Centre for Social Research has been implementing Phase-3 of the program; “Sports for Empowering Girls in 3 Gender-Critical Districts of Haryana" in collaboration with the GAIL, India, New Delhi.

As part of the initiative the Nutritional Drive was taken up during the last quarter in 3 districts of project implementation till the end of March 2022. 80 girl players in each of the 3 districts were provided with milk and bananas twice a day for 5 days a week in their practice shifts of morning and evening. The nutritional drive was an excellent initiative to build strength, stamina and a zeal to continue playing among the girl players which reflected during the district level competitions. Our Field motivators kept a proper track of girl players who took Nutritional Drive by regular attendance record, photographs of distribution and videos of girl players. The girl players had regularity in practice on ground and made sure to keep their fitness in mind by ensuring to take the nutritional supplements every day.

The team of CSR further organised Parents Meetings in the month of January and February in each district. More than 60 parents joined each district. In this process the parents of the Girls Players were motivated to encourage their girl’s participation in the field of sports and were sensitised about how important is the role of Nutritional intake for sports player. Parents of girl players supported the initiatives taken by CSR for their daughters and promised to support their daughters in all the support activities they want to participate in.

Further Scholarship Events were organised in each district in which 150 girl players were given financial support to encourage them for continuing with regular sports activities. On 25th February in the Govt. Senior Secondary School, Kadipur, Gurugram, CSR distributed scholarships among 50 girl players with the gracious presence of Ms. Anjali Sood (Project Manager, GAIL India) and on 7th March CSR conducted the scholarship event at Shahabad Girls Hockey Academy, Kurukshetra. In the Mahendragarh district, girl players were provided with scholarships during the district level competition. The financial support provided to girls players will boost their self- confidence and make them move towards employability through their active participation in sports.

“Nutrition is the key to a good health of a sports person” (Jyoti, hockey player, Kurukshetra)
We also connected with our District Level Stakeholders in order to garner their support in mobilisation of girl players of each district them in our District Level Competition and ask for their support in the implementation of the programme in 3 districts. In this process the team of CSR including Dr. Manasi Mishra, Ms. Subha Dogra and Mr. Abhishek Sharma met with Ms. Sindhu Bala, District Sports & Youth Affairs Officer Gurugram, Mr. Virender Singh, and Mr. Gurbaj Singh, Senior Hockey Coach, Kurukshetra and Ms. Renu Devi, Principal, SVSSS, Mahendragarh. They appreciated our efforts in the district and promised us to show all necessary support from their end in each district.

“Nutrition is the key to a good health of a sports person” (Jyoti, hockey player, Kurukshetra)
The programme concluded with the District level sports competition (Hockey) along with the distribution Sports equipment to girl players. On 11th March 2022 Centre for Social Research organized District Level Sports Competition at Shahabad Girls’ Hockey Academy with Govt. Girls Senior Secondary School, Kurukshetra district, Kurukshetra University and Chandigarh University. 56 girl players participated in the Competition. The programme commenced with the competition between team Shahabad (A) and Shahabad (B) followed by team Chandigarh and Kurukshetra. The winner i.e., Shahabad (A) team was applauded by gold medal and certificate whereas team Kurukshetra and team Chandigarh were applauded by silver and bronze medals along with certificates. Motivational speech by our Chief Guest Ms. Harjinder Kaur (International Hockey Player), other dignitaries on the occasion, Depender Walia (Principal) and Sukhwinder Singh (Senior Coach, Hockey) boosted the morale of girl players towards performing well in sports and building their self-confidence in them. Further, the team of CSR honored the participants with the distribution of tracksuit among 100 Girl Players and encouraged them for future sports activities. On 16th March 2022 Centre for Social Research organized District Level Sports Competition (Volleyball) in Swami Vivekananda Senior Secondary School at Mahendragarh. The competition was held between 4 teams from different areas of the district. The event was joined by Mr. Paras Ram (DS&YO, Mahendergarh) Ms. Renu Devi (Principal, SVSSS) and Mr. Naresh (Senior Volleyballl, Coach). On the completion of the Competition, the girl players were boosted by medal and certificate distribution along with sports kits, volleyballs, net and pump.

On 26th March 2022 Centre for Social Research organized District Level Sports Competition (Volleyball) in Govt. Senior secondary school, Kadipur, Gurugram. The competition was held between 6 teams from different district. The event was joined by District Sports Officer Gurugram, Ms. Sindhu Bala Ji and Mr. Rinku Hooda, Deputy Director Sports, Gurugram. Towards the last the girl players were motivated to participate in more such competitions and were greeted by medals and certification distribution along with sports kit, volleyballs and sports shoes.

The programme was a successful achievement for the CSR team to provide confidence building at district level to sports players.

Under our Women’s COVID-19 recovery project: Second Wave Response we organised the mental health trainings for the frontline health care workers was gravely impacted due to the pandemic, health care workers reported that they were underpaid and overburdened and the pandemic has taken a toll on their mental health. Therefore, our team held 2 sessions in each district to provide psychosocial care to maintain the mental well-being of the frontline healthcare workers. Dr. Dinesh Gupta, Local Psychologist, Shahdara District on 20th Jnauary and Dr. Harleen Kaur, Local Psychologist, West Delhi District on 30th November conducted these sessions for the districts and helped the healthcare workers in resolving their issues. Helpline numbers for psychosocial care were also circulated during these sessions. Some participants were hesitant to pick up their issues in front of everyone. Hence, our team provided the number of the doctor to everyone, just in case they require some consultation. We received immense appreciation from all the participants as there was no strategic intervention by any other civil society organization regarding the mental health issues of the frontline health care workers. Ms. Seema (Asha worker) shared how hectic the condition becomes for women health care workers during their duty at clinics and therefore it becomes difficult for them to maintain a positive mental condition. Ms. Geeta Devi another health care worker appreciated the training and efforts of CSR to bring up such an important issue relate to mental health in the fore-front.

CSR has identified a group of youth mobilisers and volunteers in both the district to provide and manage information regarding access to available health care facilities (testing, medication & isolation guidelines) and other necessary supplies to tackle its spread, treatment options and popularize vaccination drive. We have scheduled meetings with the group of youth mobilizers and volunteers to brief them about their role and responsibilities and answer their queries. Our Youth Champions are reporting weekly to our Field-motivators in each district to give the update of the vaccination drive in each district. Youth Champions are working diligently in the community to create awareness and burst myths that are doing around COVID-19. They have also conducted door-to-door mobilization and awareness meetings.

The Centre for Social Research celebrated the initiation of its Office Assistant batch under Skill Development Programme on 1st December 2021 with the team of The Asia Foundation who collaborated with CSR under its WSD Division. The programme was joined by more than 70 trainees who were trained under the Office Assistant Training. Our Trainees shared their exuberant experiences and motivated more trainees to join the further batches.  We have successfully trained 1500 trainees in the last 3 years and are regularly enrolling trainees for upcoming batches. Individuals can attain better learning experiences through our online Co-Ed Office Assistant Training Program under the Skill India Initiative. On 15th March 2022 we had our certification ceremony with our trainees. On this occasion, Ms. Nandita Baruah (Country Head, TAF India) and Dr. Ranjana Kumari (Director, CSR) who motivated the students towards educational access and skill development.

The team is providing the trainees access to expert faculty, online learning resources, E-modules and best practices. We understand virtual learning is new therefore we provide assistance to our trainees throughout our weekly training sessions. We encourage everyone to utilize this time productively by learning new skills. We have successfully trained approx 40 girls in 2 batches during this quarter.

CSR understands the importance of Skilling & Up-skilling during the pandemic.

On 10th March 2021; CSR team including Dr. Manasi Mishra, Ms Subha Dogra and Mr Abhishek Sharma organised an offline training session on Prevention & Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (POSH) Act, 2013, in association with Gender Training Institute for the non-academic staff of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIITD). The session marked several points for IIITD officials  i.e., as an official it should be ensured that any sexual harassment either verbal or physical is not melted out to the colleagues, while interacting with women sensitivity must be respected and any crude remark involving women must be avoided. As an employee one must ensure that you behave appropriately with the colleagues and in any kind of sexual violence one must inform the Sexual Harassment Committee at your workplace. A Pre-Testing questionnaire was distributed among the participants and later translated into a statistical analysis. The outcome of the training was enhanced awareness of the law and an open forum discussion on gender equality and sexual harassment.

The team of CSR including Dr.Manasi Mishra and Ms.Subha Dogra with invitation of The Leporsy Mission, conducted the capacity building training with women champions and strengthen their capabilities in how to maintain field level patterns while working at ground zero at Zorba The Buddha Centre, Ghitorni, New Delhi on 31st March 2022.

On 28th March 2022, a webinar was conducted to present the findings and open the discussion series on the target area of “Health & Humanitarian Aid” with our key stake holders. It was discussed that Representation, participation and decision-making at the policy level should go hand-in-hand and not play out in silos. Especially, in the hard power decision areas. Some other issues that came forth are as Representation, participation and decision-making at the policy level should go hand-in-hand and not play out in silos. There is also a need for to translate policy to action, which entails taking an intersectional lens in the Indian context. People who are providing healthcare and people who are accessing healthcare, both have to be seen with a gender focus. What needs to be addressed is that there is a lot of politicization of how health resources have trickled down to the vulnerable sections of the society. In order to ensure gender mainstreaming in foreign policy, there should be a shift from material aid to human resources, wherein the government can build on the soft power aspect of capable, well-trained women workers, particularly health workers. At present, women in India are not projected well enough, thus a scientific and mathematical approach needs to be taken towards identifying core issues and then bring them to a larger discussion. If we are directly looking at the foreign policy and mainstreaming it, is important to add the foreign policy establishment to the discussion.

The Gender, Water, and Climate Change department is concerned with women's empowerment and equality, environmental advocacy, awareness, outreach and sustainability. It attempts to understand a comprehensive view on how women throughout the country, particularly in rural areas, who are mainly responsible for water management in their own families and is negatively impacted by climate change and its subsequent consequences on water supply system. The department's objective is to foster gender equity in order to build up climate change action by taking into account the women's role as instructors, decision-makers, stakeholders, and experts across all levels and sectors, resulting in effective and long-term techniques to tackling climate change. The department has collaborated with Self Help Groups (SHGs), Elected Women Representatives (EWRs), community leaders and members, technicians, local experts, and government officials to solve this specific matter associated with water management in Nepal, Bihar (India), and most particularly across various districts in Rajasthan (India) like Alwar, Abu Road. The main goal was to increase rural women's knowledge and technical abilities so that they can establish themselves as leaders in waterrelated discussions. Despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic was still prevalent at the start of the year 2022, our fellow employees continued to work diligently.

This year, with a new perspective in sight, we've resumed our engagement with Honda India Foundation (HIF) and proceeded forward with Phase 4 of the project named SHGs for sustainable water resource management and restoration in Alwar.

Gender, Water, and Climate Change (GWCC) Department hosted a Tweet chat on the topic “Escalating Youth Participation in Climate Action” on 18th February 2022, over Twitter, with Ms. Roshan Rathore as a panelist who is apparently working with Raintree Foundation situated in Pune, Maharashtra. During the Tweet chat, we had a good set of enthusiastic participants, and the level of engagement among the attendees, panelist, and even our fellow employees was remarkable.

Our organisation was also invited to participate in and share our insights in a series of Tweet chats, one of which was hosted by Development Alternatives on 23rd February 2022, which focused on “The dynamics of climate change and food security.” On 25th February 2022, the GWCC Department also participated in the National WASH Conclave 2022, a three day virtual conclave, titled “WASH FORWARD: Advancing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Panchayats.” Hearing from a wide spectrum of national specialists in water quality testing and monitoring, as well as insights from national leaders and advocates, were among the highlights of our learnings from the event. Several foundations, including INRM, UNICEF, Aga Khan Foundation, WaterAid, NIRDPR, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Gram Vikas, and MHAI, were also acknowledged.

On International Women's Day, a #TweetChat was hosed by the department on the topic "Why women should be at the forefront of climate action?", according to the theme by the United Nations, “GENDER EQUALITY TODAY FOR A SUSTAINABLE TOMORROW.”

EFFORTS IN Digital Citizenship and Civic Participation for Gender Equality

Gender division in digital spaces is persistent, cyber crime including hacking, stalking, scamming, trolling, and negative online experiences can limit young people’s participation, especially girls and women’s willingness and ability to participate in the online spaces. Many leave the platforms entirely, rather than suffer abuse and/or harassment.

Advocacy

We engage with and educate key stakeholders on safety aspects of the digital platforms. Considering the ever-evolving nature of the internet, governance challenges are bound to emerge frequently. Based on the inputs collated from the consultation and our research towards creating an equitable online safety regime, we reach the policy makers with key recommendations from time to time.

Digital Safety Workshops

Through our training workshops we seek to empower thousands of young women and men in their engagement in the civic dialogue across digital platforms and also influence policy development on issues of gender equality. So far, more than 300 workshops were conducted in the span of one year. National and international experts from Media and CSOs, LEA and individuals working in digital safety have joined hands with us to guide young minds. Selected university students have become a part of the digital safety movement through student ambassador program in order to lead the initiative on ground.

Glimpse from the workshop with Amity University Noida’s Amity Institute of Social Sciences

Through these workshops with youth, CSR India aims to educate them about the online safety and security aspects, how they can use their voices online and encourage interactions with industry mentors to build a strong network.

The Amity Institute of Social Science organised the workshop, with more than 200 participants. Our Mentor Ms Rituparna Chatterjee, a well known journalist, Deputy Asia Editor, The Independent, India Representative, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Media mentor, and a Gender rights campaigner spoke with youth about online harassment, language and positive communication etc. She spoke about the experiences of young people when they come online and how women are forced to leave because of increased cases of online trolling, sexual harassment, and threats. She also encouraged the participants to take necessary steps, use online tools to protect themselves against unwanted content and msgs. The power in connecting with like minded people and influencers who can help with raising their voices against the bullies online.

Future

With the rapid advancements in technology and growing number of digital users we aim to ensure safety of every digital citizen and young people, especially women through awareness and strong policies.

The Centre for Social Research (CSR), India, an ECOSOC member, has been working for the empowerment of women and children for the past four decades. CSR is widely considered a think tank for gender policies and laws. We have zealously participated in the UN Women’s CSW for the past 20 years. Moreover, we have also been working in the field of Digital Safety & Online Well-Being for the better part of a decade with an innate focus on women, youth and children.

This year for CSW66, CSR conducted a global dialogue on Inclusive, Safe and Secure Digital Spaces for Women and Children.

The dialogue on 21st March, 2022, saw a global panel. We were honoured by the presence of stalwarts like Ms. Anne Collier, a Digital Safety Advocate, who spoke about considering (y)our responses to youth online risks around the world. She stressed moving from the mindset of control and imposition to agency driven approaches to keep the vulnerable safe; while considering how the new sociology of childhood describes children. While, Ms. Eve Thompson, front runner for women’s right and political activism in Africa addressed how safe digital spaces will ensure increase in political empowerment of women. She gave a holistic view of social media as an effective medium of expression as well as the negative experiences of threats and abuse faced by women online. Prof. Sonia Livingstone, spoke about how girls are more harshly judged when something goes wrong. She spoke about children’s rights and their agency in the digital age. Adding to the discussion of digital platforms, Ms. Shireen Vakil, brought to the fore some of Meta’s policies being driven by safety and inclusivity. She elaborated on Meta’s policies against Child Exploitation, and their current StopNCII initiative to combat all kinds of violence and abuse against women on social media platform(s). The discussion was concluded by our Director, Dr. Ranjana Kumari, with the call for fixing responsibility on social media platforms and governments, building robust and enforceable laws, and strengthening of AI-based technologies for the protection of human rights in the digital realm.

Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Social Activist and Director, Centre for Social Research emphasised during the Expanding Boundaries of Communication discussion session in the #CallItOut Conclave that women still hesitate to report harassment cases because they are told not to speak up and the minute a woman speaks, she faces tremendous social pressure. It is the responsibility of society to create a support system for women and girls to speak up for themselves. It is crucial that they have adequate support & assurance from their parents and community at large.

Online presence of children has increased for the better part of their day for education and leisure activities, hence parental control over the child’s online activity is ungovernable. Dr. Kumari mentioned that the biggest reason is the lack of understanding among parents about the ever evolving digital platforms. Hence awareness of parents about online education, communication is equally important.

Breaking the Silence on incidents of online and offline harassment, abuse and misconduct and not leaving the digital platforms will lead the way for the younger generation.

She also recognised the global effort from intermediaries to stop posting of non consensual images through initiatives like STOPNCII.org. The platform helps digital citizens take action and stop perpetrators from posting the private images on social media platforms.

The eminent panellists who joined the event included Raveena Tandon, Actor; Atishi, MLA & Political Activist; Chhaya Sharma, Joint Commissioner (EOW & Eastern Range), Delhi Police; Dr. Samir Parikh, Director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.