Introduction

Women and youth constitute majority part of our demography. Even their inclusion is highly important to achieve faster, sustainable, equitable and formalized growth in economy. Women have evolved with various skills, managerial ability, stress handling capacities, and even high sensitivity for marginalized and weaker sections. Youth is full of energy, risk taking capabilities, desire for innovation and have high aspirations.

But in India, the women are not confident about their capabilities. They are excluded from household decision making. They are considered as a “Paraya dhan” (Other’s property) and hence their freedom is also restricted. Women are expected to forego or discount their career aspirations in the interest of taking care of the family. Gender based wage inequalities and glass ceiling barriers are common phenomena in Indian workplaces. In recent times, sexual harassment is also on the rise. In day to day lives, so many times women feel subjugated, discriminated, oppressed and violated but they fail to raise their voice because of lack of financial autonomy, lack of trust on the authorities and fear of damaging own honour of and that of family.

On other hand, the youth in India is suffering from the “Mirage” problem. Starting from the education system, to the employment market and to the society, all are giving false assurances to the youth about future. If you study hard, you will get admission into top colleges; if you perform well in college, you will be able to land a good job; if you have good job, the society will respect you. The blind race for few jobs/ careers starts where only those who succeed lead a “good” life and those who fail either lead a life of compromise and discounted aspirations or commit suicide. Even the youth due to bad influence may get addicted to drugs and alcohol and smoking which deteriorates their health. Educated youth in India takes more time than their western counterparts to achieve self-dependence which delays the age to attain mental maturity.

Dhara’s Vision and Mission

We, at Dhara for Sustaining Life, aim to empower the women and youth of India. We strive to make them aware about their rights, entitlements, and career choices. We aim to unlock them from their inhibitions and restraints. We aim to facilitate their attainment of full potential. We aim to reinforce social inclusion. We aim towards financial, economic, social and emotional independence of individuals. Yes, we do understand importance of responsible freedom. That’s why our programs are based on the theme of “Not Me, but You”.

Dhara’s Activities

• Organize women and youth into self help groups and facilitate their functioning
• Spreading awareness about their rights, legal protection, entitlements through campaigns, posters, leaflets, nukkad nataks etc.
• Collaborate with the schools, Anganwadi centres, local social activists, and local authorities to spread message of social inclusion
• Inform the youth and women about importance of health and hygiene and various government initiatives in this regard
• Encourage them to file their complaint with respective authorities and collectivize voices to hold these authorities accountable
• Hold role playing exercises where women and youth can hone their decision making and interpersonal skills
• Cross cultural training like recreational trips, education trips etc. in order to broaden their horizons of thinking
• Inspire youth to adopt spiritualism which can generate self-belief and determination in their work
• Special focus on Divyang youth, youth in crisis, women in distress, violence struck persons to rehabilitate them and develop them in terms of capabilities, knowledge, skills, competence and emotional stability.

How you can help?

• Donate to our projects related to Women and Youth empowerment. You can follow the ongoing and upcoming projects here
• Volunteer with us to help execute the ongoing projects and to help kickstart the upcoming ones
• Share your idea about how we can benefit the women and youth more or how we can reach out to more women and youth
• Partner with us and we can jointly work to create more impact

Contact

Drop us an e-mail at dharaforsustaininglife@gmail.com or call us at +91-9999-801-394 or drop by at our office in 10/70 Basement, Old Rajender Nagar, New Delhi-60.