Celebrating 10 Years

While Saathi's projects all cater to different groups, they all address similar issues. From the original Youth Initiative project, each new learning has allowed the organization to adapt and move to related areas. Working with adolescent boys led to the expansion of working with adolescent girls. Working with runaway adolescent girls led to working with girl children living in intact families in a neighboring community . Reuniting girls and youth with their families led to a concerted effort in the Home Placement project. Through the interface with government-run institutions that comes from the Girls, Youth Initiative, and Home Placement projects, the involvement with QIC&AC was a natural progression.

The Home Placement project reaches out to chil-dren arriving at the train sta-tion in an effort to prevent them reaching the streets and establishing a life there. Inter-vening in suspected traf-ficking is a special effort by this team. Reunification with family is done for those chil-dren able and willing.

"'Devi' Ahilyabai" is a Hindi feature film starring Mallika Prasad, Shabana Azmi, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar among others. In providing a perspective of the social and cultural context in an Indian state 250 years ago, it throws light on issues related to gender discrimination and empowerment and what can be achieved. This film is being used as a tool in raising awareness about the many issues it depicts that are still relevant today.

The Girls Project, which works with runaway and abandoned 16-24 year olds, offers protection from ex-ploitation while assisting the girls in choosing their paths.  Issues of access to medical care, mental health, and traf-ficking are areas of concentration. Assistance is offered via a phased ap-proach through a Crisis Shelter, Short-Stay/Aftercare Home, and Midway Home.

Kria is a project offering vocational training and the opportunity to earn a stipend through bag making (boys) and glass mosaic work (girls). Skills and workplace etiquette are taught while an emphasis is put on dev-eloping the habit of savings. For those interested in the outdoors, Outdoor Voc-ational Training prepares individuals to become tech-nical facilitators for camps and adventure sports.

The Youth Initiative project works with youth 16-24 years old, attempting to raise their awareness about their rights and encourage them in becoming independent and self-sufficient. Issues of ac-cess to medical care, emp-loyment opportunities, and housing are areas of primary focus.

 

	Nutrition
	Education (nonformal and formal)
	Medical assistance
	Counselling
	Vocational Training

The Aasmaan project works with children and ado-lescents in a local pavement community providing edu-cation opportunities and community support. Issues of medical access, citizens’ rights, and child labour are addressed. This project is facilitated in partnership with Committed Communities Development Trust.