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From the Director's Desk
-Dr. Ranjana Kumari 
 
Just when I am reflecting on CSR’s activities in 2019, a very crucial year for the country, we have seen India move toward a gender-just society. The 17th Lok Sabha Elections achieved the highest number of women MPs elected in the 2019 voter polls. For over 20 years, CSR has worked diligently to ensure that the Bill remains in the mainstream political narrative, and organized various campaigns, rallies and online mobilizations to garner support from all sections of our society. As a result of this, the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s call to field women in seven of the 21 Lok Sabha seats and Mamata Banerjee’s inclusion of 17 women in the party’s candidates and the rise from 11.23% in 2014 to 14.58% in 2019 is a great achievement in showing support for women’s political rights.

This year also saw CSR’s entry in the skill-development field. In collaboration with Honda2Wheelers, the launch of the Women’s Security Guards Training Program has seen four successful batches that have been trained and recruited into the Security sector. Since the initiation of this program, 84 female guards have been successfully trained. It has also helped shape the psyche of women who had previously faced domestic violence, gender-based violence, discrimination, and were not even allowed to step out of their homes without male company.

CSR also decided to venture into office administration to promote women workers in the formal job sectors as well. Our responsibly paramount office assistant training program strives to train female candidates to become efficient and productive administrative assistants for various business sectors.

Perhaps the most important impact that this year has seen is India’s depletion of water supply that threatens to challenge political and economic stability, and long-term public health. In the wake of the most severe water crisis that India is facing today, and the effect of our water scarcity has become glaringly obvious.  It is evident that women are central to the collection and safeguarding of water, and are responsible for more than 70% of water chores. They also play a critical role in managing natural resources on family and community, and so for the first time, through our Water Conservation Project, we wanted to highlight the relationship between gender and climate change in India and how sustainable practices of water conservation and the role of women is central.

I am happy to share that our dedication towards women’s rights has received global recognition through Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy for 2019, alongside other remarkable women like Michelle Obama, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, Winnie Byanyima, Amanda Nguyen and Caren Grown. The Apolitical list proves that there are thousands of people working tirelessly for gender justice globally and that there’s a lot of good work happening all around the world to make an equitable place for women.

Since this note was about looking back to what has been done this year, I would like to look at what the future holds for us as well. This coming year we shall continue our fight for gender equality, women’s empowerment, equal opportunities and representation. Along with my dedicated team at CSR and our larger sisterhood, we shall attempt to increase and enhance our agendas, goals and the relevance of my work with CSR, as well as my dedication to this job.
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao SDG.5
Centre for Social Research (CSR) is implementing a  project “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP): Responding to Pre-Natal Sex-Selection in Gender-Critical Districts of Haryana” in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Gurugram, jhajjar & Mahendragarh districts with support from the Netherlands Embassy, New Delhi. In the first half of this quarter, as a strategy towards building community ownership of the issue, CSR has established three Community Watch Groups (CWG) in Dighal, Khudan and Bhindawas villages of the Jhajjar district. With this, CSR has established 22 CWGs in all the five districts in total. The CWG programme aims at advocacy at the community level by interacting with the community members, district level authorities, ASHA and Aanganwadi workers on various thematic areas of BBBP and its related schemes such as Sukanya Samridhi Yojna and Aapki Beti Humari Beti Yojna.

The next key activity was formulation of an Expert Group on 18th June 2019. The Expert Group Meeting was conducted at the Training Centre of the Civil Hospital in Jhajjar. The meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Rakesh Kumar; Nodal Officer, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC/PNDT) of the Jhajjar district.  He highlighted the various initiatives taken by the district PC/PNDT team in curbing sex selection. The participants at the meeting included the Senior Medical Officers, Medical Officers from the district and block levels, Cluster Development Program Officer (CDPO), District Child Protection Officer and the BBBP District Task Force (DTF) NGO member from Breakthrough organization. On this occasion Dr. Mamta Verma discussed the challenges faced by the medical fraternity regarding PC/PNDT Act implementation by sharing experiences from the various field level monitoring and inspection visits carried out by the district team. Further, a discourse on the district level realities of implementing BBBP by Ms. Poonam Jain CDPO and a brief presentation on Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act and its implementation by Ms. Latika, District Child Protection Officer, was conducted. Lastly, as requested by the medical fraternity, Dr. Manasi Mishra from CSR conducted a Gender Sensitization Workshop including POSH Act, 2013 with all the participants present. 

On 27th June 2019, we organized a Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) Training Programme for around 67 PRI members of 22 low sex ratio villages of Mahendragarh district at the Panchayat Bhawan in Narnaul, Mahendragarh. The meeting was inaugurated by Mr. Vikram, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Mahendragarh district. It is remarkable that the district of Mahendragarh experienced a huge change in the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) data since the inception of the BBBP program in 2015; the sex ratio as per 2011 Census was 775 girls per 1000 boys and at present, for the month of June the Sex ratio is 1148 girls per 1000 boys in Mahendragarh. 
However, the real challenge is to keep the sex ratio sustainable till the next Census of 2021. 
Gender, Water and Climate Change SDG.5
For the past few months, the Gender Water and Climate Change department has been working diligently to complete our collaborative project with Honda2Wheelers: “Self Help Group of Women for Sustainable Water Resource Management” based in Kali-Khol, Alwar, Rajasthan. This project has demonstrated a high social impact – we have directly worked 33 SHG women, conducting capacity-building trainings, as well as advanced technical trainings on water conservation and climate change. These trainings have reinforced traditional and existing water conservation methods and strategies alongside newer technologies, and have incorporated input and sessions from local technical experts, as well as government officials. 

Construction of five medhbandhs (check-dams) began in April, and the women have demonstrated a strong commitment to seeing the project through to fruition. The CSR team visited the sites several times of the course of the three months to interact with the SHG women, and also check on the progress of the construction. With the construction concluding at the end of June, CSR is putting a together a final hand-holding training (where the SHG women will be instructed in maintenance, best practices, and do's & dont's) and  inaugural ceremony that will take place in mid-July.
 
Our aim is that by working with SHG women on issues relating to water conservation, we will increase women's participation in the climate change agenda. The role of women in water conservation and recharge is integral. Providing women with a platform to engage with water conservation and recharge on both a policy level, as well as a ground level is essential, and that is what our work aims to do. By acknowledging the role that women play in agriculture, and water-related work in Rajasthan, and building their capacities in this regard, so they are not “invisible workers”, women's voices and leadership will increase, along with their participation in decision making, and therefore social and economic life.

Future Ventures: 
We are also excited to announce that we will begin water & climate change related work on a project with SHG women in Sanganer, Jaipur, in collaboration with RITES commencing in July. Further we conducted a meeting at our office with various gender experts, technical & water experts, & NGO heads from Rajasthan to discuss the potential for a pan-Rajathan water conservation and recharge project. This was followed by a needs assessment in Abu Road & Pindwara Block, as well as in Bhiwadi this June – meeting with EWR's, SHG's, and community members and leaders. We are excited to take forward our experiences in different parts of Rajasthan and bring them together for a sustained, long-term project across the state. 
Project Launch Event for Office Assistant Training 
On 8th July 2019, Centre for Social Research (CSR) in collaboration with German Embassy, New Delhi, launched an unique Office Assistant Training Program at their Training Centre at Plot-98, Sector-44, Gurugram. CSR is one of the leading Women's Institutions working in the field of social action since 1983. And so, we initiated this program to train women to become independent workers in sustainable work sector. The launch event was graced by the presence of H.E. Mr. Walter J. Lindner; German Ambassador in India, and Dr. Ranjana Kumari; Director, Centre for Social Research, Ms. Theresa Moosburner; from the Political and Protocol Department, German Embassy, New Delhi, Col. Anil Pokhriyal; CEO and Executive Board Member of Management & Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC), Mr. Rajesh Malhotra; Managing Director of Greenwood Developers and member of Ba'hai, Col. K. K. Singh; Director, Olive Heritage Education And Welfare Society Gurgaon and Mr. Rahul Mukand; Policy Advisor of New Zealand Embassy, New Delhi. Additionally, on this occasion more than 100 participants gathered, including Office Assistant Batch-1 trainees, other potential candidates and ex-trainees from Women's Security Guard Training Program also joined us to celebrate the launch event.

H.E. Mr. Walter J. Lindner; German Ambassador to India tweeted after the launch event,“Very inspiring and encouraging meeting with 100 young women training for entry-level job-positions. Happy German Embassy is financing this through Dr. Ranjana Kumari's Center for Social Research, Institution for the women and girls of India @CSR_India”
 
Centre For Excellence. Women's Skill Development.
Women’s Security Guard Training
In May 2019, CSR successfully completed four batches of Women Security Guards
(WSG) training program in collaboration with Honda2wheelers; consisting of 84 trainees in total. This training program succeeded in providing a range of gainful employment opportunities to women from different pockets of the society. The program also ensured that we not only train women to become financially independent. but also provide support with both building up their capacities and confidence levels.

Training for the 4th batch was commenced by our team on 1st April 2019 followed by
the certification ceremony of the 3rd batch on 5th April 2019. This intervention
demonstrated multi-pronged impact and benefits in the long run. Media coverage for this intervention of CSR was brought to you by 'Times Now'; who showcased the journey of our WSG trainees in the form of interviews where they shared their experiences and views on women empowerment.

Certification ceremony for the Batch 4 was held on 15th May 2019. These trainees
underwent all round development with theoretical, physical and soft skills training. Job opportunities were facilitated by the CSR team. Our trainees were successful in clearing interviews and achieving jobs in renowned firms and posts in the security sector in Delhi NCR. Currently, we are looking forward to train more batches in the future and celebrates the enormous potential that each young girl and women has to fulfill her dreams of a brighter future.  
 
 
Sports for Empowering Girls
After the successful completion of the first phase of the CSR's 'Sports for Empowerment' program in 2017-18, CSR began Phase 2 for “Sports for Empowering Girls in 5 Gender-Critical Districts of Haryana” with the support from the Australian High Commission. CSR's inception of the concept to use sports as an empowerment tool is based on our approach to create progressive circumstances for girls and support their economic independence for the family and the community at large which will help in building acceptability for them. This is particularly important in a state like Haryana where we have meritorious girls and women in sports whether it is Olympics, Asiad or Commonwealth Games. The program is to address discrimination against girls and women in accessing education and sports. Our project will be a step in achieving gender equality by sensitizing communities towards merit of sports for girls scholarships.
 
We commenced the projected activities by conducting the first Rapport Building with Ms. Jyoti Rani, District Sports Officer and other Coaches to discuss the expected activities for Phase 2 in the Subhas Chandra Bose Stadium of the Mahendragarh district, Haryana. At the same time, we conducted the first Enrolment drive at Saraswati Senior Secondary School at Dhancholi Village, Mahendragarh. CSR also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with this school for letting the girl players join sports activities. Some of these girls were part of the district Kabbadi match from Phase 1; where the girl participants received jerseys, shoes and scholarships. A quick game of Kho-Kho was also played by the girls and we informed the girl sports players to start preparing for the district and inter-district matches that will be conducted in the coming months.
 
Office Assistant Training
CSR embarked on another skill based training program in collaboration with MEPSC, supported by the German Embassy, New Delhi, for the women of Delhi and NCR. This course is designed for candidates with minimum 18 years of age and an education qualification of 12th pass (Senior Secondary) and above.

The training curriculum includes 72 hours of theory, 108 hours of practical and 20 hours of soft skills training. The training program addresses the economic empowerment of girls and young women from the marginalized societies of Delhi and NCR. The trainees will be provided with an all comprehensive, holistic understanding of the roles and responsibility of an office assistant including basic functioning and knowledge about computers.

The team initiated the mobilization activities for the program with multiple field visits to potential areas to disseminate information regarding the training program in Gurugram, Uttam Nagar, Chhattarpur and Kusumpur Pahadi with the objective to identify key stakeholders/ field motivators to work with us on the mobilization and greater outreach to the community members. Following which the team conducted two stakeholders meeting at the office Headquarters to strategize the way forward for the mobilization and enrollment drive for the training. Four mobilization drives were also conducted in Sheetla Colony, Sikandarpur village, Nathupur and Wazirabad in Gurugram. Our Counsellor and Assistant Counsellor in the Crisis Intervention Centre (CIC), Uttam Nagar also conducted door to door surveys and discussed the details of the program with the Mahila Panchayat in West Delhi. We are exultant to announce that we will be launching the Project in the month of July at the Gurugram Training Centre.
Political Empowerment - Women’s Reservation Bill SDG.5
The WRB campaign's biggest victory these past few months has been the increased representation of women in the 17th Lok Sabha, elected in May 2019. After active campaigning and advocating for increasing female political participation carried out by the National Alliance for the Women's Reservation Bill and other women's rights organizations, women experienced a breakthrough as the TMC in West Bengal and BJD in Odisha sent 33% of female MPs to the parliament. The 77 women elected to the parliament represent 14% of the national legislature, the highest percentage of female representation ever. The National Alliance will be reaching out to the newly elected MPs to meet with them and request them to endorse the Women's Reservation Bill. The WRB campaign, along with the National Alliance, is continuing its work to have equal representation of women in legislative bodies. 

The campaign has been actively working on a nation-wide signature campaign, being undertaken with the support of its state-partners. It aims to collect 33,500 signatures, which will demonstrate public support for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill. In addition, statements made by prominent leaders and events surrounding the Reservation Bill are being collected and updated regularly. 

The National Alliance for Women's Reservation Bill has been actively meeting, discussing strategies and agendas for expanding female representation in politics. The Alliance also decided to expand its outreach of advocacy to broader women's issues, such as women's safety. Between the months of May and June, the Alliance held two meetings. The first was held at YWCA, Delhi on May 28th, 2019 and the second was held at the CSR office on June 14th, 2019. The Alliance is actively working to organize five state conferences to promote conversations around the Women's Reservation Bill as well as women's issues more broadly. 

The WRB campaign has also been engaged with increasing social media outreach through its Twitter handle (@Time33Percent) and its Facebook page (@Timefor33Percent). The aim is to generate awareness among the public about women in politics, the Women's Reservation Bill and women's issues in general, by tweeting and sharing content regularly. The aim is to also grab the attention of politicians towards issues affecting women. In addition to social media, CSR and the campaign's presence in print and electronic media has also been prominent. From press releases around Dr. Kumari's inclusion in Apolitical's 100 most influential people, in numerous publications, to an interview with IANS and telephonic interaction with Amar Ujala, the movement has received ample attention in national news. 

One of the main projects being undertaken by the WRB campaign currently is a survey documenting public opinion surrounding women in politics and the reservation debate. The survey is being conducted online, through Twitter and email, as well as offline, through partners of the National Alliance. Once data is collected, the campaign will be conducting an analysis on the same to understand how people view the WRB. 
The WRB campaign seeks the continued support of its partners and audience in its endeavour to achieve political equality for women across India. 
#SocialSurfing - Social Media for Social
  Change
In partnership with Facebook India since the year 2015, Social Surfing has been developing safe and sensitive online environment by empowering the users. Through interactive workshops, Social Surfing shares knowledge with the most proactive user base of the country - the youth. 

The college youth with whom we interact during the Social Surfing workshops continue their interaction with us through our Social Surfing Facebook page by commenting/liking the posts and interacting with the Social Surfing team through Direct Messages.   

From the years 2015-2017, the Social Surfing team conducted 106 workshops in 42 cities across India, with an estimated outreach of over 10000. We added another 273 workshops in the year 2018 that completed the landmark figure of 400 workshops that we have undertaken since the year 2015.
Gender Training Institute - Creating Safe Public Spaces for Women SDG.5
The Gender Training Institute (GTI) of Centre for Social Research has over 18 years of experience in making organizations and communities gender sensitive and gender inclusive. In an effort to mainstream gender in all aspects of development, GTI conduct long term training programs in tandem with stand-alone capacity building training, awareness generation programs, and continuous development of new training materials. Owing to its long term existence, GTI has been able to have a sustained dialogue with many of its long-term stakeholders regarding gender equality and women empowerment.

Since the year 1997, GTI has undertaken gender sensitization trainings for law enforcement agencies. From 2015, the initiatives proliferated into states other than Delhi. In the first quarter of the year 2019, GTI completed gender sensitization trainings for police officials in the cities of Bhopal, Gwalior and Jodhpur. The theme of urban safety of women and public place violence were central to the discourse. In the second quarter of the year 2019, GTI wrote a Police Training Manual based on the aforementioned trainings. The manual seeks to institutionalize gender discourse by using the premise of women's fundamental right to safe public places. 
Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Along with The Global network of Women for Change, stand in solidarity for 'Free Iran'.
The Iranian regime that came to power in 1979, has continually oppressed women. Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Centre for Social Research (India) stands in solidarity for 'Free Iran', so that women are liberated. The solidarity is also to bolster their voice and assure them that they are not alone in this battle for freedom. Dr. Ranjana Kumari supports Mrs. Rajavi in the idea of building a global front of women against fundamentalism and extremism. Free Iran is the right choice. Women from across the world who are supporting Free Iran, send out  a strong message that Iran will surely be freed under the leadership of Mrs. Rajavi.

“The Global network of Women for change support Maryam Rajavi in her struggle for freedom and Democracy in Iran. Women of Iran are suffering all forms of Gender discrimination at the hands of  oppressive Iranian government.We appeal to Global community of Women for their Support.”
- Dr. Ranjana Kumari
Cross Border Connect: Meeting with Afghan Delegation of Representatives from Civil Society Organizations 
On July 3, 2019, Centre for Social Research hosted a delegation of representatives from various civil society organizations (CSOs) from Afghanistan in their Vasant Kunj office. The 22-member delegation is a part of the Afghan Advocacy Group, a segment of the Afghan Civic Engagement Programme (ACEP). ACEP is aimed at increasing engagement between CSOs and the government, increasing civic participation and developing organizational capacity of CSOs, among other goals, in Afghanistan. The Afghan delegation was touring different CSOs in India as part of their experience sharing and learning tour.
 
Joined by members of the CSR team, the Afghan delegation was introduced to the organization and the different projects that are being carried out through a brief presentation. After the presentation, the floor was opened up for questions by the delegation members. The members were largely interested in understanding how CSOs in India, and specifically CSR, worked with the government to introduce programs and advocate for policy changes. They also wanted to know how CSR worked to garner support and change mindsets of the local communities. 

Given the cultural similarities between Indian and Afghan societies, especially surrounding women, Dr. Manasi Mishra talked about how CSR had used a multi-pronged intervention approach in many of its projects, such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sports for Girls. She emphasized on the need to engage with the government officials on different levels, the importance of role models in creating ripple effects to change mindsets, and the need to back up programs with action-based research. 

The meeting with the Afghan delegation was an meaningful learning and experience sharing initiative for both organizations. 
Hand-Holding Women in Crisis: Crisis Management Centres   SDG.5
Our Crisis Management Center (CMC) is designed to help individuals and families deal with disruptive and unexpected events that threaten to, or have caused, harm to the individual and their families. The centre helps them to re-establish a sense of safety and predictability, and provide therapeutic care as they reclaim, rebuild and renew their lives.  The main source of this help is by providing them Crisis Intervention. Keeping in mind the trauma and physical or mental violation that the individual or a family suffers, crisis intervention is immediate and short-term assistance in order to restore balance to their bio-psycho-social functioning. Crisis counseling is intended to be quick (i.e. a period of no longer than a few weeks) which focuses on minimizing the stress of the event, providing emotional support, improving the individual’s coping strategies as they are occurring and minimizing the potential of long-term psychological-trauma. 

CSR launched this program to ensure the reduction of acute distress and restoring physical and mental stabilization. Since crisis counseling can assist individuals with coping and provide them support after they have witnessed a major crisis, the emphasis has to be on time-limitation with specific goals for achieving stability, internal sense of empowerment, locating appropriate resources; legal or local, and renewing their sense of safety.

Currently, CMC Uttam Nagar has mobilized 503 people from different community about the PWDV Act, 2005. Several follow-ups of the previous cases were also conducted. CSR is also geared up to run another skill based program and our CMC team has started mobilizations for the same.

The CMC IN Vasant Kunj provides crisis intervention services, immediate emotional and counseling support and extend help in registration of police complaints (a police officer would be deputed), since the filing of an FIR against the perpetrator often takes a long time. Crisis Intervention Centre, Vasant Kunj has dealt in 13 domestic violence and in the past three months.
 
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TweeSurfing: 
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