MISSION JAGRATI TO RESPECT S.H.E – Educating Old traditions & Beliefs to build a Safe & Respectful culture for Women to Live in.

Rajasthan is recognized as the ‘Land of Kings’ with over 68 million people (Cencus 2011) ,with largest state in geographical area, people here are known to value long-held beliefs, customs and traditions. Although known to be developing state but development indicators such as literacy, employment, sex ratio, fertility rates, age at marriage, health and nutrition point to be very low status of women in Rajasthan.In a country where women were once equated with divinity, and where even today Goddesses are worshipped prominently, the state of woman in India is a cause for both grave concern as well as thoughtful deliberation. Even after 60 years of independence issues like gender based discrimination, Child Marriages, Domestic Violence, Child abuse and stratification is rampant. True empowerment remains elusive to women, and women-specific development challenges thus have become more relevant than ever. In Rajasthan, the situation is especially exasperating. Patriarchal customs and regressive traditions coupled with high illiteracy and caste-based discrimination have created multi-layered socio-cultural problems that begin even before a girl child is born and affects her throughout her life. Safety of Girls & women has never taken a worse beating in Rajasthan, with a recent report by National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) revealing that the state features at 2nd position in crimes against women. The state capital Jaipur saw a shameful splurge in the number of rapes, figuring at 3rd spot after Delhi and Mumbai, as elucidated by NCRB data. A city once known for the safety and security it extended to women has the dubious distinction of being the 3rd most unsafe city for them. There has been a rise in the number of incidents of rape recorded too. More than half of the victims are between 18 and 30 years of age. Figures indicate that 10.6 percent of total victims of rape were girls under 14 years of age, while 19 percent were teens between the ages of 14 and 18. Alarmingly in almost 94.2 percent of cases offenders were known to the victims and those involved included family members, relatives, and neighbors. In addition to it Rajasthan has the lowest Female Literacy Ratio, 47% Girls are married before the age of 18 i.e shows the growth of Child Marriages in Rajasthan which further leads to issues like Female Foteicide, Not sent to School, Married Early as the fear of their Safety has drawn a line along with the Old Traditional Practices which Exist hence the existing issues have not reduced even after so many initiatives.

REAL WORLD TO EXPERIENCE - The Grassroots Level Issues on which the whole world talks about and are joining hands globally to resolve, having different stories of other people to tell, but I personally have experienced all these issues from my birth & Strongly stand to make a Difference. Born and bought up in a Poor family, My Mother who was illiterate, still never lost her hope and struggled hard to survive ,her parents did not send her to school because she was a girl, got her married to a man who was 2 times bigger then her. My mother by stitching clothes managed to send me to school. Still She Dreamt and Educated me, and she always wanted me to change the world, But my journey was tough it was difficult to sustain as the world around me was not safe, Everyone wanted to take advantage of my teenage and family conditions, Still I managed to complete my education and created my own identity breaking all the barrier on my way challenging the traditions when my own relatives used to tell why are u sending her school, get her married soon and get out of your responsibilities. On getting Married finding my highly educated & professional mother in law being a Domestic Violence Victim and still not breaking her silence, just because of old traditions and myths and no one to support or guide her about her Rights, but always motivating me Continue my further studies, work for children and women. Today I am known as a successful Professional and a active Social Worker. I formed an NGO named Praveen lata Sansthan after loosing both most loved ladies name with a mission to work for Holistic Development of Children, Women Empowerment and Rural Development.

SOLUTIONS PROVIDEDIn 2013 We started an Initiative Named “Mission Jagrati- Jagarati means Awareness” which won National Award “JIYO DIL SE” by 94.3 My FM & Leading Newspaper Dainik Bhaskar Group & was also recognized at eNGO South Asia Award for Promoting Women Safety on Social Media & were Second Runner up to Build a Safe World for Women to Live in from India. The initiative was designed with an aim to sensitize & Educate Adolescent Girls & Women to Know their Rights & Personal Safety. The Vision was to Educate, Develop & Empower. With an aim to create a secure, safe and reliable environment for every Girl/Women to grow develop and survive with dignity and without any discrimination or prejudice. Our main motto is to make them aware about how to protect themselves from all forms of abuse, negligence and exploitation & make them aware about their Rights & Speak up & be Empowered. As we aim for long-term vision to create a violence free society based on equality, peace, and justice. In addition to it empowering them by educating them how to build their own identity by small Livelihood Programs for their Sustainability. In last 2 Years we successfully educated more than 7500 Adolescent girls through Educational Workshops & Self Defense Workshops from Government Schools to Private Schools to Slum Areas to Communities covering Urban & Rural parts of Rajasthan. In addition, more than 10000 Community people were sensitized about the issues in the society and Actioning on it through Nukkad Nattak, Road Shows, Rallies, Educational Camps etc by our own base of Beneficiaries (Girls) becoming the Stakeholders to educate across the Society about sensitive issues like Save Girl Child, Educate Girls & Empower Girls and break all the barriers & myths in the society. Which was talk of the Town and was highly appreciated by Medias and Local Communities, with No time we had many NGOs,Corporates, Joining to volunteer. Also Around 75 issues were resolved personally which was reported during the tenure. But we did not stop our journey here, In the last 2 years we had one to one interactions with the Girls, In respect to the work we did & a strong feedback was taken by the Target audients and a Campaign named Respect SHE ( Solicitude for Her Esteem) was designed to coach men and Boys and change their Mindsets which was mentioned clearly by 80% of Girls during talk shows and chit chat The Campaign was about Coaching Adolscent Boys & Men to build a Respectful Culture in the society, as the analysis stated the old tradition and male dominated society has build a pshycology that Boys are Superior, They have the Right to Exploit, They have Right to Education But Girls Not, They can do what ever they wish but Girls don’t even have the Right to Express and so on.. the action was taken and was launched on 1st April 2015 calling upon NGOs, Corporates, Government, Community People, Clubs etc to Join us to Promote Gender Equality & Empowerment through Campaign RESPECT SHE on Social Media which will be further driven followed up with TalkSHows, RoadSHows,Educational Workshops,Seminars, Livelihood Program by Mens to Women to Bring in Inclusivity etc. Our Whole Aim is to build a Safe Place to Live in with full Dignity and our Journey is On. No Challenges & Barrier have stopped our way no could Do. As We belive a Small Step Makes a Big Difference and we Have taken ours, This is not my Journey, It is our Journey and We all should join in for it.

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