COVID-19 relief work by grassroots women-leaders who also are our board members
August 3, 2021adminBlog, Featured NewsNo Comments
COVID-19 outbreak and MHT’s response

The coronavirus, SARS-COV-2 through COVID-19 has globally infected people and has affected the lives of every single human being in some way or the other. While the pandemic has affected all of us, it has devastated some of us. The stories that emerging from India on the plight of our informal workers & situations in slums are disturbing and distressing. For the vulnerable population, COVID-19 is not only a health crisis but also an economic, social and psychological crisis. The uncertainties of the virus along with the lockdown often left people wondering whether the virus or hunger would get them first.

While the people in the informal sector have been hit hard, women in particular have been pushed to the brink. Low wages and insecure jobs in volatile sectors are forced women to live closer to poverty and hunger. With children being out of school and the elderly needing more care in an overwhelmed health services situation, the unpaid care work of women has increased. These social and economic stresses in addition to the social isolation also increased the risk of women facing domestic violence. In these difficult circumstances, the women in the informal sector are at risk, with very less social protection and are doubly burdened, with increased domestic work and decreased incomes.

MHT has been working to upgrade the quality of life of people living in urban slums. MHT adopted a 3A strategy- Access, Awareness and Adapt.

Access: To provide access to the immediate needs of the community (Cooked meals, dry ration kits, cooked meals, essentials like water, soap, masks)

Awareness: To equip the community with relevant information to help them fight the health related, social and economic effects of the pandemic. (Covid appropriate behaviour awareness through online trainings, IVRS, mobilising government schemes like PM Garib Kalyan Ann (अन्न) yojana, PM Jan Dhan yojana, UJWALA, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Construction Workers, vaccination etc

Adopt: To quickly adapt to the emerging needs of the communities (Fundraising and program strategy to address the immediate needs of urban poor communities)

How did MHT support the urban-poor communities?

MHT has been relentlessly working in empowering women from vulnerable urban communities to develop their habitat for the past 25 years. This work has resulted in a strong network of more than 15000 grassroots leaders across 858 Community Based Organizations. These women leaders have been invaluable in responding to the crisis created by the pandemic. The reason MHT has been successful in implementing a quick, efficient response while maintaining social distancing has been primarily because of:

A strong community presence through a network of women leaders
Community led planning & implementation
The ease of reaching out to each and every family member through the
Community Based Organization (CBO) members
The existence of strong partnerships across various relevant stakeholders

-MHT documents COVID-19 relief work by two grassroots women-leaders who are also our Board members: Meenaben Soni and Bhanuben Jadav. Their contribution is noteworthy at community, ward and city-level. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, they have been relentlessly working towards relief.

-Meenaben and Bhanuben along with other women leaders identified the most-vulnerable families and mobilised food security through food ration kits and cooked-meals for which they were supported by MHT who in turn were supported by donors.

-When physical meets were not possible and MHT urged on virtual meets, both these women ensured their virtual participation for training and awareness. They further sensitised their community through technology adaptation.

-They ensured to equip the community with relevant information to help them fight the health, social and economic effects of the pandemic. They sensitised communities on Covid Appropriate Behaviour(CAB), generated awareness on government schemes.

-Vulnerable families were supported with basic medical resources through a household level medical kit. Awareness was generated on Non communicable Diseases, because people with underlying NCDs have a risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19. Both these leaders and other CAG members did health check ups of urban slum communities and sensitised communities on visiting Community Health Centre (CHC) or Public Health Centre(PHC) if required, reduce intake of salt if their Blood Pressure was high.

-They also participated in training of trainers for pregnant and lactating mothers during the pandemic, which benefitted many women on their nutrition intake and their child’s health.

-They also encouraged communities to access the MHT Jagruti App which was developed to respond to child and maternal health needs of the urban poor communities alongwith awareness on Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.

Both these women-leaders demonstrate MHT’s social capital that is made possible with MHT’s work for over 25 years in urban slum settlements. The bottom-up approach has been MHT’s strength in upgrading the lives of urban poor; because the needs that the grassroots communities’ urged are addressed by MHT- for which leadership of Meenaben and Bhanuben have been pivotal.

MHT’s Covid-19 response has been substantial and contribution of women-leaders like Meenaben and Bhanuben makes it so effective.

Beyond MHT’s COVID-19 response strategy, both these women leaders also in their individual capacity supported the slum communities; this was enabled because of their long-term association with MHT where they were trained to engage not only with the communities but also the local authorities to seek help that they deserve as citizens, get knowledge on government schemes and ways to avail benefits of it, earn them a tag of a leader whom people in distress can rely upon. Empowering and capacity building of these women-leaders indeed exemplifies on women-led change through the many lives they have impacted in times of crisis.

Meenaben Soni, a COVID Hero!
Meenaben is a grassroots leader, a Community Action Group (CAG) president, Vikasini (local feminine connotation meaning ‘carriers of development’) board member and a trustee at MHT. She brings in the grassroots perspective on-board which is essential for MHT to function with the bottom-up approach.

Her formal education is until eightPhoto Caption: (L to R)
-Cooking and making meal packets | -Distributing ration kits | -Sharing cooked meal packets

-Addressed individual needs: A lady tenant was inconsolable as she struggled to buy milk for her 1.5-year-old daughter. Her husband also couldn’t step out for work and the couple had exhausted the little savings they had. Meenaben asked the other families to share their groceries with this woman and arranged for a gas-cylinder for her to make sure she has resources. Post the lockdown was eased, she helped this family to board-a-bus to their native- Uttar Pradesh. “I bought some clothes for the little one and gave INR 500 as blessing to the child, shares Meenaben who also cooked food for the family for their travel.

-Ensured no new tenants enter the slum, even after the lockdown was eased. When a relative of a community member entered the slum at 4:00 in the morning. She forced the relative to get tested in nearby hospital. When they were hesitant, she also called the cops who took these relatives to nearby Hospital for their Covid tests. She ensured their 14 days quarantine even after their coved reports were negative.

-She has mobilised her community such that many of her neighbours are vaccinated with her encouragement and counselling.Photo Caption: (L to R)
-Sensitizing community members | -With relatives invading in slum, she reported to police and ensured they get COVID tests done | -Need assessment for listing the most vulnerable families

“Ofcourse, I was scared. But I was adamant, as I knew if I step-back, who will stand with the community? The community was trapped into economical and psychological stresses along with health stress, and they relied on me for support, I didn’t want to put them down” shares Meenaben. She adds, “My husband who usually is very supportive, did try to restrict me in stepping out of home, because he was worried. We had fights initially but later he understood that my job is to serve the community in all ways I can, even if that meant stepping out of home a few times. I was strictly practicing Covid Appropriate Behaviour.”

Bhanuben Jadav, a COVID hero!
Bhanuben Jadav, 51, is a grassroots leader and a board-member at Mahila Housing Trust. A tailor, residing in Rajivanagar slum in Ahmedabad; she attended a meet organised by MHT in 2005 to enable water-sanitation facilities in her slum which also began her association with MHT. Post the meet, she was made a slum-level leader (aagewan) of a women-group (mandal) formed in her slum which worked towards slum upgradation work. Aagewans of each mandal formed the Vikasini manch in 2008, of which she became a member. Because of her exceptional leadership skills at slum, ward and city-level she was made one of the board members in 2016. She brings in the grassroots’ perspective to shape-up MHT’s work plans.

Below is an account of her individual contribution in combating the crisis emerged from COVID-19 outbreak with her exceptional leadership skills, beyond her contribution as MHT’s member.

Released the cleaner on-duty when COVID-19 cases were at a peak, in 2020:Since 20 years, Chandaben Parmar, collects door-to-door waste from the slum that Bhanuben reside in, for free meals from the community who also tip her with money on festival days or if in-need. Because physical distancing and limited exposure to people was urged during the lockdown in March 2020, Bhanuben urged that Chandanben be released from her work so there can be no probability of her being infected and being a spreader. However, she ensured meals for her, by convincing neighbours to share their meals with her and also ensured that each family dumps waste themselves, in bin placed outside the slum.

-Ensured that the vegetable vendor wears a mask: Even during the lockdown in 2020, the vegetable vendors could move for limited hours. Because people in her slum crowded around the vegetable vendor and the vendor himself didn’t wear a mask appropriately, Bhanuben ensured that the buyers queue up with physical distance, wash the bought vegetables twice and asked the vendor to mask up or not enter the slum.

Photo Caption: (L to R)
-Distributing Ration kits | -Ensuring people are masked up while buying vegetables | -Distributing cooked meal packets

-Warned the idle men who got indulged into gambling, to not crowd up: Many were jobless and some couldn’t step-out for work because of lockdown. Many started to pass their time through gambling. Not only was that a nuisance but also, they could potentially be spreaders if either of them was infected. She didn’t want to take any risk. She warned them to not crowd-up, later threatened to call-a-police to ensure safety of fellow community members.

-Ensured free-ration for people whose ration card were not functional: It was announced that people-in-need would get ration-support from the central government under: Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). When around 15 families approached her saying that their ration cards were non-active but they were in-need, Bhanuben called up the Ambawadi ward Corporator, Nandini Pandya, who agreed on the urge by Bhanuben to facilitate that these families free-ration for a couple of months.

-Managing the vegetables distribution given to a neighbour by latter’s employer: Generous employers of a domestic worker-Bhanuben’s neighbour provided bulk quantities of vegetables. Bhanuben identified the most-vulnerable families and shared a portion of these vegetables with them. She showed a fine-example of mobilising the resources to the most-needy, this way.

Took work to make masks for her sakhi-mandal, from UCD (Urban Community Development): Bhanuben is a tailor herself hence she was in-touch with people who gave small-scale bulk-work. She knew five women in her slum who were also into stitching work and were struggling to make the ends meet, Bhanuben brought work of stitching masks, enabling INR 200/day for all these 5 women.

Ensured decent pay for two women whom she sent as helpers in food kit-distribution: When officials from UCD approached her if two women can take work of food-kit distribution for INR 100/day with a pickup-and-drop facility, she negotiated that the amount was too less and managed that two women helpers be paid INR 200/day for their service.

Collected food-kits: When there was a strict lockdown, the police wouldn’t allow mobility of citizens unless for essentials. She as a pillion rider with her husband, managed to commute from internal roads to avoid police-interaction to gets kits given to the sakhi-mandals, which she later distributed to the needy.

Mobilised cooked meals from UCD to 100 households for 15 days: She was asked to pick up cooked food packets from a shelter-home near Jivraj park area. Because there was on-going construction work for that bridge , it wasn’t easy for Bhanuben and her husband to cross the road on their motorbike and collect these packets. She would step-down and walk the road to and fro by crossing the grill to get those food packets. Once she was stopped by the police who assumed that the couple were carrying liquor in those bags. The construction-sand heap and bumpy roads made it difficult for the couple to carry food packets, but she didn’t stop doing what she thought was right.

Mobilised the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Sahay Yojana (AGSY)

Benefits of PMJDY (which she mobilised in 2014) availed to women account holders, for three months in 2020: To support the poor struggling financially during the COVID-19 crisis, the government on March 26 did announce and ex-gratia payment of INR 500 to be credited to women Jan Dhan account holders for three months from April 2020. Bhanuben enabled this benefit to be availed by 25 women from her slum.

Photo Caption: (L to R)
-Distributing Ration kits | -Ensuring people are masked up while buying vegetables | -Distributing cooked meal packets

-Warned the idle men who got indulged into gambling, to not crowd up: Many were jobless and some couldn’t step-out for work because of lockdown. Many started to pass their time through gambling. Not only was that a nuisance but also, they could potentially be spreaders if either of them was infected. She didn’t want to take any risk. She warned them to not crowd-up, later threatened to call-a-police to ensure safety of fellow community members.

-Ensured free-ration for people whose ration card were not functional: It was announced that people-in-need would get ration-support from the central government under: Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). When around 15 families approached her saying that their ration cards were non-active but they were in-need, Bhanuben called up the Ambawadi ward Corporator, Nandini Pandya, who agreed on the urge by Bhanuben to facilitate that these families free-ration for a couple of months.

-Managing the vegetables distribution given to a neighbour by latter’s employer: Generous employers of a domestic worker-Bhanuben’s neighbour provided bulk quantities of vegetables. Bhanuben identified the most-vulnerable families and shared a portion of these vegetables with them. She showed a fine-example of mobilising the resources to the most-needy, this way.

Took work to make masks for her sakhi-mandal, from UCD (Urban Community Development): Bhanuben is a tailor herself hence she was in-touch with people who gave small-scale bulk-work. She knew five women in her slum who were also into stitching work and were struggling to make the ends meet, Bhanuben brought work of stitching masks, enabling INR 200/day for all these 5 women.

Ensured decent pay for two women whom she sent as helpers in food kit-distribution: When officials from UCD approached her if two women can take work of food-kit distribution for INR 100/day with a pickup-and-drop facility, she negotiated that the amount was too less and managed that two women helpers be paid INR 200/day for their service.

Collected food-kits: When there was a strict lockdown, the police wouldn’t allow mobility of citizens unless for essentials. She as a pillion rider with her husband, managed to commute from internal roads to avoid police-interaction to gets kits given to the sakhi-mandals, which she later distributed to the needy.

Mobilised cooked meals from UCD to 100 households for 15 days: She was asked to pick up cooked food packets from a shelter-home near Jivraj park area. Because there was on-going construction work for that bridge , it wasn’t easy for Bhanuben and her husband to cross the road on their motorbike and collect these packets. She would step-down and walk the road to and fro by crossing the grill to get those food packets. Once she was stopped by the police who assumed that the couple were carrying liquor in those bags. The construction-sand heap and bumpy roads made it difficult for the couple to carry food packets, but she didn’t stop doing what she thought was right.

Mobilised the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Sahay Yojana (AGSY)

Benefits of PMJDY (which she mobilised in 2014) availed to women account holders, for three months in 2020: To support the poor struggling financially during the COVID-19 crisis, the government on March 26 did announce and ex-gratia payment of INR 500 to be credited to women Jan Dhan account holders for three months from April 2020. Bhanuben enabled this benefit to be availed by 25 women from her slum.

Photo Caption: (L to R)
-Distributing Ration kits | -Ensuring people are masked up while buying vegetables | -Distributing cooked meal packets

-Warned the idle men who got indulged into gambling, to not crowd up: Many were jobless and some couldn’t step-out for work because of lockdown. Many started to pass their time through gambling. Not only was that a nuisance but also, they could potentially be spreaders if either of them was infected. She didn’t want to take any risk. She warned them to not crowd-up, later threatened to call-a-police to ensure safety of fellow community members.

-Ensured free-ration for people whose ration card were not functional: It was announced that people-in-need would get ration-support from the central government under: Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). When around 15 families approached her saying that their ration cards were non-active but they were in-need, Bhanuben called up the Ambawadi ward Corporator, Nandini Pandya, who agreed on the urge by Bhanuben to facilitate that these families free-ration for a couple of months.

-Managing the vegetables distribution given to a neighbour by latter’s employer: Generous employers of a domestic worker-Bhanuben’s neighbour provided bulk quantities of vegetables. Bhanuben identified the most-vulnerable families and shared a portion of these vegetables with them. She showed a fine-example of mobilising the resources to the most-needy, this way.

Took work to make masks for her sakhi-mandal, from UCD (Urban Community Development): Bhanuben is a tailor herself hence she was in-touch with people who gave small-scale bulk-work. She knew five women in her slum who were also into stitching work and were struggling to make the ends meet, Bhanuben brought work of stitching masks, enabling INR 200/day for all these 5 women.

Ensured decent pay for two women whom she sent as helpers in food kit-distribution: When officials from UCD approached her if two women can take work of food-kit distribution for INR 100/day with a pickup-and-drop facility, she negotiated that the amount was too less and managed that two women helpers be paid INR 200/day for their service.

Collected food-kits: When there was a strict lockdown, the police wouldn’t allow mobility of citizens unless for essentials. She as a pillion rider with her husband, managed to commute from internal roads to avoid police-interaction to gets kits given to the sakhi-mandals, which she later distributed to the needy.

Mobilised cooked meals from UCD to 100 households for 15 days: She was asked to pick up cooked food packets from a shelter-home near Jivraj park area. Because there was on-going construction work for that bridge , it wasn’t easy for Bhanuben and her husband to cross the road on their motorbike and collect these packets. She would step-down and walk the road to and fro by crossing the grill to get those food packets. Once she was stopped by the police who assumed that the couple were carrying liquor in those bags. The construction-sand heap and bumpy roads made it difficult for the couple to carry food packets, but she didn’t stop doing what she thought was right.

Mobilised the Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Sahay Yojana (AGSY)

Benefits of PMJDY (which she mobilised in 2014) availed to women account holders, for three months in 2020: To support the poor struggling financially during the COVID-19 crisis, the government on March 26 did announce and ex-gratia payment of INR 500 to be credited to women Jan Dhan account holders for three months from April 2020. Bhanuben enabled this benefit to be availed by 25 women from her slum.Photo Caption: (L to R)
-Ensured work of making masks to community member | – Coordinated with local government bodies to provide food to vulnerable families | -Enables temporary slips to avail free ration for people whose ration card were not functional

Mobilised support to construction workers during Covid-19 in 2020: On 18 April 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat said that it would transfer INR 1,000 into the bank accounts of registered construction workers as emergency cash assistance amid the coronavirus lockdown in India. Bhanuben ensured that the benefits be availed to 50 neighbours for a period of three months. This also meant she helped to upload the relevant documents and link their Aadhar card, ration card number, bank account number on a designated web portal.

Encouraged vaccination: The community that Bhanuben resides is equipped with a lot of misinformation and fear about vaccination. As an informed and aware member, after a training session from MHT about ways in which community’s hesitancy can be addressed, as of today, she has generated awareness to around 100 members for vaccination, some of these people are vaccinated now and many have agreed to be inoculated.

Counselled an anxious wife whose husband got stuck because of lockdown in Rajasthan in lockdown, March-April 2020: An anxious wife whose husband travelled to Rajasthan for work got stuck because of the nation-wide lockdown which got further extended as well. She approached Bhanuben if through her network, she could help her husband travel back to Ahmedabad in a private car or a bus by contacting the local authorities. She made her understand that she will stand with her in solidarity and once unlock is announced, only then that can be facilitated with readiness to self- quarantine post-return, followed with a covid test. When times are tough, standing by people and supporting them becomes so important.

Bhanuben says. “There were times when my children urged that I don’t step-out of home, though I followed the Covid Appropriate behaviour, because the virus is uncertain and there was a chance of me getting infected too. They were worried for me. But my husband encouraged me saying when I have an opportunity, knowledge and resources to support, I shouldn’t refrain.”

How Bhanuben and Meenaben’s leadership impacted so many lives during the pandemic demonstrates of their will, dedication and more importantly a model of slum-level leadership towards sustainable urban transformation! This is the social capital because of which MHT could implement quick and efficient response to the COVID-19 crisis.