Swadhina

 

fora – a development news-sharing from NAVA                        January 2015

Swadhina Birthday !

A Gettogether was held at the Swadhina Mainoffice in Kolkata on 30^th December 2014 to celebrate the 28^th Birthday of Swadhina. About 50 friends, patrons and members attended. The small garden at the Mainoffice was decorated with streamers and baloons which created a festive ambience befitting the birthday ! The children gathered started playing with the baloons as the programme was about to begin. At the outset Ms. Supta Mukerji – the Founder Treasurer narrated how Swadhina had a very humble beginning when there was only a volunteer staff to manage the entire work of the organisation. Founder Secretary Ms. Rina Sarkar shared sweet memories of the early years. Then it was the turn of the present Secretary Ms. Saswati Roy to narrate in brief the current activities of Swadhina. A few patrons shared their greetings. At the end there was a Fellowship Lunch which was an elaborate spread. Similar event was also held at our village centre located at remote Bondih village in Jharkhand where small children and local women volunteers shared the fruit cakes sent from the Mainoffice.

Milonotsav 2014

This year the Milonatsav was a  special event on the theme Leadership. This was held at the campus of Seva Kendra, Kolkata from 12 to 14 December 2014. Twenty one Swadhina workers and volunteers from various units attended this residential programme which included various group exercises and discussions on future perspectives. Some of the highlight discussions were: women's health & nutrition, kitchen garden for food security, education and awareness, marriage registration as a tool for gaining women's property rights, bank accounts for women, kisan credit card for women farmers etc. Of course there were a plenty of fun making and group games.

Benasole Women's Camp

On 17th December 2014, a camp on theme 'women's empowerment' was held at Benasole village near Ghatsila, East Singbhum District in Jharkhand state. Around 50 women, mostly belonging, to tribal families participated . The event was inaugurated by Ms Sukurmoni Hembram – the local Panchayat Mukhiya by lighting a candle. At the outset Ms Smriti Sarkar, President of Swadhina gave a short speech on Swadhina activities in the state. It was followed by a lively interactive session on women's empowerment.The discussion was on'what are the visible changes one can expect when a woman is socially empowered'. There were also discussions on various government schemes which are targetted towards the social as well as economic improvement of village women . The meet ended with a vote of thanks offered by Ms Dipanwita Pal, one of the Programme Co-ordinators, from Swadhina.

Somaydih 

Women's Camp

A camp on the theme women's empowerment was held at the Anganwadi premises of Somaydih village in Mosaboni Block of East Singbhum district in Jharkhand state. 45 village women participated in this camp held on 19th December 2014. The meet was inaugurated by Salge Tudu, the oldest person present at the event. The participants then together joined to sing the song Hum Hongey Kamiyab (We shall over come) . In this camp mostly women from Santhal tribe were present . An interesting feature in this meet was a session on lives of successful Indian women, conducted with the help of coloured large flash cards. Lives of various women like Olympic boxer Mary Kom , first women photo-journalist Homi Viarawalla , astronaut Kalpana Chawla and so on fascinated the participants . Smriti Sarkar and Dipanwita Pal, from Swadhina were the main resource persons for this meet.

Women  

Camp at Trenga 

On 20th Dec 2014 Swadhina organized a camp on the theme 'women's empowerment' at the Trenga Panchayat community hall. The meet was inaugurated by Ms Dulari Soren - Panchayat Mukhiya and Panmoni Kisku - Panchayat ward member was the special guest. In her inaugural speech Ms Dulari Soren stressed that government has ensured 50% seat reservation for women but they are not very vocal on their rights in panchayat public hearings (Aam sabha). It is important that women in large numbers should attend these meetings and put forward demands for their improvement . A detailed discussion followed on the theme. An interesting feature in this meet was a quiz contest on different social issues. Ms Dipanwita Pal explained about laws benefiting women like Forest Act, Domestic Violance act and Women Farmers entitlement.

Bhurudubani 

Women's Camp

A women's camp on the theme 'ensuring land and property rights for women' was held at Bhurudubani village near Betnoti in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa on 3rd January 2015. 58 participants took part in this day-long women's awareness camp. Ms Chhanda Ghose, a program coordinator of Swadhina Kolkata and Nirmala Sahu , state coordinator Orissa were the main resource persons for the event . Along with deep-rooted discussion on the theme there were interesting group games and various creative group exercises .

Women's Camp at Mahulia

53 women participated in a day-long women's awareness camp on the theme land and property rights for women. This was held on 4th January 2015 and Ms Chhanda Ghose and Ms Nirmala Sahu provided the thematic resources. Bank Savings and Self Help Group for women were the two features of the discussion along with group games and group songs

 

Hasanpur Camp

A one day awareness camp for women's empowerment was held at Hasanpur village in Sonarpur area of South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Held on 16th January 2015 this camp was attended by 48 participants . Resource persons Ms. Smriti Sarkar and Ms. Chhanda Ghose from Swadhina main office, with the help of study papers, explained the various legal rights especially related to land and property ensured by Indian law . There were also group discussion on status of women today in society and family. The camp came to a close with vote of thanks offered by Sumona Mishra, a local Swadhina member

Workshop on 

Right to Information

Ms Dipanwita Pal represented Swadhina and presented a case study at the workshop on Right to Information at Gopobandhu Institute for Admistration , Bhubanaswhar . This was held on 19th January 2015 under the auspices of RTI department of Governmnet of India . The case study of Swadhina, narrated with the help of a power-point presentation, was very much appreciated by all the participants. The organizers expected Swadhina to present such talks in future also at other workshops organized by RTI department.

Workshop on 

Land Rights

A workshop on land and property rights for women was organized by Swadhina on 25th January 2015 on the eve of the Indian Republic Day. About 50 participants from different interior villages around Ghatsila and Mosaboni Blocks participated in this workshop held at the Ghatsila Dhamarsala auditorium . Ms Saswati Roy, Secretary of Swadhina presented the theme paper. A lively discussion followed. Several panchayat dignitaries like Mukhyia and Ward members were present at this workshop and the seconded the need for the taking up of concrete steps to ensure women's empowerment and promised their all out help for implementation of schemes made for the improvement of position of women. Ms Supta Mukherji presented a brief talk on Swadhina's activities in the state . The meeting came to close with the participants singing together the Swadhina theme song : 'Manush to ek din Jagbei' (some day - masses will be awakened).

Training on Early 

Childhood Education

 NAVA team comprising ofDiptendu Mukerji, H N Sahu and Supta Mukerji conducted a three day orientation training for the pre-primary centre teachers for LWSI. This was held at thecampus of Agriculture University Zonal Station in Kokrajhar in Assam from 24 to 26 November, 2014. It was an interesting interactive event with many creative group exercises and useful colour primers and games with the help of cut-outs and alphabet cards. About 20 young men and women participated.

 

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Edit: Diptendu Mukerji