Holistic Health and Wellbeing Program for abandoned women & LGBT communities

Violence against women is an issue prevalent throughout the world cutting across countries and cultures. It takes place in many forms resulting in physical, sexual and psychological harm in public or private spaces, having an impact on women, children and individuals irrespective of their socio-economic status. In a country as vast and diverse as India, patriarchy is as deep seated as inequalities based on caste, class, religion, race, occupation and place of birth. In such a society, women may be rendered homeless due to diverse factors including, but not limited to, a desire to improve their circumstances and lead a life of their own choice, to escape violence, poverty, dysfunctional families, discrimination faced by them or the group they belong to. Women also suffer more from forced evictions and homelessness as both situations subject them to greater violence as well as violation of personal dignity and health (Choudhary, Joseph & Singh, 2014). Homeless women in the age group of 18-30 years are not only the most prone to gender based and sexual violence but are also unable to access primary and public health services because of the discrimination and stigma encountered in the society and systems. Due to lack of civil and legal documents, many of them are excluded from accessing healthcare, legal, social services and also are often denied treatment. The project aims to ensure homeless young women’s and trans youth’s rightful access to safe, empowering spaces and holistic health services in the age group of 18-30 years. The envisaged outcome is that in 5 years, 400 homeless young women and trans persons are aware of their healthcare rights and able to lead a healthy life and access different healthcare services without any stigma.

In India, subjected to gender-based discrimination and violence since birth, women or trans persons face roadblocks in their holistic growth since birth. Rendered homeless due to the gender and caste-based violence within family, community, or society, homeless young women or trans persons have no resources, employable skills or support from government agencies or civil society, even though they are bonafide citizens of the country and have the same rights. This population is seldom counted as homeless and is not able to access any specialized services. Due to the lack of visibility for this population and trauma-informed support systems, rather than avoiding duplication, URJA focuses on leveraging the support systems by Government or other NGOs in order to strengthen their activities as well. To ensure sustainable development and self-reliance in the long run, URJA focuses on education of homeless young women and trans persons on their rights to access shelter, food, health, education, livelihood or civil rights. This includes accessing government resources which are more affordable and accessible. Along with this, URJA liaises with NGOs providing specialized support in the field of skills development, livelihoods, legal support, healthcare support to facilitate the holistic rehabilitation and development of homeless young women and trans persons. Considering the deep rooted causes and prevalence of gender based violence and homelessness, URJA’s goal is to form replicable modules of the projects which can be implemented at systems level in order to bring out the policy level changes to facilitate homeless young women and trans persons in their endeavour to reintegrate into society and live a life of dignity. To achieve this, URJA focuses on forming meaningful partnerships for sustainable impact and inclusion of this population at systems and community level.