Team PUKAR wishes all of you a very happy Independence Day!
We are happy to share a beautiful poem written by our ex barefoot researcher Nagma Shah..
Covid-19 pandemic has hit the life of everyone very hard. Everyone is affected by the pandemic but the people living in resource poor neighbourhood especially daily wage earners are affected the most. Almost all the CSOs are on field trying to support these people in whatever capacity they can. Similarly PUKAR tried to reach out to the people of these hard to reach areas in the city of Mumbai and suburb. PUKAR started with raising awareness through series of posters and videos. In order to help them with food security we decided to appeal our generous supporters to raise funds. We have covered the areas like Kaula Bandar, Kolsa Bandar, Kali Reti Bandar, Dargah Galli, Pardhi Wada, Jay Bhim Nagar, Cheeta Camp, Karbala Chawl, Janta Nagar, Indira Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, tribal areas in Palghar and many more. We are happy to share that 45000 people have been supported by distributing ration.
Team PUKAR faced so many challenges during the work especially with the procurement and transportation of grains. It was very hard to get ration on right price and then transport it to the areas where the actual distribution took place. The shopkeepers were not ready to negotiate on the price and accept payment through bank transfer. The team faced other adversities like police, fasting during Ramzaan month in the initial period, scorching heat and issues of crowd control. In order to do crowd control the BRs conducted a census of all the households (HH) they worked with so that no HH was excluded from the support. They faced the risk of being contracted by the virus while distributing the ration to the people even though they have ensured all the security measures like covering the face by a mask, ensuring social distancing, sanitizing hands etc. PUKAR salutes its team for risking their lives and executing the relief work despite all these challenges.
PUKAR is grateful to Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, India Development Service, Shabnum and Sunil Sanghvi Charitable Gift Trust, Stichting Daida Foundation, Globescan Incorporated, Professor Anup Malani, Mr. Shirish Shah and Ms. Swapna Shah and all the other people for their invaluable support to PUKAR enabling us to help these many people.
PUKAR congratulates the 15th cohort of its Barefoot Researchers (BRs) for successfully completing one year diploma course in ‘Community Based Participatory Research and Advocacy’. The journey began one year ago with the search of self, social realities and issues with communities they hail from. Now they have become Changemakers ready to explore the community issues and find the solutions for those problems. The course is accredited by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). This accreditation will help them to increase their employability prospects.
Total nine groups completed their journey as a researcher and presented their research findings in the Graduation Ceremony on July 25, 2020 to 287 people. This year’s event was a bit challenging as we had to conduct the ceremony online due to Covid-19 pandemic. It was our first experience along with the BRs to manage such a big event online. PUKAR is proud to share that the BRs presented their works very well on this new platform.
For PUKAR, it’s not an end but it’s a beginning of a new journey on a new platform of Digital Medium with the next cohort of Changemakers. PUKAR wishes the BRs every success in life and hopes that they will pass the torch to other youth making ‘The Movement of Barefoot Researchers’ stronger.
PUKAR is thankful to all the people who attended the event and for their encouraging words for the BRs.
Dr. Anita Patil-Deshmukh, Executive Director of PUKAR was speaking on July 14, 2020 at this important event “Delivering on the Decade of Action: What can we expect from the world’s most influential companies” organised by World Benchmarking Alliance, A United Nation’s Partner Organisation. The event was moderated by Ms. Kaysie Brown who is the Vice President for Policy and Strategic Initiatives, United Nations Foundation.
To watch the video click here.
Source of Video: World Benchmarking Alliance
The time for celebrating the one year journey of learning and self transformation has come again. We invite you to our Youth Fellowship Graduation event 2020 to witness the exciting journey of our Barefoot Researchers. This event is for limited audience and hence kindly register fro the event by clicking the link given in the invite.
Clarity between Gender and Sex, advantages of Activity Based Learning system, Confidence to start a conversation etc.
These are the just some of the learning of Mr. Suraj P. James through Youth Fellowship. He shared his whole journey as a youth fellow (YF) in an audio interview that tell us the importance of the Youth Fellowship Program and what makes it different from the rest of the learning systems.
Lets walk through his whole journey as a YF by clicking the link given below-
Click Here to listen his whole experience of Youth Fellowship
Youth Fellowship – New Cohort of Changemakers – 2020-2021
As always, recruitment was initiated by the Youth Fellowship Team since January 2020.
Applications Received: 169
Interviews for Admission conducted: 169
Youth Selected 107
We conducted proper interviews mostly in person but a few ones on phone after the lockdown.
107 young women and men who are ready to explore their communities and gather evidence for bringing about a change!
Current Cohort of Graduating Change Makers with Diploma from TISS:
Joined the Fellowship 80
Attritions 20
Graduating 60
Self-Assessments conducted 60
Most of the groups are currently in the stage of report writing, connecting with the groups members via digital medium since the Lockdown. The self-assessment and oral exams were conducted over digital medium as well and the youth seems to have adjusted to the tech life rather easily although they miss the camaraderie of person to person meet.
PUKAR’s new warriors and protectors are all set to take their position to safeguard our workplace! Keeping in mind the POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) law which asks the organization to dissolve the current POSH committee every three years and to establish a new one with new members, PUKAR today conducted an orientation session for its new committee members.
From defining important terminologies (like Sexual harassment, Workplace, Employee, Aggrieved Individual) to understanding the scope of the policy, disciplinary action and the procedure of filing an appeal, the new POSH committee is all set to take the stage from 1st January 2020.
From new year onwards, the new committee will be conducting ‘prevention and awareness’ workshop ATLEAST ONCE in every three months and will be responsible for putting up their new posters defining POSH Law at different physical-workplace as defined by PUKAR’s Sexual harassment Redressal Policy which was constructed within the framework of Sexual Harassment at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 to prohibit and deter the acts of sexual harassment and protect the basic rights of employees.
Team PUKAR welcomes the new committee and wishes them our best in order to fulfill their responsibilities. We are also grateful to our old committee and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for giving their valuable time.
PUKAR, in partnerships with University of Chicago Law School, UOC Delhi Centre, and Khalsa College hosted a seminar on the daily lives, challenges and resilience of residents of Informal Settlements. This was held at Khalsa College premises and attended by an enthusiastic audience of activists, faculty, academicians, students and advocates of all colours and hues.
Starting with complex and multi-layered issue of Housing Rights, and issue connected with every aspect of housing, the thematic also included Improving Informal settlements, Access to Basic Services and Women’s Rights and Health in Informal settlements.
Having travelled from far off places like Chicago, Lucknow, Odisha, Hyderabad, Pune, joining local practitioners, the panellist of every thematic laid out the current situations, shared their own work experiences and provoked many debates on the floor. In a collective fashion and in collaborative spirit, the panellist suggested ways to move forward to make the life of residents for informal settlements a little better through policies, politics and practices.
These residents who essentially hold the city on their able shoulders and make life easier for other citizens are almost always treated by the larger society, the policy makers and the legal entities as “Illegal, Unwanted”. Through the discussions that ensued, the panellists and moderators informed, educated and enlightened the audience of the realities of lives in the informal settlements and inspired the audience to change their lens to view these realities. The spirited discussions that followed every session were the hallmark of the success of the seminar. PUKAR wishes to thank all the partners and the participants for their contribution to this event.
