Adv: Empowering marginalized women in Delhi

Posted on December 19, 2017 0 Comments114
In 1987, when Reena Banerjee, Hershey Goodness Hero for Delhi Times joined an NGO that worked for women empowerment in Delhi, little did she know that the temporary job that she was doing to support herself, will bring her so close to the cause. When Reena finished her studies while working for the NGO, she decided to pursue a career in the social sector and work for the rights of women and children from the marginalised communities. She says, “While working at the NGO, I would come across many women who faced atrocities in daily life. Most of these women would be from marginalised communities who were not allowed to study, were beaten up for dowry. I even came across cases where women were burnt alive. Seeing so many women suffer, I decided to work for their cause and started my own NGO called Nav Srishti.”
The 47-year-old adds, “I started the NGO in 1994 in Nangali, west Delhi, with the seed grant money of one lakh from Unnati Foundation. The aim of our organisation was to educate young girls and empower them.”

With a team of just two people, Reena started the foundation that now employs more than 150 people and has educated over 5000 girls in the capital. She says, “We started with one centre, but now we have six centres across vulnerable areas of Delhi, including Bawana, Sangam Vihar and Ber Sarai. We have helped over 60,000 people in the capital and have made them financially stable through our initiatives.”

Talking about the difficulties that she faced, she says, “The major problem is convincing the girls’ parents. These girls come from marginalised, migrant families who are not willing to educate their girls. Also, ever since our NGO started working for the cause of missing children, we have faced a backlash from the authorities. Since most of the kids that go missing are from poor families, the police maintain a casual attitude and do not take stern actions.”
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