My first blog is about SANCHAR. I have had very limited experience with disabled peoples in London and elsewhere. This trip exposed me to the harsh realities of the situation for DP in India and I will take away some of the insights back to London with me as well.
So here’s the brief!
Sanchar is an organisation that works in rural areas with disabled people, helping them by providing them with access with mobility and more importantly, by building their capacity so they can live happy and fulfilling lives.
Their activites are split into two: on the field but also with advocacy, aiming not just to change the individual but society’s view of the disabled as well.
Some stats to throw out there, after 18 there is no more support from the government for disabled peoples. 75% of DP are in rural areas, and 99% of disability services are in the city.
People with disabilities can do many of the things others can do, but there is an notion from the public that they can’t. That is why SANCHAR gives loans to groups of their members with seed funding coming from a Dutch NGO. Each loan group is given 15000 rupees, and consists of 10 people. They make handicrafts like purses, necklaces, candles and bags.
Also of note is that Tulika, the founder and director is an Ashoka fellow.
One of the most interesting things I found was how they operate. Firstly, since they are a well respected organisation, they provide consultation and training to other programs in other states and charge for them, giving them a revenue stream. The most AWESOME thing (Andrea, I know how much you love AWESOME) is that they will only receive donor money if they believe that the money comes with acceptable terms. For example, DFID contacted SANCHAR and asked if they wanted funding. So Tulika (the founder) said yes, that’s good, but if the terms are acceptable and agreeable to our standards. we don’t want to function by ticking lists that were made in Westminster somewhere!
The result? DFID was there with two field workers designing a new set of guidelines in which the funding will work under! Don’t mess with SANCHAR baby! How successful are they? Well, 50 organisations are replicating their model in India!
When asked how do you know you are succeeding? What’s the M and E in all this… there was all the usual stuff, but quite simply, the people were happy, big smiles and confidence and pride in their work. That’s what is important… let’s see Lee develop a survey based on smiles per participant!
Going off on a tangent, in India, the government is legislated to employed DP, but not in private offices. TATA apparently is good with it, but not too many other companies. Also, many people in public services do not know the legislation so that causes difficulties.
SANCHAR’s work is inspiring. It is a hard operation to maintain, especially with little government support as well as tough conditions in the rural area. Let’s hope their model can be replicated on a wider scale!
Some personal thoughts:
It is great to see that some of the people are starting their own companies making handicrafts for the local and export markets. While this does empower them to a degree, I think that there needs to be more done, more choices for employment. Easier said than done. Perhaps call centres operators is an idea?
While for some of us visiting, the treatment by others of DP might seem unjust, there is hope for the future. For example, in Britain, the same kind of views were prevalent probably 40 years ago if not less, and if my history serves me correctly, about 80-90 years ago, the government in the US were sterilising DP! So hopefully in 30-40 years all this will be a memory?
Let’s Hope!
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