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Astitva has emerged from a realisation that women’s economic status greatly determines their (and their children’s) opportunities and rights. Low incomes and poor economic control result in reduced decision making powers regarding health, education and money management. It also makes women and children more vulnerable to abuse and violence.
Astitva has a community approach and focuses its activities on the surrounding low-income area which includes two villages and three urban low income areas. Its work includes empowering women and youth through workshops, education, vocational skills trainings, job placements, assistance in starting businesses, rights advocacy and support services such as childcare and health services. The majority of women in the community work in the unorganised sector and are domestic workers, construction workers, helpers in schools etc. Typically, they work seven days a week without any scheduled days off and they are paid very low wages for hard manual work.
Astitva works with such low income women, mainly domestic workers in Dehradun with an aim to enable them to become self-sufficient and lead a better quality life. Astitva believes that women are not victims; they are survivors and the ones who ensure that the family’s basic needs are met, often without support from their spouses. Astitva strives to create a symbiotic relationship between women from varied socio-economic backgrounds.
Over the years, Astitva grew from being a small community based group to one that was affecting change at the district and state level. In its work to promote gender equality and violence against women, Astitva worked more intensively and constructively with a variety of stakeholders including government departments, courts, police, lawyers, media, youth groups and other civil society organizations and networks.
However, Astitva's community work and focus continued to be the main source of its strength. This focus helps in working with women in a more intensive and sustained manner, making the field interventions more effective. It also majorly contributes to the understanding of grassroots issues and therefore strengthens the advocacy work at the district and state level. For more details on Astitva's herstory, please click on https://www.facebook.com/astitvaforwomen/
In late 2019, Astitva was incorporated as a community programme of Kriti: a development praxis and communication team, and plans were getting in place for reviving the work in the community. Several of the former staff and volunteers as well as the founder of Astitva, Preeti Kirbat have been working together to make this possible.
With the onset of Covid19, in April 2020, the Kriti team decided to step into the community with relief for the women workers in the Astitva constituency. The Astitva field team of women from the community have started to run the relief in Dehradun even as we try and raise funds to support the effort. We are also enabling dignified livelihoods for some women who are running home-based food and snacks business. In order to strengthen farmers in the state and empower women who do the majority of agricultural work in Uttarakhand, we have also, since July 2020 started helping women farmers sell their organic farm produce through a sister enterprise here.
Connect and make a donation to make this commitment possible at one of the most trying times for the hardworking domestic workers who are in the community where Astitva works.