Women volunteers of Ambedkar International Mission (AIM) and Ambedkar Association of North America (AANA), based in USA, successfully conducted two interactive workshops on “Empower women and children against sexual violence” at two different locations in Nagpur, India in past two months.
The purpose of such workshop is to :
- Explain what is sexual violence & abuse
- Reasons behind sexual violence & abuse,
- Create sensitivity towards the victim,
- Information on related laws,
- Possible indicators to identify abuse, how to respond & support the victim
- Self-defense techniques to prevent assault / attack.
- And most importantly mitigate sexual violence against women and children
EmPower also want to create support groups for victims, by forming network of Police or IAS/IPS officers.(Network of Police to help women to want to register a complaint in case the police station refuses to register a complaint or police is misbehaving), Network of Lawyers (who can help them fight case, with some concession or free of cost), Network of Media (to help generate awareness about issues), Network of Doctors, Network of social workers.
Workshop participants are encouraged to interact by asking questions, doubts as well as provide feedback to improve.
In November 2013, first workshop was conducted for students & parents of Buddhist International School (BIS) located in Rameshwari, Nagpur. Second workshop was conducted at Ambedkar Bhawan, Nagpur in December 2013 for diverse group of people. Both were well received and many people volunteered to help in future workshops. Few victims of abuse also approached for help/advise.
EmPower is planning to conduct these workshops every month in schools, colleges, women’s hostels & various other locations. If you would like more information about these workshops or the organizations involved, please contact at mm_usa@googlegroups.com.
Published in Issue V, April 2014