Promoting the livelihood of persons with disabilities and of women in the Ganjam district: A journey towards sustainability
AAINA is a civil society organisation based in Odisha, India that promotes the rights of children, women and people with disabilities through community intervention and policy advocacy. Vivian from the GAATW International Secretariat interviewed Dillip Biswal, Director of Programs of AAINA, to better understand the organisation's work, history, and context of their current work.
Vivian: How and why was Aaina founded? In which year?
Dilip: Aaina was founded in 1998 by a group of professionals from the disability sector because at that time there was no organisation to provide direct services in the rural areas to persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Odisha in CBR model. We are working on CBR model-Community based Rehabilitation because PWDs get services easily at the door step by including their parents and community which is easily accessible with less investment.
We have been advocating for the rights of women especially from vulnerable groups because of the patriarchal society where women are not seen as rights holders. While some of the women are also earning money, they have no right to spend it on themselves and their children. With many of them migrating, there are lots of difficulties at the source as well as at the destination. Until now, the Indian government didn't have a database on migration. This changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when our government launched a website to register migrants, both men and women and those who are interested to come back to the source districts/ states. During the last two-three years, the government has had a database on how many women migrants are staying in the source state.
Since 1998, we have been using a community-based model to work with the local community, women's groups, and other organisations working with PWDs.
Vivian: You talked about some services that Aaina started offering to women and men with disabilities. What type of services did you start offering?
Dilip: Among persons with disabilities, there are also subcategories that are more vulnerable. If it's a woman with disabilities, there is negligence around the basic amenities and services available to them because of identification. Most services, equipment, and surgery are mainly availed by men in the PWD categories. This is due to the lack of information. Women with disabilities lack information. They are not part of groups. The organisations working with disabled people are basically dominated by men. To change this, we have a union of Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) where we address the issues of women with disabilities in the Ganjam district, Odisha.
Vivian: What are the main issues that you work on and which are the communities that your organisation supports?
Dilip: Basically, we are promoting the livelihood of persons with disabilities and the livelihood of women in the Ganjam district, which is a migration-prone area. Nearly half of the residents in the district are working in the garment industry in Gujarat. The migrants are mostly male workers. A few female workers migrate with the men either to help their husbands or to supplement their income by doing petty embroidery work or packaging. Whenever they face any difficulties in the process of migration or if they don't know their rights, they can reach out to SEWA, a women's collective group. During difficult times, they can also contact the head of the civil union in Gujarat, Chennai, or Mumbai.
Vivian: As you work with migrant workers and women workers, have you ever worked with trafficked women who have faced exploitation, for example, labour exploitation? Can the trafficked women be part of these women's collective?
Dilip: Yes, absolutely, we work with trafficked women in Bhanjanagar. There have been two-three incidents where women are trafficked to other places. We were informed by the SEWA union members. We intercepted the bus in Bhubaneswar (the capital of Orissa), rescued the women, and handed them over to the police. In these two-three cases, we coordinated with the police, the collector, and authorities at the Labor Department. The Labor Department rescued them from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and provided some financial support from a local organisation. At least six trafficked young women were also rescued and now they are doing some IGP activities in their respective villages. We are also doing sensitisation and awareness training for the community members to tackle this issue and accepting the trafficked young women because lots of stigma are also laying in the community if a woman is trafficked and rescued.
Vivian: What are the biggest challenges in the current context that organisations face? 
Dilip: One of the challenges is the registration of migrant workers. We have started at the Gram Panchayat level (village level), by initiating the Sarpanch (head of the village administration) and conducting different training programs for them. We convince them about how they are the first port of call for help when men and women are victimised at the destination states. The members of their families will first and foremost reach out to you for rescue or help. Therefore, the need for a migration database is urgent. Often, the families only have a name or a location of their work at the destination which is not enough to locate or support them. By having sufficient information they can convince the Block Development Officers, the District Collectors, and the Labor Department to support them. Out of five, this strategy has worked in three village panchayats (administration). However, with COVID-19, the process had slowed down. These three Gram Panchayats have created a database, but it is not yet complete because people need to come to their source places and then register from there.
Vivian: How do you incorporate the voices of these women and young girls in your daily work?
Dilip: We are working with adolescent girls on health-related issues. Many adolescent girls from districts of Orissa are in Chennai, and Mumbai where they are doing household work as domestic workers, and they're facing difficulties during menstruation. We hold discussions on this issue, and we try to address concerns, especially around stigma. We also see the importance of engaging with the parents and their role in convincing their daughters to participate in these discussions. The parents have their mindset and lots of taboos, so we work towards increasing their understanding of the biological changes that happen to a young woman’s body during menstruation, and how this happens in every woman's life.
To interact with parents, we take the help of the unions and women union members at the village level. During the discussion with adolescent girls, we also invite women for their support and knowledge.
Vivian: Thank you for this conversation. I don't have any more questions. But if there is anything that you would like to add, please do.
Dilip: In addition, we also extended financial assistance to trafficked women particularly those who have been rejected by their family members and sometimes even by the village members. This is mainly due to poverty and lack of sufficient job opportunities in source communities. To eliminate trafficking, village administration authorities have to address the lack of livelihood and the root cause of distressed migration.
GAATW supported us for more than seven years. There has been a drastic change in the migration of women. We are working with 950 women who are now organic farmers. Some of them migrated to Gujarat with their husbands, and 50% of them are also doing some piecemeal work like artisanal embroidery, stitching, and packaging for INR 3000- 4000. It is a piecemeal work. They have now moved back to their source districts in Orissa and are doing organic farming. They are earning higher than before. The objective of this initiative is to address distress migration.
We also refer them to many national and state government schemes. For example, there is one kitchen garden for which the government provides INR 11,000. The products can be sold or can be used for self-consumption. Similarly, there is a housing scheme, ‘my pond’ scheme for fishing wherein the government provides financial and technical support. The migrants had witnessed the change because they can now stay in source communities. They can also continue to focus on the education of their children. So now, 950 women are recognized as farmers and they have farmer I.D provided by the state government. Now they are receiving cash benefits and incentives from the government directly to their respective bank accounts.
Women are now holding identification cards as farmers. All the benefits associated with it are directly transferred to their accounts. This allows them to make decisions on how to use their money for purchasing lands, for the education of their children, and so on. They now have control over the resources. This is a good change and this is only possible with our association with GAATW. For example, we were not aware of ILO Convention 189, about international migration, and some national or state-level efforts. We were able to build the capacity of the staff at Aaina to have a better understanding of migration. The migrant women have seen the value in joining unions, and they have acknowledged the support provided to them in source and destination states.
The government also provides health cards that cover insurance for family members, for both men and women-BSKY cards (Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana- Rs-10 lakh for each women in the family and 5 Lakh for each men in the family in a year, There are both government and private empanelled hospitals in the state of Odisha) . It allows them to access healthcare in several hospitals without any money. Ensuring that women have access to healthcare cards has been a struggle for union members with the sarpanch (village head), and block-level officers. We are supporting this effort by the union members so more women can avail of the insurance benefits.
Vivian: Thank you very much for your words. I see you have a lot of interventions with the community, women, and children. It was a pleasure learning more about Aaina’s work. Thank you very much for sharing that with us. We look forward to working more with Aaina.