“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
Trust for Social Justice, Shanthi Nilayam, as a development organization has been doing significant service to the abandoned rural women, Adolescence girls, street children and the child labourers in some of the most backward areas of Villupuram revenue district in the State of Tamil Nadu since 1990. Trust for Social Justice, Shanthi Nilayam has been monetarily supported by foreign donors for its activities which is permitted by the home ministry under the FCRA act. Being conscious on the dire poverty that beset the downtrodden Shanthi Nilayam has conceived the vision of “creating a society that respects the rights of children and women”.
Constant communal clashes and the observed suffering by the socially marginalized communities have prompted Shanthi Nilayam to establish a project in the Villupuram District. Besides the urban slums, lives in the colonies where the Dalits live are totally neglected and all basic amenities were enjoyed by the upper caste communities. Families in Dalit colonies have more number of children with very few earning people who toil as coolies. The female members who outnumber males in the large families become the first victims to enter child labour. Most of the families have large number of dependents and hence they are not able to send their children to schools as the contemporary school education entails financial commitments. The parents in the Dalit families are mostly illiterate who cannot appreciate the value of education due to ignorance and poverty. A majority of the parents in the families work as coolies whose wage work is quite uncertain due to persistent drought and also flood at times of rain. Being socially discriminated the people of the target villages submit themselves to the dictates of the so-called upper social categories and hence developed a distinct culture of accepting their poverty and discrimination as natural phenomenon.
Key Focus area:
Child Development
Women Development
Skill Development
Vocational Training
Formal and Non Formal Education
Development of the Differently Abled
Care and Support to Aged
Eco and Environment Preservation
Insurance/Microfinance
Traditional Artisan Development. , Health and Livelihood
OBJECTIVES
1) To motivate and organize Women associations in the target areas in an integrated manner to address their issues, problems, health care, economics, social status with in their community with special reference to their children and to assert the right of the women and children.
2) To promote 100% school enrollment and the formal education of all the children in the target areas at least up to VIII Standard.
3) To eliminate child labor and street and working children in the target villages.
4) To provide future employment opportunities for the children in the target villages.
5) To train selected village Womenvolunteers in the selected 60 villages; so that the women volunteers become responsible for their own associations and they take up various developments especially educational activities in their villages to prevent dropouts.
6) Identify the runaway/street children and child labourers in the slums and villages, especially from railway station and bus stand. Rehabilitate them by giving counseling and facilitating them to be mainstreamed by giving education and also shelter.
7) Conducting one non-formal education centre in each village to educate the drop out children and the working children and readmit 100 drop out children in the regular schools per year.
8) To prevent the school drop outs in 10 slums and 60 target villages by organizing supplementary education for the school going children
9) To conduct special training programme for the children to enhance their talents.
10) To promote community health specially health of Womenand children through health education and organizing health camps in the 60 villages
11) To facilitate the target people especially women to mobilize the available needed basic facilities in their villages, by their joined activities especially in the provision of drinking water.
12) To promote saving habits among the target Women and organize savings and credit programme in each of the 60 villages giving easy access to the small income-generating scheme.
13) To establish the vocational training centre with the facility to provide skill oriented training in 5 Trades, 50 boys and 50 girls every year.
Goals:
- Accelerate integrated development towards ensuring Child and Women rights
- Minimize School dropouts and promote quality education for all the Children belongs to the target area
- Eradicate Child labour and hold up the Street Children by offering non-formal technical / vocational education and other apt mechanism
- Accelerate women empowerment through Micro credit, productive livelihoods, social security and social justice.
- Inculcate the practices of Child survival & Safe Motherhood and ensure positive heath receiving behaviours.
- Promote harmonious environments through sensitization on Climate change processes and the preventive measures.
