“Santwana” - Women’s Help Line for women and girls in distress – 2001 sponsored by Govt of Karnataka

Prajna has been rendering 12 hours toll-free telephonic help-line service for women and girls in distress under SANTWANA women help-line project of Govt of Karnataka.  The main aim of Santwana is to help and guide distressed women and girls who are facing mental agony due to dowry and other family problems, sexual molestation and harassment. Since its inception,

• ‘SANTWANA’ has registered, handled and helped 1344 cases of women and girls facing violence, harassment, sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment by alcoholic husband.
  

 ‘Short Stay Home’ - for women and girls in distress – 2003, supported by Central Social Welfare Board, Govt of India

Prajna is running ‘Short Stay Home’ since 2003 to provide shelter care and protection to those women and girls who are forced into prostitution, women with children/girls who leave their homes due to domestic violence and marital problems. Women and girls who are victims of rape and sexual abuse, the victims of maladjustment, emotional disturbances, social  ostracism, who are forced to escape from their homes, are in need of shelter, psychiatric treatment and counselling for their rehabilitation and re-adjustment and rehabilitation.
The aim of the ‘Short Stay Home’ is to bring about amicable solutions to women’s problems and to send them back to their families. Short Stay Home also offers other necessary facilities such as medical care, counseling, non-formal education, vocational training, job placement etc.

• Presently provides shelter, care, protection and vocational training for 35 women (with their children) and girls who are victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, who leave their homes due to domestic violence and marital problems and those who are victims of rape and sexual abuse. So far 62 women and girls have been successfully rehabilitated.
  

 ‘Swadhar Shelter Home’ - for women and girls under difficult circumstances -  2005, supported by Women & Child Development Dept, Govt of India

Prajna is running ‘Swadhar Shelter Home’ for women in difficult circumstances under the grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Human Resource Development Govt. of India through Department of Women & Child Development. The main thrust of the ‘Swadhar Shelter Home’ is to respond to the needs of women especially, the women in difficult circumstances like, widows, destitute and deserted, ex-prisoners, victims of sexual abuse and crime including those trafficked and rescued from brothels, migrant and refugee women by providing them shelter, care and protection and support for their rehabilitation.

• Presently provides shelter, care, protection and vocational training for 36 women (with their children) and girls under difficult circumstances who are widows, destitute and deserted, ex-prisoners, victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, 55 women and girls have been rehabilitated in the families.

Promotion of ‘Self-Help Groups’ for women – 1995, supported by NABARD, NESA & CCF

‘Self help group’ (SHG) has been recognized as a community based organization that enables members to maximize the utilization of their internal as well as external resources in a sustainable manner. It has been adopted as the primary component in development strategies and most development programmes have made the self-help group the central unit of community mobilization. The economic impact of the programmes is very apparent. Thousands of women have obtained an avenue to save and a source of reasonably priced credit. Several investments that may not have otherwise been undertaken e.g.: education, medical is being done through SHG loans. Credit has enabled several house holds to initiate or expand income generation activities.
SHG’s encourages activities that directly improve the living standards of poor and women, SHG encourages active decision making by members with in thrift and credit frame work. This will result in their greater involvement within the family, socially as well as politically.

• So far, Organization has promoted and  has been nurturing  over 200 self-help groups with over 2000 members (of which 99% are women) to enable economic and social empowerment of poor women through capacity building activities.  Total savings of this group is well over 25 Lakh Rupees.

AMSO community banking through shg federation – 2003

Organization has initiated ‘Abyudaya Mahila Swa Sahaya Sanghagala Okkutta’ (AMSO) community banking through federation of self-help groups. The main intention of AMSO Community Banking is to enable lending to groups and individual members with low rate of interest, to start micro-enterprise/self employment in order to raise their economic and living conditions.

So far AMSO community banking has disbursed loans of over 30 lakhs to the poor women for varied needs like production, consumption and emergency need.

Handicraft - Training, Production and Marketing Promotion Programme – 2004

Prajna is engaged in offering focused attention to the handicrafts activity for unemployed & unskilled women & youth, to enable them to earn livelihood. This increases their participation in productive employment & marketing.
Project helps in design, product development, skill and technology up-gradation for higher unit value realization for targeting upper-end of the market and for better return and productivity, especially for embroidery and jute products.

• Successfully conducted cut-work, design, embroidery,  kasuthi, jute, rexine, paper bag, screen-printing, ready-made garment production training for over 250 unemployed women and youth belonging to economically weaker and deprived families. Production unit has offered job-placement for more than 80 women and girls.

 Women’s Empowerment Training Programme – 1988

To develop women as powerful human resource towards bringing about radical changes in the existing attitudinal structures of the community through various programmes. Immense awareness generation and training programmes for women’s empowerment and leadership development were organized to promote self reliance and self sufficiency among poor and marginalized women of South Kanara district.

• So far organized 169 awareness and trainings on women’s issues like legal rights, gender sensitization and assertiveness, self-employment, income generation projects economic development, capacity building etc.