1. CORE ACTIVITIES

Case Handling

Case handling is the core activity of our Counselling Centres. Counsellors make efforts to sort out problems reported by the complainant in Counselling Centres. We have clear understanding that every problem is different, so each problem is handled according to the need of the situation. Many cases are solved in Counselling Centres by our effort,but in some cases we accompany the women to police and courts to help them in seeking justice.

Legal literacy Programme

Through our experience in this field we became aware that the lack of awareness about the legal rights of women is one of the root causes of their sufferings. We therefore organize legal awareness programmes and camps by legal practitioner in communities on a regular basis. The purpose is to disseminate information at their doorsteps and to generate awareness about legal provisions available.

Family Counselling

Family counselling is provided to the women in distress and her family members. The basic idea behind such an activity is to discover the nuances of disagreements and discord between husband and wife or any other relationships within the family that lead to discontentment and hindrances in the smooth
functioning of the family.

PMSS Meeting

CSR functions through formation of women's collectives - Parivartan Mahila Swavlamban
Samiti (PMSS) - in the areas of its intervention.
These collectives are formed to give a platform to women in that locality where they can come and discuss various issues and/ problems that are important to them. They also sometimes discuss specific cases that they feel need the attention and opinion of the community. These meetings are generally held every fortnight. Our experience suggests that these not only build a sense of confidence but also an unwritten bond between the members who can help the woman in distress immediately.

2. AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

Film Show

Through our experience we have found that using visual aids is an effective way of imparting information to the community. We therefore arrange for film shows on different themes, for example legal literacy, education,political empowerment at the grassroots level and successful stories of development initiatives. This has been a very popular medium with the women and they often request repeated shows on these themes.These films help them not only to learn and receive information on different subjects but also give them information on how to seek redressel in times of distress.

Health Awareness Programme

Early marriage,frequent child bearing and low contraception rates along with the low priority given to accessing professional health care for women
themselves often leads to deterioration of women?s health. Women often resort to remedies of their own. In addition, poor sanitation, unhygienic conditions and lack of safe drinking water make women more susceptible to certain ailments. More over, it has now been widely acknowledged that violence also adversely affects women's physical as well as mental health. Taking these factors into account, we have been conducting regular programmes on Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) along with programmes on HIV/AIDS and other seasonal diseases in all our Counselling Centres.

Alcohol and Drug De-Addiction Programme

Our experience with cases of domestic violence reported in our Counselling Centres reflects that in many of the cases alcohol is a major cause of violence. We found that consumption of alcohol often acts as a catalyst for men to inflict violence not only on their wives but also children and other members of
the family. Women often complain of their husbands coming home drunk and physically assaulting them. We felt that programmes like alcohol and drug de-addiction would make difference in their lives. Through our Counselling Centres we provide information on where to go to access these services and if necessary, facilitate this process.

Survey and Pamphlet Distribution

Conducting surveys in the project area gives us basic indication of the problems faced by women in that locality ,profile of the community and the issues affecting specially women and the locality in general. This helps our counsellors to decide on the core activities to be undertaken and issues to be addressed through the awareness programmes.