The Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) in association with the Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) here on Friday organised a media interface on sharing efforts, scheme inclusion and other issues taken up by the women community leaders for strengthening the community advocacy.
CFAR field coordinator Rojalin Patnaik delivered the welcome address and Prayas State coordinator Mamta Singh spoke about marginalised and disadvantaged women’s access to key social security schemes.
Menka Kinnar said community journalists, identified in different areas, would contact with newspaper journalists and discuss their problems of their respective locality.
Community advocate Ranjulata Nayak, citing an example, said hundreds of workers from different areas, who have been working as sweepers for last 10 years in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), are still deprived of getting permanent appointments. The facility of the Government like EPF/ESI is also not available.
When a woman worker doesn’t go for work for a problem then her salary is deducted. Similarly, if a woman takes a cup of tea at a stall, she gets many comments. To resolve these issues, a sweepers’ association will be formed, Nayak added.
Focusing on the urban development programme, Kuntala Pradhan, a resident of Mangala Sahi, said, “We knew about the programme but we didn’t get any benefit from the programme. After joining the ‘Prayas’ programme, about 15 families of our locality were included in the programmme and got loans,”.
Others women leaders also spoke on how they were deprived of Government welfare schemes and later got access with help of the CFAR.