bengali, adopts a holistic approach and focuses on sensitising at-risk community members about child trafficking, its causes, risk factors, creating awareness about ways to prevent child trafficking and sustaining the awareness through a spectrum of activities, such as school-based events, community-based events and one-to-one counselling. It aims to mobilise communities to keep their children safe from trafficking. With knowledge and collective action, we believe that we can prevent child trafficking together.

    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

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    Capacity Building Programme For Our Counsellors

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    • CATEGORY: MY CHOICES FOUNDATION

    Capacity Building Programme For Our Counsellors

    My Choices Foundation organized a series of ‘Capacity building training programmes for domestic violence counsellors’ across five centres located in Shah Ali Banda, Golconda, Lakdikapul, Secunderabad in Hyderabad and Hunter Road in Warangal during last month. Led by Dr. Sukriti Kushwaha, Chief Psychologist and Director of Programs at Emancipation India Foundation, 10 counsellors and 4 […]

    My Choices Foundation organized a series of ‘Capacity building training programmes for domestic violence counsellors’ across five centres located in Shah Ali Banda, Golconda, Lakdikapul, Secunderabad in Hyderabad and Hunter Road in Warangal during last month. Led by Dr. Sukriti Kushwaha, Chief Psychologist and Director of Programs at Emancipation India Foundation, 10 counsellors and 4 support staff have attended the programme.

    “Building capacity dissolves differences. It irons out inequalities”, said Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. Capacity building and training are key elements to equip our counsellors with knowledge and skills in diverse areas that support them in their work. It improves the quality of counselling practices and emphasizes the importance of ‘self-care while helping clients, looking to free themselves from domestic violence.

    The sessions focused on ‘Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’

    – The role of the therapist
    – Psychoeducation: Communication techniques
    – Relaxation exercises
    – Emotion management
    – Cognitive processing

    Therapists’ active and supportive agenda help the survivors to open up and release their stress and emotions. The second method to lower the psychological stress of clients are psychoeducation and communication techniques. Acknowledging and affirming with the clients help them to trust the counsellor and helps them release their tension. The next exercises used in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are breathing relaxation exercises to help counsellors understand and express their feelings.

    The emotion management exercises include recognising feelings and grounding exercise helps the clients to recognize trauma-related cognitive distortions and replace the negative thoughts with more helpful and positive thoughts. Cognitive processing revolves around a cognitive triangle, when an event happens there are three basic reactions given out; what we think, what we feel and what we do.

    Feedback from our counsellors:

    “The training helped me to understand the client’s problem in a structured way especially if the client is traumatised. It was an informative and educational programme.”

    “The best of the training is the mix of theory and practice. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the exercises and when I applied, it showed great results. It helped to understand and solve our client’s problems as well as ours.”

    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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