Building Violence Free Communities
Creating social condemnation against violence on women is one the most effective ways of preventing it. Swayam has been working consistently to establish gender-just and violence-free communities in a few rural and urban areas, in collaboration with local community members, CBOs, NGOs and the government machinery. Swayam's aim is to facilitate the creation of pro active groups of women and girls, men and boys and equip them to address and prevent violence against women in their communities, with the ultimate objective of creating communities where women are free from violence.
We work in 5 Panchayats in Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal as well as in Metiabruz, Khidderpore and Mahestala in Kolkata through our Community based Support Centres in Sarisha and Metiabruz.
Through these Community based Support Centres we
- Provide women with support services including counselling, police follow-up and legal advice. We also support women to follow up their cases in court.
- Engage women & girls and men & boys in these communities to become facilitators of social change, enabling them to contribute to genuine long term development in their communities.
- Create avenues for their economic empowerment and help them to claim and access their rights and entitlements
- Publish Hamari Awaaz, a magazine in Urdu written by community women in Metiabruz and Amader Katha, a Bengali broadsheet written and circulated in Diamond Harbour.
Community Women
Swayam has been working consistently to establish gender-just and violence-free communities by mobilising women to access their rights and entitlements and to develop strategies to end violence against women and girls.Community Men & Boys
In 2016, Swayam began working in a sustained manner with community men and boys. The aim is to create a cadre of men and boys that will work towards gender equality, act as change agents and address/prevent discrimination and violence against women and girls in their communities.Youth in the Communities
Swayam places great emphasis on educating and empowering youth to become advocates for women’s rights and gender equality. YUVA is the youth programme initiated by Swayam but now functioning independently; it is entirely led by youths (girls and boys) from various colleges throughout Kolkata.
Need Help?
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+91 9073922267Swayam Theater group
Theatre encourages and promotes self-expression, co-operation and teamwork. We could see that much of what we were trying to achieve in the support groups could be addressed through the process of theatre itself.
Music
The music performances facilitate discussions of difficult issues that our women survivors and the community may be reluctant to discuss under other circumstances.
Prayas
Prayas is a quarterly magazine that is written and edited by survivors themselves. It contains poetry and prose primarily in Bengali with occasional pieces in Hindi and English.