5) Description of initiative: We work in Mumbai’s slums and to empower the most marginalized in this huge city to fight for their rights. In a system that is corrupt and inefficient, it’s mostly the poorest who suffer the most. They have no access to even basic, hygienic living conditions and are always facing the worst human rights abuses – whether they are police brutalities or forced evictions.

Nirbhay Bano Andolan is a community education and watchdog movement to make the state more accountable to even its poorest citizens. We are empowering citizens with knowledge about their rights and encouraging them to fight for them, taking on the state machinery without fear of coercion, violence, and marginalization.

Our community activists live in Mumbai’s slums and respond to people’s issues immediately. We listen to their concerns at roadside meetings, investigate them further, document cases of human rights abuses, assess the situation, brainstorm about the solutions that could be explored and then collectively decide on the course of action whether it is a media campaign, a court case or a public protest. Our supporters comprise people like lawyers, retired judges, retired bureaucrats, journalists and we utilize their resources to access justice.

The idea is to document and highlight issues and empower more people by involving them in the movement and making them more aware of their rights as citizens. This makes them more confident and builds up a pressure group to voice the injustices against them.

6) Description of innovation: Our methods of working are extremely flexible. We respond to different situations depending on the needs of people.

Unlike other organisations, the NBA has no formal structure or procedures and tailors its activities in response to the needs of people and crisis situations. This makes it different from organisations that work to a set structure.

Rather than providing services, we give people the confidence and awareness to access services and demand their rights from a corrupt and ineffective state. Rather than working on one particular issue, we respond to several needs. It could be getting children school admission without paying a bribe or fighting police brutalities against local youth or demanding justice in communal riot cases or preventing a builder from grabbing land.

Once people are organised and aware of their rights, the state machinery, local politicians or local thugs seem less intimidating.

Our strategy is to empower the most marginalised to fight a system that constantly works against them in a more informed manner. Our people learn to handle crisis situations and overcome their fear of those in power. It unites people and develops leaders amongst them.

The NBA does not just fight the causes of people; it empowers ordinary people to fight on their own.

7) Delivery model: By empowering local activists in the poorest communities to bring up the issues that affect them the most. These community leaders respond to the needs of people and help them get justice. They hold meetings, protests, investigate the issue, file grievances, court cases and highlight the issue in the media.

Using our links with a wide network of social organizations like Human Rights Law Network, Awaaz-E-Niswaan, Amnesty International and YUVA, we try to connect local communities to these groups and utilize their expertise and resources (eg. lawyers or women’s activists) to fight for their cause.

Besides this, NBA also links up with other organisations fighting on similar causes (eg. slum dwellers rights) like the National Alliance for People’s Movements and YUVA.

Our approach is to respond to current issues as they happen. For example, if there is a communal riot, we go to the affected colonies and talk to people and police, try to diffuse tension and allay people’s fears, ensure that the police record complaints and make sure the complaints are acted upon and the guilty are punished. By highlighting, these issues in the media, we try to garner public opinion.

We try to give people courage and confidence to fight for justice. (Similar response to other issues like ration shortages, slum demolitions, state violence, caste atrocities etc).

8) Key operational partnerships: 1. Social and Human Rights organizations – that we ally with to take up issues - Human Rights Law Network, Awaaz-E-Niswaan, Amnesty International and YUVA.

2. Media – who help us highlight injustices or issues concerning the poorest. Newspaper and Television journalists who support our cause and help focus public attention on these issues.

3. Lawyers – who file cases on behalf of the most marginalized to ensure that they get justice. All the lawyers like Mihir Desai, Colin Gonsalves, Maharukh Adenwala, Vinod Shetty, Monica Sakhrani, P.A. Sebastian, Sharmila Kaushik, Anjali Iyer, Rahul Gupta volunteer their services. We do not pay them an honorarium.

4. Retired judges or bureaucrats – who give support, advice and credibility to the organization, and help us get in touch with state authorities and with advocacy.

5. Ashoka Trust (of which Shakil Ahmed, our activist, is a fellow) as well as other Ashoka Fellows like Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Lawyer), Haseena Khan (women’s activist), Milind Ranade (activist for unorganized labour), Jyoti Mhapsekar (women’s activist), Leena Joshi (founder of Apnalaya which is working in slum areas), Rajeev George (housing rights activist) who constantly provide support and advice.

9) Financial model: The NBA has no formal funding system. It has no large donors.

Most of the resources needed are pooled together by people affected within the community or from our supporters like lawyers, journalists, human rights groups, retired judges.

Since the NBA links people to human rights or social action groups working on specific issues like housing rights, education or food security, the funding to fight issues usually comes from these groups.

The organization has sustained over 13 years by merging various resources and we intend to continue in this manner.

The NBA staff are all volunteers. When there is need for any funds for a certain campaign, we partner with other NGOs who take care of the expenses or collect small contributions from the community.

          • Costs as percentage of income: nil

          • Financing: We are self-sustaining, and pool together resources from our various supporters as and when the need arises. This model sustained us for years, and we plan to continue it.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: Difficult to give numbers since our work involves advocacy, empowerment, fighting corruption and dealing with crises. Due to our sustained campaigns issues like corruption, housing rights, fights for justice in communal and caste atrocities cases, police abuse, these issues are constantly brought to the public eye. We have helped several slum communities access justice - who have been cheated by builders or whose houses have been torn down during violent demolitions by state authorities. (contd in the next part)...

          • Number of clients in past year: (contd)..The NBA and its affiliate, Parivartan Education Trust, filed a case against the Mumbai municipal corporation demanding a school in Sangam nagar, Antop Hill, Mumbai, where the nearest school was 45 minutes away. Several children used to drop out because it was too far. We won the case and a school was built and running by June 2006. Parivartan also runs a pre-primary and primary school, and classes for drop-outs to help them get back into school. The NBA has transformed several people in slums to be more informed and empowered and take on the role of activists and community leaders. These leaders have been able to help people bridge the differences between them (like religion or caste), recognize their common problems and unite to fight for their rights.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: An organization like NBA is constantly responding to people’s concerns and hence it keeps trying to get more people involved in the movement and empower more to seek their rights.

12) Origin of the initiative: The communal riots of 1992-93 were a shock to Mumbai city, which has been considered India’s most metropolitan city. For the first time, a city that never sleeps shut down for weeks. Communities that lived crammed together for decades in slums suddenly started fearing each other. There was a strong communal divide. Several people were disturbed at this sudden transformation. They formed a platform where people could work to dispel fear – the Nirbhay Bano Andolan. In every community, groups called ‘Committee Against Terror’ were formed to help people rise above communal prejudice to fight vested interests provoking violence and police atrocities during that time. The work grew to other issues that people confront like housing rights and education. Several young activists like Shakil Ahmed developed as leaders, further empowering the poorest to speak out.

Contact Information:
Shakil  Ahmed
Ashoka Fellow
Activist
Nirbhay Bano Andolan
(people's movement)
A126, Azad Mohalla, Shanti nagar, Wadala (E), Mumbai - 400037, India.
India
Tel: +91-22-20604029, +91-22-24167494
Email: shakilnba@gmail.com