Make 250 villages of India Safe from Trafficking

Dear friend of Save The Children India

Save The Children India is committed to making India a Child Friendly Nation and efforts towards increasing community participation for greater awaress and vigilance has always helped in early identification and reporting of incidents of abuse and exploitation against children.

Field teams and partners of Save The Children India constantly strive to conduct community events and engagement with children, women, men and youth in remote rural villages.

In the last quarter i.e. from January 2019-March 2019, the team conducted Safe Village Programmes in 62 villages of Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur district covering population of over 1,00,000 people.

These efforts are only possible because of socially conscious people like you who find meaning in helping others. 

Thank you very much and we look forward to your suggestions to improve our work. 

Save The Children India through its interventions has been striving towards having strengthened communities exercising vigilance and initiating community actions against violence against women and children, consistent and coordinated response of criminal justice system that makes this “trade” of human being expensive for the traffickers and the protection (rehabilitation) measures help survivors find new lease of life with dignity and independence where they are supported to reach their full potentials and prevented from lapse to any exploitative situation.

Women and girls bear a triple burden of exploitation i.e. they are poor, they are from groups which are traditionally marginalized and they are female and are among the most vulnerable to being exploited, abused and face injustice. To add to the misery there are socio cultural practices that further increase vulnerability of women and girls to exploitation and abuse.

The gender biases and attitudes towards women outlined the specific factors which directly contribute to their vulnerability. Neglect, abuse and sexual exploitation perpetuate and continually reinforce the subordinate status of women; and this, in turn, has the dual effect of making society as a whole turn a blind eye to what is happening, while women and girls themselves for the most part do not question their fate, or expect to have the ability to change it. Particularly in teenage girls, the sense of powerlessness and lack of self worth are important elements in their vulnerability to trafficking and any form of violence and abuse.

This quarter 267 discussions were held with within schools and communities to understand what makes communities unsafe for women and children. This particular group in picture was laughing and giggling while sharing “boys vocabulary” to address girls. End of the session, the boys were convinced to consider the impact of their actions on girls, one of it being making spaces unsafe and unwanted by girls.

Vihan said “ I was always felt uncomfortable in addressing girls this way but was made to believe , this is want being “cool” means”