"I could not attend the Self Help Group meeting yesterday because my husband was not allowing me to step outside my house as he had consumed a lot of alcohol. That went on for a couple of hours and he also snatched the money I had so I do not have any resources to contribute to the savings for this month."
Self Help Group members approached HMF healthcare workers with an issue regarding alcohol and domestic violence. Some women demanded a program and services which could help them during incidents of domestic violence, such as the one described above.
HMF launched its Domestic Violence Counseling and Prevention center in 2000 which continues to provide services to women in the surrounding areas. This includes understanding of the case of violence, individual discussions, focus group discussions and prepare a plan to resolve the conflict. We often involve local police, judicial authorities, government officials and local dispute resolution committee of the respective village during the counseling. Over the period of the past 14 years, the counseling center has handled more than 700 cases of domestic violence.
HMF has been registered with the state government as a recognized counseling center, and counseling services are available at the block level and at headquarters.
HMF provides financial support for the victim, legal services and education services.
HMF is working, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to cover 20 villages in the Akkalkoat Block in the Sholapur district, since 2010.
The program focuses on developing a network of men across 20 villages, known as Animators that are trained to create awareness about issues related to violence against women. The Animators are responsible for developing two groups of men, one of married men and another of unmarried men. These groups are involved in the program and are regularly trained on identifying violence against women and ways to prevent such violence.
This gender equity project has been the most recent success of HMF which received significant media coverage and has been replicated in other parts of Maharashtra and India.
Project Duration – January 2010 – ongoing
HMF is working, with the support of Swiss Aid, to cover 40 villages in the Tuljapur and Lohara Blocks in the Osmanabad district, since 2014.
HMF initiated the women empowerment program in 2006 and is being carried out in multiple phases. In the previous phases, HMF focused on agriculture, development, maternal health and implemented programs to improve women participation in local governance.
Currently the project focuses on capacity building of the Village Health Worker, Self Help Group members, local dispute resolution committees and local married/unmarried male groups to prevent violence against women at the village level.
Similarly, like the gender equity project, this program also consists of Animators and follows the same design as outlined here.
In the year 2013, HMF started involving local dispute resolution committees for the prevention of violence against women. This is the recent innovation being practiced at the village level
Project Duration – January 2014 - 2016