Empower Pragati’s Kiran initiative transforming lives in rural areas

Kiran is an awareness generation program through which we aim at building knowledge and raising awareness for facilitating the empowerment of vulnerable groups. Kiran sessions are meant for people facing the onslaught of socio-economic marginalization. We have identified various crucial social issues which largely prevail in rural areas, urban slums, resettlement colonies and in peripheries of big cities and we implement Kiran sessions to make masses aware of the steps need to be taken in order to become empowered against these social evils. We are generating awareness on issues like the Alarming issue of unemployment, Importance of skills in life, Importance of Livelihood Generation, Gender Equality, Financial Inclusion, Sexual Harassment and its Prevention at the workplace, Legal Rights of Women, Pregnancy, Menstrual Health & Hygiene and many more such topics which are integral to day to day lives of the masses.

Target Beneficiaries of Kiran Initiative from Empower Pragati

The target beneficiaries of Kiran are from diverse walks of life. However, we are keen to work with rural, urban slum inhabitants, Women, Population from low socio-economic background and migrant population.

Till now we have successfully conducted 249 sessions across various locations located nearby our skill development centers.

Impact of Kiran Initiative from Empower Pragati

The objective of the entire initiative is to make people aware of the existing social issues and to come out of their existing issues. We have been implementing Kiran from past one year in our PMKK communities. We have impacted the lives of more than 4883 target beneficiaries and this has led to change in the mindsets of our target beneficiaries to take up courses. We are pleased to share that after each session we meet people with different perspectives about life. Kiran works as a counseling session for our target beneficiaries and their parents. Kiran gives the target beneficiaries a platform to talk about them and their problems. This makes them feel connected and gives a sense of trust in the PMKK centers. That’s why after every Kiran session in the PMKK communities we get more than 20 enrolments depending upon the number of participants.

We took the following initiatives in order to facilitate transformation and empowerment in the lives of our beneficiaries:

• We have organized Aadhaar card camps in some of our target communities to get free Aadhaar cards made for the underprivileged population
• We assisted unemployed and drop-out youth to get enrolled in the vocational skilling centers
• We distributed free sanitary napkins in the communities to motivate women to use those napkins during menstruation
• Few participants were assisted in getting connected to the criminal justice system to bring an end to their sexual exploitation or to stand against domestic violence.

Feedback from the participants of Kiran Initiative

We have received positive feedback from our beneficiaries. Some of our key target beneficiaries said the following after attending Kiran sessions:-

• Santosh is a 27-year-old enthusiastic woman who lives in Village Sambhal and has attended all the sessions under Kiran initiative. She said, “I have never heard about budgeting in my entire life before attending this session. But didi taught me a simple way to make a budget for monitoring my monthly expenses. I hope this month could be different from other months and I will be able to save Rs. 50 – Rs. 100.”
• Kalamati is a 54-year-old woman from village Muzaffarnagar was part of our session “Importance of livelihood generation. After the session, she said I was so wrong that I never supported my daughter-in-law to study further. I never wanted her to earn as my son is earning from our land. Now I have realized how much importance being independent is. I request you to please enroll my child at your PMKK center as I want her to accomplish her dreams of working.
• Murti is a 61-year-old woman from Village Karoda who has imbibed the patriarchal values due to the kind of socialization she has received. After attending the session on sexual harassment & its prevention in the workplace she said, “I have always believed that rapes happen only when a woman gives wrong indications to a man. But after attending this session my opinion has changed. A 4 or 5-year-old girl is not mature enough to give wrong indications to a man but didi told us that even child gets raped. It’s the mindset of a perpetrator which compels him to rape, not a woman or a girl or a child.”
• Bimla is a 30-year-old woman who showed a keen interest in the sessions. She said, “I have never thought that government has constituted so many rights for women. I am feeling empowered after becoming aware of my rights. I will try to use this knowledge in everyday situations so as I don’t get oppressed because of being a woman.”

We took the following initiatives in order to facilitate transformation and empowerment in the lives of our beneficiaries:

• We have organized Aadhaar card camps in some of our target communities to get free Aadhaar cards made for the underprivileged population
• We assisted unemployed and drop-out youth to get enrolled in the vocational skilling centres
• We distributed free sanitary napkins in the communities to motivate women to use those napkins during menstruation
• Few participants were assisted in getting connected to the criminal justice system to bring an end to their sexual exploitation or to stand against domestic violence.

About the Author:  This article is contributed by Dhiresh Kumar, Marketing Manager, Empower Pragati.