Interactive session of team Samvedana with volunteers and resources persons
Samvedana Dialogue
An online meeting of team Samvedana and volunteers was organised on April 30 ,2021 .The meeting was organised by the Secretary of Samvedana, Lally Saini, who also anchored the session. In addition to Team Samvedana members, President Prajakta Avhad, Vice president Aruti Nayar and Executive members Ritu Pathak and Shivani Chhabra, there were others who attended the virtual meet to express their solidarity with the work Samvedana is doing.
In all 17 members attended the meeting. These were: Suman Sharma, Principal Star Public School, Chandigarh and five of her teachers. Dr Inderdeep State Program Officer Maternal and Child Development, Dr Anita Malhotra GMH Sec32,Kusum Ahir Supreme Court lawyer, Dr Asita Ray, Principal of a Government School Jalandhar ,Mr Buddhiraja from the Red Cross, Swati Choudhry an educational consultant and Tabassum Khan, a graphic designer.
After Lally’s welcome address, each of the participants introduced themselves and Prajakta recapped the journey of Samvedana after it was set up in October 2020. Each participant gave her reasons for being associated with Samvedana’s cause. In the six months despite the shadow of the pandemic, gender awareness workshops for students and teachers were conducted. Informative Health sessions for women were held in Village Kajheri.
Due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, Team Samvedana is planning on revamping strategies to meet the challenges arising out of this ‘new normal.’ Aruti mentioned plans to team up with educational institutions and other NGOs to organise online training sessions for different target groups be it senior citizens, youth or women facing domestic violence. Efforts to make videos to communicate in a simple manner about complex legal issues and doing counselling of domestic violence victims are afoot. In fact, it was suggested a panel of lawyers will facilitate legal aid/awareness. Lally asked all participants to give their suggestions for further activities and suggested how it was work at the grassroots that was needed to make a real difference and run a campaign.
It was a very stimulating session that evoked enthusiastic participation. Swati pitched for an increased digital presence on Instagram and Facebook to showcase Samvedana’s activities.