5) Description of initiative: SAHER works within the value premise of Acceptance of Differences, Equal Rights for All and Social Peace. It believes that peaceful coexistence is of paramount importance if any development initiative and effort has to succeed. SAHER’s primary goal is to adopt a holistic approach towards addressing the root causes of communal hatred and to ensure that the youth recognize their rights and self-worth in bringing about effective social action. It is important to cultivate an attitude of enterprise among the youth so that they realize their mutual relationship with the societal environment and are also in a position to make society sit up and notice them for their positive contributions. SAHER tries to identify common needs cutting across religious communities and works on them to build civic and political awareness. The idea is to ensure public participation in political processes so that vote bank politics can be exposed for the divisiveness that it brings along with it. Our activities have involved:

Generation of social awareness on education and drug addiction through the creative medium of street plays and stage dramas.

Working extensively with the Municipal Ward Office, the local Corporator and the MLA of the area on civic issues. BBC has given coverage to the community’s struggle for civic rights in one of their series.

Worked with students of Social Communications and Media from Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai on developing a documentary on Effects of Communalism on Children Provided assistance to YUVA in identification of communities for its documentary on Urban Water Management and Delivery Systems: A Project funded by Ford Foundation.

Organized an Interschool Sports Meet to bring together children from various communities as well as creating a platform for various youth groups in the locality to come together aiming at nurturing collaborative attitude.

Continuously organizing Police-Public Interactions for establishing better relationships between the people and the State machineries. Conducted a survey for Indian Merchants’ Chamber on the experiences of the public when interacting with the police, the findings of which will be incorporated to improve the functioning of the two ‘model police stations’ located in V.P Road and Worli, Mumbai.

Conducted an extensive survey on the education and health status of women along with NSS unit of SNDT Women’s University which involved a sample size of around 2000 households in the locality.

Organised relief material for the residents of Jogeshwari (East) and Kandivali (East) post the July 2005 floods in Mumbai. Adopted four schools in the area and provided educational materials to the children who had lost much in the floods. Collaborated with International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) for conducting workshops to explore the sentiments of various religious groups which have been co- residing in Jogeshwari for many years against the backdrop of communal violence.

Organized a Public Meeting in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences for disseminating information on the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme. Around 1000 people from the community attended it.

SAHER has started a Community Facilitation Centre that acts as a space for interaction among young girls and boys from across communities. It also houses a library to expose young people to different perspectives through reading. We envision transforming it into an Information Resource Centre accessible to all.

6) Description of innovation: SAHER was started by a group of very young people from the community and they belonged to both Hindu and Muslim communities. SAHER has always believed that the road to peace is sprinkled with various barriers and hence the best way to address the problem is to adopt a holistic, multi-stakeholder approach. The implication is that SAHER works at various levels:

It works with the youth from various communities since it is the youth of any community that is most vulnerable to social ills. The problem we are addressing is one of lack of confidence among the youth to dream and aspire in life. They are left in ignorance about their minds and socio- economic resources and knowledge of these could enhance their potentials in making themselves socially aware and economically independent. The problem stems from the environment in which these young people have grown up. There lives were thrown into a tizzy after the Mumbai riots of 1993. Most of them – who were teenagers or children, then–were subjected to state torture by virtue of being Muslims. They are inflicted with insecurity, a low morale, lack of job opportunities and standard educational facilities. The problem gets further aggravated with lack of proper information and political moves to use this ignorant population as a potential vote bank that could be shut up by granting petty privileges.

SAHER works with the overall community on issues concerning them. Most of the time the focus is on civic problems since it has been seen that access to basic services has been used and abused by powerful people to divide communities along religious/ethnic identities. Here SAHER feels the need to change a challenge into an opportunity. SAHER tries to emphasise the fact that if people unite together to form a pressure group through which access to services and control over resources could be ensured, divisive politics could be curbed.

At another level, SAHER works with systems of governance to ensure distributive justice and a fair delivery mechanism so that people from different communities do not feel frustrated and are not discriminated against when it comes to access to resources and opportunities.

7) Delivery model: SAHER believes in community involvement and any initiative undertaken by it is guided by the principle of peoples’ participation. The primary emphasis is on making relevant information available to people. We believe that information can be spread through proper education (not just formalized school-based literacy) that covers value orientation as well as proper use of information. We reach our target population through creative media like street/stage plays, film screenings, sports meet, workshops, public meetings, door-to-door interaction with individual families and discussion forums. At the same time, there is a continuous effort to involve the youth from the community in spearheading initiatives facilitated by SAHER.

We also lay emphasis on the interface between people and systems of governance. To achieve this, we organize meets where academic experts, activists and government officials interact with people to provide information and perspectives on various socio-political issues, urban policy decisions and so on. The idea is to expose people to a variety of views and then assist them in making an informed choice or even think perceptively about issues concerning them. SAHER believes that a well-developed thought process will eventually lead to the realization that mutual interdependence among communities is the key to a peaceful society.

8) Key operational partnerships: SAHER has continuously drawn from the rich reserve of experiences of people who have assisted its journey over the years. One of the key partnerships for SAHER has been close collaboration with local youth groups and community based organizations working in Jogeshwari (SAHER’s operational area in Mumbai). Apart from this, we work closely with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and the institute has been a constant source of encouragement and information for us. The Mohalla Committee Movement Trust, Mumbai has always inspired us to stand up for the right cause fearlessly. Our associations with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public and Pravah, Delhi have strengthened our resolve in working towards a society free from discriminations and prejudices. They have also provided valuable inputs in terms of developing the spirit of entrepreneurship effectively in keeping with one’s value framework and convictions. SAHER has worked with the Rotary Club of Bombay in developing its initial infrastructure.

Apart from this, we work in close collaboration with the police machinery, the civic bodies in Mumbai like the Municipal Corporation, the local elected representatives and academic experts and activists. All these sources have assisted us in collating and using information for the benefit of our target groups. Such collaborations have also taught us that every individual, organization and institution has a specific contribution to make in encouraging social action. Besides, our greatest strength lies in building relationships with individuals who share our vision and values and inspire us to take people along in building a society of our dreams. Some of our key partners have been friends we have gathered in the course of working with different communities.

9) Financial model: The services offered by SAHER can be divided into three categories to explain their accessibility for the target population: Strengthening the synergies among communities through interaction between youth and building their awareness about social, political and Constitutional Rights. This involves information dissemination and encouraging collaborative efforts among local youth groups. The beneficiaries do not incur any cost for accessing these services. Building capacities among the youth to instill confidence in them and make them more aware about their potentials and their ability to contribute to the larger good of the society. This entails computer training classes, English classes and a fabric-painting course held at the Community Facilitation Centre (CFC). All these are offered at highly subsidized rates and the fees are used to pay the salaries of the teachers. Interestingly, all the course teachers are young people from the community who take a nominal salary in lieu of the services they render. The idea is to promote self-worth among them and also encourage a feeling that the CFC is a community resource accessible to all. SAHER has always devised ways to make its services accessible to all members of the community. Currently, it is striving to conceptualise a Labour Bank to address the socio-economic needs of the youth in the community. It would house a database of the skill sets of youth from the community, especially those who might not have undergone any professional training. The services rendered by them would then cater to a local customer base. The idea is to harbour reciprocity between local consumers and service providers. A percentage of the income of the service providers will be kept aside by SAHER to maintain the infrastructural and other establishment costs.

          • Costs as percentage of income: 5%

          • Financing: SAHER started with voluntary contributions from all its members. For about 5 years after it was started, it was just the contribution of the members that took care of the basic funding for activities. It was around 2002 that we started thinking about raising funds for our activities. The first of such activities was an Interschool Sports Meet held in 2004 financially supported by the Mohalla Committee Movement Trust. In 2005, SAHER organized relief material for around 200 families hit by the Mumbai floods. Rupees one lakh sixty thousand was raised for this by a group of women. In February 2006, SAHER received a start up support of Rupees fifty thousand from the Rotary Club of Bombay for setting up the Community Facilitation Centre and run courses in it. Most of the money was spent in paying the rent for the space and getting furniture etc. made. Much of the funding has come in as individual donations from friends and well-wishers. People have donated computers, furnitures, books, security deposit for the space and other such donations. The Changelooms Award received by SAHER in 2006 has also contributed to some amount of financial support. SAHER looks forward to develop a sustainable model in future and some of the plans are as follows: Begin a Cyber café within the Community Facilitation Centre in the evenings for revenue generation to cover the space rent. Develop a corpus through donations and invest it so that the interest could be used to maintain salaries of employees. Generate revenue through the Labour Bank. Encourage production of marketable products that could bring in income to the producers as well as SAHER.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: SAHER has been successful in running its activities with complete participation from the youth of the community in which it has been working. In fact it is the youth (both men and women) from the community that is engaged in running the Community Facilitation Centre as well as conducting various courses. We has been able to tap the inherent strength and resilience of the community by bringing together youth groups from across communities and nurturing collaborations among them in working together on social peace. SAHER has succeeded in underlining the fact that it is of utmost importance to recognize the contribution of the youth in promoting social peace. As an outcome of this, bodies like Mohalla Committee Movement Trust have stepped up their efforts in encouraging the youth to initiate processes of working with communities and the police machinery. In recognition of its work with the youth on Social Peace, SAHER has been awarded the Changelooms Award 2006 instituted by Ashoka Foundation and Pravah, Delhi. The direct operational area of SAHER involves an approximate population of around 20, 000 people. The Street plays and workshops conducted directly reach out to around 200 people each time. Besides, daily contacts with individual families and friends involve approximately 50 people each day. During the Mumbai Floods in 2005, SAHER organized relief material worth Rupees one lakh and sixty thousand for 200 families residing in an area that is beyond our operational area. Relief work here was fraught with communal tensions with organizations resorting to partisanships. SAHER intervened at this juncture and worked effectively in making relief available across communities to drive home the point that natural calamities are great levelers and they spare none. In Jogeshwari as well as Kandivli, SAHER distributed notebooks, bags and other material among 200 children, all of whom had lost their belongings in the floods.

          • Number of clients in past year: Over the last year, SAHER has been successful in providing life-skills training to around 50 young boys and girls through the courses it has been running at the CFC. SAHER team members have also conducted sessions on self- knowledge and motivation with the same group of people. Sessions on meaning and implications of peace and freedom have been conducted with this group to broaden their perspectives on socio-political issues. Apart from this, SAHER has also spread extensive awareness on the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (SRS) and Housing policy in Mumbai. Around 1000 people from the community attended a public meeting on (SRS) organized by SAHER in February 2006. Further, this has also spread awareness among other people in the community and one of the current activities is to engage in working group discussions with small groups of people regarding the SRS. A survey format has been designed and Tata Institute of Social Sciences has agreed to collaborate with SAHER in this endeavour.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: In the light of the ongoing work and the positive response of the community towards our work, SAHER wishes to undertake an integrated Youth Development Programme named Parwaaz. So far, SAHER has been responding to the spontaneous needs of the community on a day-to-day basis. However, it was felt that sustained change could be brought about only by harnessing all the possible forces that bring together the energies and potential of the youth from the community. In the course of SAHER’s journey, the need arose to look beyond its operational locality and partner with other like minded organizations that could provide their expertise and guidance in steering SAHER towards effectively implementing some of the ideas. Following is an outline of the expansion plan over the next three years: Strengthen the Community Facilitation Centre and focus on revenue generation to make it self-sustainable.

Make the awareness programmes more regular and on a sustained basis for greater impact.

Conduct a feasibility study and establish the Labour Bank to address the issue of unemployment in the community.

Organise a Peace Mela as an annual event that would provide an informal space to different communities to interact over cuisines, handicrafts, business relations etc. The number of people from various communities it attracts would also act as an indicator to determine the impact of the continuous efforts of SAHER to foster social peace through its other programmes. At the end of three years, SAHER wishes to replicate this model in a different location to be able to determine the effectiveness of its programmes and thus further expand its values and vision.

12) Origin of the initiative: Around 1997, still reeling from the effects of the 1993 Mumbai riots, Masood Akhtar, a Muslim youth from Jogeshwari, decided to do something to foster peaceful relations among communities. He felt miserable to see the increasing number of young people resorting to drugs and other criminal activities owing to a lack of direction in life. With no resources at hand except for the zeal to do something, he set out to buy a cricket kit for a group of young boys–mostly school drop outs– he had gathered around himself. The idea was to channelise the energies of these boys in a positive direction and what could be better than cricket, a sport close to everyone’s heart. Navjavan Ekta Committee (NEC) was formed thus – a local youth group with both Hindu and Muslim members. Gradually he started writing plays and directing them with the same set of people acting in these plays; by then the single female member – another Hindu– of the group had also joined in. NEC responded to the needs of the community as and when required. Then, in 2002, stepped in another female social work student (Rama) from TISS. She teamed up with Masood Akhtar in conceiving SAHER around 2003 to broaden NEC’s area of work. It was time for the group to be recognized for their work in the community and gradually steer the organization towards a more integrated effort at community development. Gradually, other people– young people from the community and young graduates from TISS joined their efforts in shaping up the dream of SAHER. Currently, SAHER has a very interesting team: there are young professionals who take care of resource mobilization and expansion of SAHER’s work through building partnerships; Masood Akhtar on the other hand still takes care of various activities at the community level with the help of the other group members. He is the brain behind the conceptualization of programmes that SAHER engages in from time to time and he is the one who keeps the entire team together by organizing various events.

Contact Information:
Rama  Shyam
Member
SAHER
(Community Based Organisation)
G- Block, Prem Nagar, Jogeshwari (East), Mumbai-400060
India
Tel: 91-9323508133/ 91-9323202572
Email: saher.org@gmail.com