SHAKTI - EMPOWERING ADOLESCENT GIRLS TO MOBILIZE COMMUNITIES

WHAT IS LIKE BEING AN INDIAN GIRL-CHILD – THE 2ND CITIZEN?

SOME BARE FACTS:
1 out of every 6 girls does not live to see her 15th birthday
Every sixth girl child's death is due to gender discrimination
22 million girls below the age of 18 years are forced out of school into marriage against their wishes many a times to males twice their age.
Cases of female feoticide are swelling at a fast pace. In this mad spree of slaughter, the main culprit is urban India.

SO HOW DOES PROJECT SHAKTI HELP?

Shakti is a program for girls in deprived neighborhoods. It builds collectives and develops support networks as the basis for leadership - through which adolescent girls can collectively affect change for themselves and the community. Over a period of twelve months, the project will mobilize 400 adolescent girls across four of Mumbai’s most deprived communities. They will have organized themselves into collectives, identified development priority areas and planned action. A key part of this process is that each group will also reach out to at least one more group in the community – mentoring, supporting their effort and scaling up the approach. This unique project links individual or personal empowerment with young women’s public participation in the community setting, ensuring that they can access their rights, available services and make informed choices.

THE EVENT/INITIATIVE:

The objective or aim of this event or initiative is to capture the essence of Shakti and the stark and bitter reality of the Indian girl child in slums or high-risk areas. The shadow interviews that we plan to shoot will be filmed on girls from the groups that we have worked with. It will be an open-ended discussion where the girls would be interviewed on various facets of their life both in terms of the family as well as the community. The questions would be on lifestyle choices that they would have to make, do they make informed choices or is it forced on them, whether they felt safe within their homes and the community, if they had faced abuse and violence (physical, verbal and/or sexual) at any point, how did they counter it, their perspective on sexuality, gender roles, relationships etc. Their identities would not be revealed since these girls come from extremely rigid and conservative communities and difficult situations and it wouldn’t be permissible. The discussion would bring forth issues which are always underplayed but are extremely socially pertinent and to hear it from the girls themselves would give us an honest and direct account of reality as it was.



HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT THE GIRLS?

The films would be screened in various public and social forums for child and women’s rights. It is important that the voice of the girl child gets heard in the correct and relevant circles. Girls in these communities are hardly allowed to speak out or voice their opinion on any matter. Although India is a free country it is still not free in the true sense for the Indian girl child in slums. It is usually presumed that a girl growing up in an urbane environment need not complain. She is liberated. This is a huge misconception since here again freedom to make lifestyle choices is restricted to a particular income bracket. Freedom simply dawns different definitions as girls we work with are equally and in many cases more deprived and exploited than those in rural areas. Communities they live in are steeped in violence. Rape and abuse is common and rampant. It is also necessary to recognize that the rights of adolescent girls to protection from exploitation and abuse is inherently connected with giving them greater opportunities by recognizing their right to express opinions and make choices. Girls face discrimination at every stage whether at home or the community.

We hope the films would throw light on an aspect of the Indian adolescent girl’s life that is usually neglected. Merely being able to attend school or being able to move around in the community doesn’t reflect empowerment. How much of a say does she have when decisions pertaining to her life (whether it is on a professional or personal level) are made and is she safe within the confined spaces of her home at least? The films would be a medium through which the outside world would get a perspective on the hardships that an Indian girl child in the slum had to face on a daily basis. We hope that these films would evoke responses not just in terms of funding but mainly in terms of more voices in support of these girls thus facilitating the process of community change.

The exploitation and denial of participation rights and respect for their identity and evolving maturity, is often related to attitudes and practices on gender relations within the family and the community. Through this project and events like these we hope to strengthen the family's and community's capacity to appreciate the rights of these girls to life chances that can be a safety net against their abuse, exploitation and maltreatment. We also feel that more support of this form could be used to motivate the girls to mould their lives in a way that they have a secure and successful future. Also we expect the girls to replicate this project on their own and take over from Aangan and they initiate change.

Every girl has a right to survival and development, protection, and to participate and express views on matters that concern her life, as her capacity for making responsible choices evolves between the period of adolescence and adulthood. The individual dignity and well being of girls must be seen as in the wider interests of the family and the community.

ASSISTANCE WE WOULD REQUIRE:

•Editors and still photographers: Volunteers who can help us with the editing, mainly the post-production bit. Shooting begins on 21st Dec( 8 hr shifts) and goes on till 23rd, then on 24rth the film will be sent in for processing following which the FCP edit begins 25th Dec. The length of the film will be 1-1 1/2 hrs.