BRIEF REPORT of State Level Consultation on Designing a Social Inclusion Plan for Socially Excluded and Marginalised Populations

Transcription

1 BRIEF REPORT of State Level Consultation on Designing a Social Inclusion Plan for Socially Excluded and Marginalised Populations Hyderabad: 1 st October, 2012 Jointly Organized by National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) Coordinated By- Empowerment of Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups and Women in Difficult Circumstances National Mission for Empowerment of Women MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

2 The National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW), Ministry of Women and Child, Government of India with the technical support of Centre for Advocacy and Research is organizing a Consultation in Hyderabad on entitled Designing a Social Inclusion Plan for Socially Excluded and Marginalised Populations. It is for the first time that such an exercise is being held in India with Andhra Pradesh taking the lead on this issue. The major objectives of the day- long consultation are as follows: 1) To design a Social Inclusion Plan for Marginal Communities such as Sex Workers and Transgendered persons in consultation with all key stakeholders- major government departments such as Women and Child Development, Health, NRHM, State AIDS Control Society, Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Urban Development, Social Welfare, Municipal Administration, Hyderabad; experts, civil society, women s and community-based organizations working on prevention of trafficking, targeted intervention, education, livelihood development and reducing violence against women 2) To facilitate among all constituents listed above an exchange of perspective, experience and learning on the advancements that have been achieved through major interventions to safeguard their rights and entitlements, build alternative livelihood and lastly ensure the reduction of their risk and vulnerability to HIV, STI and other related issues 3) To facilitate sharing of good practices being mounted by grassroots functionaries of the government as well as by community groups and civil society 4) Based on this sharing of perspectives, experiences, good practices to emerge with a framework on the design of the pilot reflecting some measure of consensus on guiding principles, thrust and focus, identify areas of convergence and modalities of collaboration and joint intervention Speaking about the Consultation, Smt. Ratna Prabha, Additional Secretary, Mission Director, NMEW emphasized that the whole exercise is about reaching the unreached and most excluded in a manner that is not only convergent but will also strive to address the social barriers and the pain of exclusion that these communities experience. With the inaugural session being addressed by Smt Sunitha Laxma Reddy, Minister for Women Development and Child Welfare, Ms. Sujatha Rao, former Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and Ms. Ratna Prabha, the Consultation is bringing together key officials and leading civil society organizations and community groups from seven districts including Hyderabad. The Consultation includes Shri J Raymond Peter, IAS, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Shri C. Parthasarathi, IAS, Project Director, Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, Shri Rajeswar Tiwari, IAS, Principal Secretary, Secondary Education, Shri B Rajashekar, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Shri Praveen Prakash, IAS, Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare, Shri Chiranjiv Choudhary, IFS, Commissioner, Women Development & Child Welfare Department, Shri S Umapathi, IPS, IG, Crime Investigation Department, Shri S V Ramana Murthy, IPS, DG, Crime Investigation Department and Justice Shri V Raghunath Rao, Chairman, Jogini Commission,

3 Since the thrust of the Consultation is develop an inclusive plan for the social development of communities such as Sex Workers and transgendered women who are victims of trafficking, social exploitation, indignity, extreme social stigma and isolation, grassroots organizations including representatives of community collectives and self-help groups will share their perspective and insight on what has helped to strengthen their mainstreaming and social integration. This will include representatives from civil society organisations such as Women s Initiatives (Wins), Tirupati, Asmitha-Hyderabad, IRDS-Hyderabad, REDS, -Ananthapur, Ankuram-Hyderabad, HELP- Ongole, Plan India and Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) of Female Sex Workers and Transgender Women from Chittoor, Ananthapur, East Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Warangal and Hyderabad districts. Frontline organizations such as Hindustan Latex Family Promoting Promotion Trust (HLFPPT), India HIV/AIDS Alliance will also be participating in the consultation. Recommendations of the Consultation The major recommendations of the consultation are: Women s issues are looked after by several departments so the challenge before us is; how do we ensure coordination and integration, which is the need of the day? Make rehabilitation adequate to reduce the 81% of rescued women from being retrafficked. Develop a systematic plan that will make our schemes and programmes accessible to sex workers and transgender. We can pilot the plan in Guntur and Prakasam. Evolve a mechanism for the inclusion of the transgender community. Involve the organizations working for women s empowerment. Re-work the rescue and consequent support given to minors. Rehabilitation packages must take into account the present cost of living. Institutionalize services and entitlements for these communities for better results. To achieve all these strengthen collectivization among sex workers. Make us part of committees that are advancing the delivery of programmes and schemes for marginal communities. Enable us to ensure access to development and welfare programmes that are intended for marginal communities like us. Measures must be initiated to provide education to our children till the intermediate level and if possible till graduation. Government needs to extend support to CBOs to establish and manage old age homes for sex workers as most of them become destitute as they grow older. Nutrition supplements are essential for HIV affected sex workers and their children. Give our CBOs the responsibility of ensuring the distribution of food supplements. Include transgender women in district level committees for ensuring quality health services. Make CBOs a part of the District Health Committees (DHCs) that will be initially set up in Krishna, Guntur, Warangal and Hyderabad. The CBOs can help in strengthening policies for the community.

4 Continue to have such inter-departmental and multi-stakeholder interactions in the future. There is need to include transgender in SHGs so that they can avail of schemes. Recommendations of National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) Rehabilitation programmes should foster long term results and generate a paradigm shift for the community. The cooperative model for the economic empowerment of sex workers should be explored. It is vital that all women and minors be treated as victims and not subjected to police harassment and violations. Rehabilitation is an issue that must be addressed holistically. One department should become the focal point for the transgender community as is the case in the Central Government where it comes under the ambit of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment. Convergence with the police department has to be strengthened to enable us to go beyond raids and effectively plan rescue and rehabilitation. We must do everything possible to reduce and remove the stigma and discrimination that the community of sex workers and transgender women experience. Convergence is necessary to achieve financial and social inclusion of marginal communities. Transgender women should be included in SHGs Revamp rehabilitation strategy and package in coordination with Women and Child Welfare Department, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police. Scale up the inclusive and innovative approaches being used by the Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) and urge grassroots and civil society groups to support MEPMA in reaching out to sex workers and transgendered women. We support all endeavors aimed at primary prevention and the empowering of adolescent girls Social inclusion and empowerment should stem from the fact that women are being treated as victims and not the accused under the law. Endorse the recommendation that a special package for the girl children of Joginis must be evolved. Good practices must be documented as part of the design of a Social Inclusion Plan and replicated and expanded in the demonstration district.

5 DRAFT AGENDA WELCOME ADDRESS CFAR OPENING PRESENTATION INAUGURAL SESSION Prof U Vindhya, Tata Institute of Social Services, Hyderabad INAUGURAL ADDRESS ON: Advancing the NMEW Mandate by Piloting a Convergent Social Inclusion Plan for Marginal Communities Smt K Ratna Prabha, Additional Secretary, National Mission for Empowerment of Women KEY NOTE ADDRESS ON: Sex Workers and Transgendered Women; Setting out a Perspective on going beyond HIV to Social Development: Smt Sujatha Rao, Former Secretary, GOI, Health and Family Welfare PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS ON; Strengthening Policy and Program Framework for Socially Marginalized Communities: Achievements and Road Map TEA BREAK Smt Sunitha Laxma Reddy V, Minister for Women Development and Child Welfare (TBC) Converging Programs and Delivery of Social Entitlements to Marginal Communities Presenter: Shri J Raymond Peter, IAS, Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department Respondent: Ms Jyothi, Mahila Abhudaya Society, Hyderabad Presenter: Shri Chiranjiv Choudhary, IFS, Commissioner, Women Development & Child Welfare Department Ms. Pallavi Gupta, Coordinator, Research, Asmita Resource Centre Presenter: Shri C. Parthasarathi, IAS, Project Director, Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society Respondent: Ms Tara/Eswari, PASS, Chitoor

6 Presenter: Shri Rajeswar Tiwari, IAS, Principal Secretary, Secondary Education Respondent: Vijaya/Rama Devi, Chaitanya Mahila Mandali Presenter: Smt Anita Ramachandran, IAS, Mission Director, Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (TBC) Savithri, Senior Institutional Building Specialist, Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (TBC) Respondent: Ms Apsar, President, WISE CBO, Peddapuram, East Godavari Presenter: Shri B Rajashekar, IAS, CEO, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (TBC) Respondent: Ms. Sumitra, Tirupathi Presenter: Shri Praveen Prakash, IAS, Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare Respondent: Ms. Chandramukhi, Avagahana, Hyderabad Going beyond: Raids & Rescue to Social Integration and Community Empowerment Presenter: Shri S Umapathi, IPS, IG, Crime Investigation Department Respondent: Ms Ramadevi, President, Jhansi lakshmi Mahila Sangham, Ananthapur Respondent: Ms C Bhanuja, Director, Rural and Environment Development Society, Ananthapur Presenter: Shri S V Ramana Murthy, IPS, DG, Crime Investigation Department Respondent: Ms O Laila, President, Modern Awareness Society, Warangal Respondent: Ms S V Bhavani, Program Manager PLAN India, Hyderabad Presenter: Shri V Raghunath Rao, Chairman, Jogini Commission Respondent: Ms. Samulu, President, Rudramma Devi Mahila Mandali, Warangal

7 Respondent: Ms. Sumitra Makkapati, Secretary, Ankuram Foundation, Hyderabad Presenter: Shri V N Rai, Director, SVP National Police Academy (TBC) \ Respondent: Ms. Prassana, Secretary, Nava Samajam, Tirupathi Respondent: Mr. Ram Mohan, Director, HELP, Ongole Presenter: Ms. Asha Menon, Member Secretary, Delhi Legal Services Authority Respondent: Smt Shahnaj, President, Siri Mahila Sadhikaratha Society, Guntur Lunch Building Community Ownership and forging government- Civil society partnership Moderator Ms. Meera Raghavendra, Director, Women s Initiative, Tirupathi Ms. Bharati Dey, General Secretary, All India Network of Sex Workers Ms. Shantivardhan, TG, Visakhapatnam Ms. Girija Devi, Independent Consultant Ms. Gowri, President, Krishna Vennela Mahila Mandali, Vijaywada Mr. Sukumar David, Director, IRDS Ms. Dolly Kovalli, State Program Manager, HLFPPT Dr. Parimi Prabhakar, Director, Alliance India Group Work 7 groups (tentative) 1) Identify good Practices that are to be scaled up and sustained 2) Challenges that needs to be overcome 3) Next Steps Presentations 5 minutes to each group Concluding Remarks Vote of Thanks **** For more information &detailed report please contact at: nmew.vm@gmail.com