Old age home for 300 abandoned elderly women

Challenge

Many elderly women in India suffer from poverty, isolation and social exclusion. In particular, elderly widowed women are often denied even basic rights such as food, health-care and are thrown out of their homes by their families.Thousands of such aged widows congregate in India's holy city, Vrindavan, where they usually spend the rest of their lives in austerity, begging for food and living in hovels with no electricity and running water. This project seeks to restore dignity in their lives.

Solution

Maitri India's old age home offers a safe, hygienic and comfortable home for 150 elderly widowed women in 2 co locations. It provides them essentials for life including daily meals, nutritional supplements, clothing and healthcare. Moreover, it will facilitate skill development, income generation and secure citizenship rights and government-provided benefits. Maitri also ensures the widow mothers' dignity in death through conducting their last rites in accordance with their religious belief.

Long-Term Impact

Our project will provide 150 aged women shelter within a supportive and comfortable environment. And provide additional 100 widows meals, health supplements, and enabling access to general and multi-specialty healthcare. These women will be able to lead healthier lives. In addition, the project will help increase their socio-economic independence by facilitating access to citizenship rights and opportunities for vocational training, skill enhancement and employment.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources

• http:/​/​www.maitriindia.org/​
• If You're An Indian Widow, Your Children Could...
• India's Invisible Widows
• India's abandoned widows struggle to survive
• The Indian town with 6,000 widows