Community Ownership and Development - Towards Sustainable Livelihoods!

Manori CSA with the help of CCO staff had a concept clarity session on Bal Sansad at Uttan, Dongri, Pali, Manori, Chowk and Gorai to form new batches for the current academic year 2018-19. These sessions took place from the 6 th  to the 13 th  of June 2018 and 12 - 40 children from various zones participated. Through different games and group activities they discussed the basics of the concept and the expected duties and responsibilities. The resource person interacted with the children and explained that by joining a Bal Sansad they would have opportunities to participate in various activities and through that develop their personality, improve communication skills, respect the view of others, build a sense of responsibility, enhance their general knowledge, etc. Further, the children were asked to suggest the activities that they wanted to be included in the sessions. The children responded they were content with the ongoing activities like awareness on environmen...

CSA’s networking partner Savdhan Social Centre organised a session on basic cooking for domestic workers on 14 th June 2018 at Manori. The session focused on preparing nutritious, delicious and time saving meal. The resource person Mr. Anirudha Vaidya is a highly experienced chef at a private hotel. He taught two recipes namely moong salad and white sauce in a very simple way and showed the preparing techniques and ingredients required. The ten domestic workers who attended the sessions were excited to learn new recipes from a chef himself and the method of serving food to guests.

On 2 nd April 2018, at Manthanpada in Manori, 9 youth attended the session on career guidance. The session was started interacting with the youths. They were asked what did they dream of becoming in their life? Many responded that they wanted to be nurses, some even said teachers and so on. Mr. Dayanand, CSA staff and resource person then gave brief information on various courses like teaching, nursing, fine arts, banking courses, account courses etc. which could be taken up after completing Std 10 th and 12 th . This brought a sigh of relief to the troubled and confused youth.   He also guided them with the criteria for the courses and shared the salary range they can expect. The session helped them rethink their career choices and expressed their need for further guidance from the CSA & CCO staffs. Std. 10 th is the foundation of every youth to make a wise choice for a better tomorrow.

  As an input session on skill enhancement program, CSA organised a Home Nursing session for the domestic workers at Manori with its networking partner Savdhan Samaj Kendra. On 8 th February 2018, a team of 15 nurses from Hinduja Hospital visited the centre at Manori. Ms. Seema, field supervisor at Hinduja nursing interacted with the nine participants present. The nurses from general ward gave a First Aid demo on home nursing, ways to take care of sick patients at home, care for elderly, babies & young children. The Nurses explained simple tips like bandage & body massage techniques, taking medicines as prescribed by doctors, taking care of sick patients while shifting them on bed, checking the expiry before purchasing any medicines, the right method to put ear & eye drops, which can be easily practised  at home or on work place. It is our responsibility to educate and train grassroots ensuring that this knowledge helps in giving them basic health awarene...

After the interaction session on communal harmony the Bal Sansad children’s group decided to present a skit to the children of other faith on 27 th January 2018 at Manthanpada. These were the tribal children from the English Literacy Class.The objective was to spread the message of communal harmony amongst the villagers. The ideas on the topic were given and through guidance the children took the initiative and prepared a street play. With the prior permission of Manthanpada’s English Literacy Class, Balsansad visited the Bastis. They welcomed the thirty children gathered, and after a brief introduction on the topic the skit began. The children created awareness on harmony with one another through this skit. The play also gave the children from the village an opportunity to come as a group and witness the activity and performance of Bal Sansad. Children have become aware on respecting people from backgrounds of all faith and live in harmony.

Twenty youth and seven subcommittee members gathered together on 3 rd January 2018 as a follow up to take an action on the issue of uncleanliness and water at Manthanpada, Manori. The main objective of the meeting was to plan and strategize the rally based on the issue. The youth took the responsibility of preparing creative posters and banners, for the rally along with slogans of awareness. They promised to also take part in the rally to raise their voices against the issues. The rally is set to take place on the 7 th January 2018.

On 30 th November 2017 Savdhan Samaj Kendra at Manori organized a skill enhancement session on Gardening for eight domestic working women. The resource person for the session was Mr. Arvind Yadav & Mr. Ramesh Thage who are mentors in the BMC gardening department. The women were taught different ways to nurture a plant and the method for plantation. A brief information about the MCGM’s Garden and Trees department was given and they were also informed about the low-priced flower seeds and medicinal plants that are sold there. They were invited for the demonstration held at the gardening dept to see the work they do, the different types of plants and the procedure to maintain them. They were ready to teach them all of these. They learnt that all plants require a lot of care and hard work. The next plan of action of the women at Manori is to visit the Gardening department at Malad, east, as a group and to be skilled in practical knowledge. 

On 29 th November 2017 Savdhan Samaj Kendra, Manori organized the first interactive meeting with Farmers at St. Padri Pio zone, Manori with a total of seven participants. Ms. Snehal CCO staff gave a brief introduction of the CCO. She specified the objectives that is to provide information on farming and the importance on the formation of groups to address issues. During the meeting, she inquired on the types of crops, the season in which they are cultivated and the difficulties they face. The Farmers replied that it is only during the monsoon they would cultivate rice & vegetables and the rest of the season they are stuck to selling ‘Thadgole’ (A kind of fruit). Mr. Dayanand, CSA staff gave adequate information on crops which could be cultivated with less water usage since the farmers were dependant on the rainy season. There are some institutes that teach farming techniques, effective methods etc. like Krushi vidhyan Kendra (KVK), Dahanu where farmers can get more infor...

  A three-day Diwali camp was held at Manori Church Hall for 50 Balsansad children with sessions on Child Rights, Leadership Qualities and significance of the Preamble to the Constitution from 23rd October 2017 to 25th October 2017 under the guidance of CSA. The session began with a short prayer led by Sr.Nisha(CCO) thereafter welcoming the participants. A documentary of the National Award Winning short film on Child Sexual Abuse ‘KOMAL’ and  ‘Khushi’ based on Child Safety was shown. Based on the movie a question and answer session was held in terms of what did the kid understand and how awareness should be created for other children. Through this session, the children learnt the different aspects of Right to Protection, memorized helpline numbers and to whom should first-hand information be provided. The next day Ms. Suvarna (CCO) gave an introduction on Leadership and explained qualities of leaders, and teamwork. Games were conducted an...

Savdhan Samaj Kendra, Manori organized a Session on “Health and  Hygiene” for Women Domestic Workers on the 28 th Sept, 2017. The training began at 1.30 pm with Ms . Suvarna Bhandari,(CCO) who introduced & welcomed Ms. Tejaswini Lanjekar, a social worker and speaker for the afternoon. The resource person spoke to the 14 active domestic workers on various diseases pertaining to women which are commonly found in between the age group of 40-45. She also explained the causes & precautions to be taken for the following diseases such as: Diabetes Tuberculosis,   Allergy, Thyroid, Scabies Many women were able to seek help by posing multiple questions related to their health and sought answers to the same. Ms. Tejaswini also suggested some simple yet effective measures to maintain a good health, for instance, minimalizing three daily used foods ingredients like Sugar, Salt, and Oil. Another key point made in this session was to exercise daily in order to stay ...

On the 7 th September 2017 Savdhan Samaj Kendra, Manori organized the Financial Literacy training for Domestic Worker group. Total 11 domestic workers participated. Ms Suvarna Bandya welcomed to all. Then after Ms Snehal Patil -CCO staff led the group discussion on following topics:     What is Saving?     Importance of saving    How they spend their money in daily activities/ monthly expenses. After the group discussion, Ms Rasika Bhandari –CSA staff explained identifying the difference between the needs, wants, vices (Bad habit). She also explained the 4 types of account, required documents while opening account in a bank, how to filled the cheque & deposit slip. Some precaution have suggested to domestic worker while dealing with bank.    Do not share personal banking related details such as account number, password etc. with unknown.       Always give priority to save money in nationalized bank,...