Swiss NGO Comes To India To Help Abused Women

International NGO  SwissAid has provided $58,172 to Manavlok, an NGO based in Maharashtra, to carry out a drive against domestic violence in the state. The foreign NGO has done a campaign in Switzerland to spread awareness and prevention against violence against women. Now it wants to make a difference in India by helping provide better amenities for distressed and abused women.

Violence in India is showing no sign of declining. For this to happen, it is necessary to improve the condition for women in the country. The women residing in rural areas and slums in the urban settlements are found to be most vulnerable in cases of violence. So to curb the horrific cases, SwissAid has collaborated with Manavlok to continue its work of preventing domestic violence in India.

The Swiss NGO has a long history of working with agricultural communities in India since the '60s. The recent campaign of non-violence is an add-on to the already progressing social work.

ALSO READ: Is technology a perpetrator of trafficking and sexual violence?

“We are not a women’s’ rights organisation as such. However, domestic violence was a major problem among the communities we were working with in the area of agriculture and we were asked to help,” Catherine Morad, spokesperson for SwissAid told swissinfo.ch.

Both the NGOs will provide counselling to married couples, as well as legal aid and shelter for assaulted women living in Maharashtra. Awareness is vital to help both men and women and hence the NGOs are holding seminars for couples.

These seminars essentially encourage men and women to acknowledge each other’s role in their lives to build a level of respect and dignity. Till now, 845 couples have taken part in this initiative. Another technique involves setting up of 20 men’s groups that intervene when a husband beats up his wife.

These initiatives need to be celebrated for the amount of impact they bring to society.

Picture credit- Pikstop