What a great program! By looking at your website it looks like your organization has a pretty detailed program. It is great that you partner the sport of dance with counseling and raising awareness for HIV/AIDS.
What are some of the daily challenges that your organization face, how would you use the grant money to fix these challenges?
Thanks for your submission and great community work!
Courtney
Nike
Thank you for your questions and your interest in our programme. I am listing the challanges we face -
1. In the past two years there has been an increased interest in our programme. As a result we would like to train more Dance Movement Therapy trainers from survivors of trafficking and violence, for which we need more grants. If we do receive the award we would use part of the money for our Training of the Trainer programme which is our one-year programme formulated to train prospective trainers.
2. Another challenge we are still facing is lack of space. Owing to increase in number of new trainers, we face problems in accommodating them. They face difficulty in practicing for their sessions, performances and trainings. We have to rent separate spaces even for conducting small workshops/training programs. If we are awarded a grant we would also use it to rent a larger permanent office space that would take care of all our needs.
3. Another major challenge is that after being employed as DMT trainers most of the survivors opined that they wanted to stay away from the shelter home set-up or their own homes in red-light areas (which are not quite safe).
Under these circumstances, as Kolkata Sanved has no funds for renting or providing them with accommodation, finding a safe shelter for them has become a major concern. Hence the practice of community living has been taken up as a possible option. On giving our best efforts, Kolkata Sanved has temporarily managed accommodation for only 4 trainers (female), while more are waiting in the queue. We need money to resolve this concern.
I would like to congratulate your work and invite you to join the Women Win group.
Women Win is the first ever international women’s fund that supports sport and physical activities as instruments for social change and women’s empowerment.
Women Win will use the competition to find a fellow between the ages of 15 and 65 years old that positively change the lives of women and girls in their community through sports.
Hello Sohini, It is great to see your entry in the competition! Could you please share with us a story or two of the women that you work with and the way that Kolkata Sanved has transformed their lives? Thank you! Best, Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
“Inspite of having immense pressure of household work, I dislike missing any opportunity to attend this class”, opined one 12 years old participant of a DMT session at Apne Aap centre in Khidderpore red-light area.
MONIKA (name changed) is a 15 year old victim of trafficking staying at the All Bengal Women’s Union Shelter Home for the past 5 years. When we started our Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) class, we found that she was doing nothing in the shelter home and suffered from depression, often sitting alone and disturbing other girls in the home.
We took her in our DMT class. Initially she only disturbed the other participants, but gradually through the process she started to progress. It took two months to bring her into the process. The problems were as follows: no concentration and coordination, negative feelings, low self esteem, trauma, anger, violent behavior (self destructive). She started to come regularly to our classes. The first indicator was that she came to class on time and took the responsibility to call others for this class.
Finally she was very keen on joining TOT (our Training of the Trainers programme). Since last December she has been joining our TOT classes and also other regular classes for training. A girl who was suffering from depression and feeling as if she had no purpose in life is now dreaming to become a DMT trainer and to use this future career option to bring changes in other people's lives.
Kolkata Sanved uses Dance Movement Therapy as an alternative approach to counselling. i am answering your question through a case study below-
In one of our sessions in a partner organization, a vulnerable as well as physically challenged participant Munni (name changed) felt very much isolated from the others due to her inability to perform all the activities with her peers in the center and in community. Initially she refused to participate but only observed the class. However when our DMT therapist introduced new DMT techniques according to her need, like functional techniques and ritual based movements learnt during their regular classes & TOT workshops, remarkable change was noticed in the client. These techniques emphasized on doing movements initiated by the client and this gave the client a feeling of being elated and being a part of the group. Munni expressed much eagerness now to participate in the activities and wanted her therapist to give her more activities to be done which helps in leading her day to day life. She started loving herself and felt happy that she was able to contribute in some way.
Congratulations on being selected a Gamechangers finalist and on your important work using dance therapy to empower women from vulnerable populations! You’ve received support from UNIFEM; Global Fund for Children; Global Fund for Women. Can you tell us more about your local consultancy fees for classes, workshops; fundraising performances and your plan for future financial sutainability? Are you looking for ways to generate income beyond the traditional grant making process?
Thank you very much for your comment.
We are a young organisation and we are dependent on grants. However we strongly belive in the need to generate financial independence.
Various organisation in city, coutry and other countries as well request our services for training in Dance Movement Therapy, Performances, workshops. We are also building relationships with mainstream schools where we incorporate our process. We receive remuneration for our service.
Comments
Hi Sohinidance,
What a great program! By looking at your website it looks like your organization has a pretty detailed program. It is great that you partner the sport of dance with counseling and raising awareness for HIV/AIDS.
What are some of the daily challenges that your organization face, how would you use the grant money to fix these challenges?
Thanks for your submission and great community work!
Courtney
Nike
Thank you for your questions and your interest in our programme. I am listing the challanges we face -
1. In the past two years there has been an increased interest in our programme. As a result we would like to train more Dance Movement Therapy trainers from survivors of trafficking and violence, for which we need more grants. If we do receive the award we would use part of the money for our Training of the Trainer programme which is our one-year programme formulated to train prospective trainers.
2. Another challenge we are still facing is lack of space. Owing to increase in number of new trainers, we face problems in accommodating them. They face difficulty in practicing for their sessions, performances and trainings. We have to rent separate spaces even for conducting small workshops/training programs. If we are awarded a grant we would also use it to rent a larger permanent office space that would take care of all our needs.
3. Another major challenge is that after being employed as DMT trainers most of the survivors opined that they wanted to stay away from the shelter home set-up or their own homes in red-light areas (which are not quite safe).
Under these circumstances, as Kolkata Sanved has no funds for renting or providing them with accommodation, finding a safe shelter for them has become a major concern. Hence the practice of community living has been taken up as a possible option. On giving our best efforts, Kolkata Sanved has temporarily managed accommodation for only 4 trainers (female), while more are waiting in the queue. We need money to resolve this concern.
Regards,
Sohini
Hi Sohini,
What a compelling program to engage and change lives thru dance! Keep up the great work and good luck in this competition!
Kathy
Nike
Thank you very much for your inspiring comments.
With Regards
Sohini
Hi Sohini,
There is another entry from Brasil that also uses the power of dance connected with the empowerment of black women and girls in the state of Goiania.
Here it is the entry. It is in Portuguese but you can contact the project leader. She writes in English.
http://sportforchange.changemakers.com/en-us/node/16066
I would like to congratulate your work and invite you to join the Women Win group.
Women Win is the first ever international women’s fund that supports sport and physical activities as instruments for social change and women’s empowerment.
Women Win will use the competition to find a fellow between the ages of 15 and 65 years old that positively change the lives of women and girls in their community through sports.
Please go to this link http://sportforchange.changemakers.com/en-us/group/womenwin and click in join the group. After becoming a member, leave your coments and participate in our topics debate by clicking in topics being discussed.
Good Luck!
Thank you very much for your information. I will visit the website and also will join the Women Wing group.
Regards
Sohini
Hello Sohini, It is great to see your entry in the competition! Could you please share with us a story or two of the women that you work with and the way that Kolkata Sanved has transformed their lives? Thank you! Best, Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
Thanks for showing your interest.
Here are the story of change:
“Inspite of having immense pressure of household work, I dislike missing any opportunity to attend this class”, opined one 12 years old participant of a DMT session at Apne Aap centre in Khidderpore red-light area.
MONIKA (name changed) is a 15 year old victim of trafficking staying at the All Bengal Women’s Union Shelter Home for the past 5 years. When we started our Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) class, we found that she was doing nothing in the shelter home and suffered from depression, often sitting alone and disturbing other girls in the home.
We took her in our DMT class. Initially she only disturbed the other participants, but gradually through the process she started to progress. It took two months to bring her into the process. The problems were as follows: no concentration and coordination, negative feelings, low self esteem, trauma, anger, violent behavior (self destructive). She started to come regularly to our classes. The first indicator was that she came to class on time and took the responsibility to call others for this class.
Finally she was very keen on joining TOT (our Training of the Trainers programme). Since last December she has been joining our TOT classes and also other regular classes for training. A girl who was suffering from depression and feeling as if she had no purpose in life is now dreaming to become a DMT trainer and to use this future career option to bring changes in other people's lives.
With regards
Sohini
Hi Sohini-
I was really moved after reading your initiative! Can you provide examples of how you specifically use DMT to help counsel those in need?
All the best,
Hoda
Thanks for your interest in our programme.
Kolkata Sanved uses Dance Movement Therapy as an alternative approach to counselling. i am answering your question through a case study below-
In one of our sessions in a partner organization, a vulnerable as well as physically challenged participant Munni (name changed) felt very much isolated from the others due to her inability to perform all the activities with her peers in the center and in community. Initially she refused to participate but only observed the class. However when our DMT therapist introduced new DMT techniques according to her need, like functional techniques and ritual based movements learnt during their regular classes & TOT workshops, remarkable change was noticed in the client. These techniques emphasized on doing movements initiated by the client and this gave the client a feeling of being elated and being a part of the group. Munni expressed much eagerness now to participate in the activities and wanted her therapist to give her more activities to be done which helps in leading her day to day life. She started loving herself and felt happy that she was able to contribute in some way.
With Regards
Sohini
Hi Sohini,
Congratulations on being selected a Gamechangers finalist and on your important work using dance therapy to empower women from vulnerable populations! You’ve received support from UNIFEM; Global Fund for Children; Global Fund for Women. Can you tell us more about your local consultancy fees for classes, workshops; fundraising performances and your plan for future financial sutainability? Are you looking for ways to generate income beyond the traditional grant making process?
Thanks and good luck,
The Gamechangers Judges’ Panel
Thank you very much for your comment.
We are a young organisation and we are dependent on grants. However we strongly belive in the need to generate financial independence.
Various organisation in city, coutry and other countries as well request our services for training in Dance Movement Therapy, Performances, workshops. We are also building relationships with mainstream schools where we incorporate our process. We receive remuneration for our service.
With Regards
Sohini Chakraborty
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