24/11/2023
CULP’s Long-Term Strategy to combat Violence against Women and Girls
CULP’s vision & initiatives to deal with the issue
CULP believes that violence against women is both a cause and consequence of gender inequality. CULP has been working to fill this gap through imparting education, skill development and health awareness to adolescent girls and young women to ensure women’s full participation in all spheres of life in order to challenge the enforced gender roles and norms, assuming that men have the right to control women. CULP’s work in this direction reflects in its approach to tackle the problem. It addresses all types of violence like physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, financial, technological, social and spiritual. It believes that it is important to work on prevention rather than the cure.
The approach
1. Education: CULP works both with in school and out-of-school girls through its education initiatives which entails not only the literacy and numeracy skills but also focuses on life skill education as an integral part of the specially designed curriculum. The life skill education sessions focus on gender parity, equal power relation between man and woman, types of violence and cope up methods, economic independence and its benefits etc. A large number of adolescent girls have gone through this process and some of them have shown courage to fight with the violence. It also work upon formulating the girl’s collectives in villages which provide a forum to raise voice against any discrimination in the family or society. This initiative also inculcate and develop leadership quality amongst the young girls. Frequent interactions with these groups and orientations on tackling the situations are organized periodically to strengthening them.
2. Skill Development: Economic self-reliance leads to empowerment and gives strength to fight against discrimination and violence. CULP initiated skill development courses for adolescent girls and young women in two districts in the state of Rajasthan (India). Sewing training and computer training courses have been run to provide opportunity to improve their skills for enhanced earnings. Apart from that, they were also provided information through specialized sessions on banking and savings and entrepreneurship and sessions on issues related to women, gender equality and types of violence.
3. Health: The health of families and communities are no doubt, tied to the health of women and CULP’s initiatives in this direction support this statement. It works in improving the health awareness and hygiene amongst the rural women through organizing health check-up and awareness camps, health awareness sessions with school girls and village women. The awareness sessions consist of respecting their own body, myths associated with menstrual cycle and importance of good health etc.
Apart from it, women were also made aware about their legal entitlements for the government run social protection schemes and how they can get the benefit to empower themselves.
So, with the help of these collective initiatives, CULP tries to address the issue of violence against women by Educating, Empowering and Equalizing them in order to eradicate all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls.
4. 16-day Activism against Violence against Women and Girls Campaign
CULP organizes a 16day campaign to address issue of violence in different forms with the women and girls in rural parts of two districts in the state of Rajasthan through public meetings, seminars, press conferences rallies, community level discussions by engaging the representatives of different key stakeholders (including community leaders, members of political parties and media personnel. During this campaign, we support women and girls to come forward to raise their voices against the violence they face. The following video link shows the public interactive meeting of adolescent girls and young women with the policy influencers, media persons and social activists at state level during the 16-day Activism.
Link of You Tube videos depicting CULP’s work to combat Violence against Women.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfdFzwEU70M
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywC7CB-3uFc
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVoie9S4jLI
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVNAPninFkY
5. Networking and Advocacy to influence at Policy level
CULP is also an active partner of several CSOs Networks like Girls Not Brides Global Alliance and co-chairs its state chapter in Rajasthan; People’s Movement for Right to Health – Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Rajasthan; National Forces for children 90 to 6 years) and Women; National Right to Education Consortium through which CULP contributes to influencing policies to orienting them to end the violence against women and girls.
Proposed Activities for 16-day Activism against violence against women from 25th November to 10th Decembers 2023:
Currently, we’re having 14 women’s skill training centres, 2 learning centres for educating out of-school adolescent girls and Adolescent Girls Forums; youth and women’s groups in two districts. With these centres about 5000 adolescent girls and young women are associated. The specific activities will be organized with the members of the centres who will be trained to organize campaigns in their community to break the silence on the issue of violence the women and girls face by raising their voices through community level discussions, rallies and dissemination of relevant IEC material and messages, and creative activities with adolescent girls in schools such as drawing, painting, essay writing, debate on the issue of violence in schools and colleges.
The representatives of these groups will also join other CSO networking and advocacy workshops to influence policies and programs by raising their issues at district and state level.
