The Waghri and Sikligar communities are Denotified Tribal (DNT) communities residing in several slums in urban Pune, India. These families, already extremely economically and socially marginalized, have been unable to work due to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, and desperately need food ration support to make it through this crisis. Ashraya Initiative for Children will provide food and sanitary supplies to the 115 families in these communities to help them through the pandemic.
Waghri and Sikligar families need urgent short-term crisis support to sustain themselves through these unprecedented times. Prior to COVID-19, most of these families were subsisting on daily wages from their traditional tribal livelihoods to feed their families each day. With no savings or financial security, the risk of exposure to a potentially deadly virus, and no possibility of working during the strict lockdowns imposed by the government, the Waghris and Sikligars are in a dire situation.
Ashraya Initiative for Children has been working with Waghri and Sikligar families for 15 years now, and is deeply embedded within these communities. With AIC's extensive existing infrastructure and robust community linkages, we are ideally situated to provide the required food security support until community members are able to safely resume working and providing for their families.
The project will protect and care for 115 families from an extremely vulnerable community during a time of acute desperation and devastation in India, which will support their long-term health, well-being, and ensure that the generational advancement that is already 15 years in the making is not irreparably damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
