On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, Snehitha, the gender help desk of the Kudumbashree in Ernakulam, proposes increased focus on awareness campaigns about its various services at educational institutions and grassroots-level government offices.
Since its inception at Kunnumpuram near the district collectorate, Snehitha is being run round the clock by an 11-member all-women workforce, including two counsellors, five service providers, and a caretaker.
“The idea is to educate the targeted community, especially students, that they have a mechanism to fall back on in the event of a crisis rather than opting for extreme measures ignorant of that support system. Where the help sought is beyond us, we connect the persons concerned with the relevant agencies concerned,” said Shine T. Money, district programme manager, Gender, Kudumbashree.
Snehitha is also assisted by a network of 44 community counsellors covering 102 community development societies in the district. Ten counsellors were added recently, facilitating a better distribution of their services across the district with 30 of them covering two CDSs each and the rest three each. They offer support at the regional level under the Protection of Women from Violence Act and the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 ensuring that the elderly were either moved to old age homes or taken care of by the family.
Snehitha was initially launched as a temporary shelter service for women and children facing atrocities. But since then it had expanded its bouquet of services to facilitating livelihoods, gender justice interventions, training programmes, entrepreneurship, emergency medical aid, counselling and activities in educational institutions.
“It works on a convergence model by joining hands with various agencies, including police and other enforcement agencies, Social Justice department, and Women and Child Development department for maximising the reach of its services,” said Mr. Money.
A sub-centre of Snehitha also operates in Perumbavoor for ensuring easier access for people from the eastern parts of the district.
