Count Me: Unheard Voices of Homeless Young Women

"Unity is meaningless without the accompaniment of women"

I began working towards social change from when I was 18 years old and questioned the many injustices faced by women and individuals from lower classes and castes. Having observed the treatment towards women who are turned away from their families and communities, often due to or resulting in mental health issues, encouraged me to raise my voice against systemic injustice. This led to me co-founding Urja Trust, a Mumbai based grassroots organisation in 2012 to empower homeless young women from a rights-based intersectional approach exploring their issues from the lens of gender, caste, mental health and violence. Urja, meaning inner strength, truly aspires to embody the belief that the resilience and bravery of these women, who are albeit vulnerable to discriminatory social norms, hold a chance at moulding their own destiny.

Our work aims to create safe spaces for homeless young women and children in their journey towards accessing fundamental needs, reclaiming their identity and providing opportunities for their physical and mental wellbeing, education, livelihood and socio-legal needs. Our endeavor has led to more than 600 women accessing safe spaces, many of whom came into contact with us with the use of technology. Establishing an online presence on social media and in online networks has expanded our scope to women across the country who access services such as counseling, psychosocial first aid, emergency legal and medical interventions over the phone or Whatsapp. 

In a developing and richly populated country like India, the number of homeless people is officially estimated to be 1.77 million, an arguably under-counted number in itself. Keeping in mind the deeply entrenched patriarchy, it is further apparent that homeless women who are single, experiencing mental health issues and belonging to marginalised groups are almost entirely invisibilized and unaccounted for. One of our primary objectives is to design a mobile App where women who find themselves homeless, experiencing violence, mental health issues or belonging to marginalised castes can register themselves, access resources and connect with safe spaces such as ours and other partner organisations. I believe this will also contribute data to our ongoing research in highlighting the concerns of homeless women, their access to land ownership, government schemes and employment opportunities for an impact at the policy level.

Adopting the use of ICT in our organisation has further transformed our daily practices and activities. Transferring our casework data on the Cloud, enhancing our in-house education program with virtual teaching aids and incorporating the use of technology to design and conceptualise our interventions are one of the many ways Urja has embraced technology. 

This could not be more apparent at present, when our field work is miraculously continuing remotely only due to the use of technology! Owing to the measures undertaken for health safety against Covid-19 of our team as well as the women and children in our shelter premises, various services such as counseling, casework, group sessions are now being carried out virtually using video conferencing. 

This year, Urja has been chosen as an implementing partner with the Department of Women and Child Development for running a “One-Stop Crisis Center” where immediate medical and legal services for women and children facing gender-based violences will be provided all under one roof. A 2016 national report indicated that 30% of women reported facing some form of domestic violence in just one year, many still that go unreported. Almost 9 million women reside in Mumbai city, in a state with the third-highest rates of crimes against women in the country. With the use of technology, we aim to reach out to 20% of these women in our endeavour to at least provide a virtual safe and empowering space for them.

As someone who personally had little to no access to technology growing up, I have only recently begun feeling at ease with the tech world. This is a still far cry to many of our team members and the women that we work with. With varying levels of literacy as well as access to resources, one of the things we have in common is the enthusiasm to acquaint with the still daunting world of technology. 

Our proposed future work involves capacity building in digital literacy, developing the mobile App and exploring innovative practices using online platforms for advocacy, direct and indirect and interventions. For this, we need to secure partnerships with relevant stakeholders to facilitate the knowledge and hardware resources. We also need to network and coordinate with app developers and resource persons with advanced IT skills as we cannot recruit permanent staff for the same. 

Over the last 8 years, Urja has been a part of the journey of more than 700 homeless young women, in reclaiming their identity and transforming their lives. Along the way, several milestones have recognised our standing as an innovator, leader and changemaker in the social space, some of which I would like to share with you.

Urja Trust is chosen as the partner for implementing a governmental scheme “One Stop Centre” where women and child survivors of violence receive integrated health and legal services in Mumbai from 2020.

We got selected for the Yes Foundation’s “Yes! I am the Change Grant, 2018” out of 25,000 applicants.

Deepali Kamble, the co-founder, was awarded the 'Swayam Siddha Puraskar - 2018,' for her impact in the field of women's rights and creating inclusive spaces in society.

 Urja Trust was the only Indian representative at Leader Quest’s conference in UK 2017.

 Since 2017, Urja Trust is on the committee formed in Matunga Zone, under The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

We were amongst the top 20 semi-finalists in United Nation’s MasterCard Project Inspire in the year 2016.