EHA

The Kari Project is situated in Janta Colony in Delhi's north east.

The project came under EHA on 1st Jan 2009.

The name 'KARI' comes from the Hindi for 'Link', emphasising the project's role in empowering people to link to existing services.

Janta Colony began about 25 years ago when people migrated from Uttar Pradesh in search of work. They squatted on what was then farmland, slowly building their houses as they had a little money to spare. The Delhi Development Authority has since taken ownership of the land, so the colony is now technically illegal and may thus one day be demolished. It's less than half a square kilometre in size, yet home to about 60,000, mainly Muslim residents. Residents mostly work in sewing jeans in hundreds of tiny factories in the colony, or in selling fruit and vegetables or riding rickshaws. Unemployment is common, leading to alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and family breakdown.

Many children, especially girls, don't go to school, as parents either don't value education (themselves not being educated) or else fear sending their teenage daughters out. Even when children do go to school, the quality of the education is very poor, with class sizes of 50+, teachers often not being present and a lack of basic facilities.

When they fall ill, most residents of Janta Colony go first to one of the many RMPs (Registered Medical Practitioners) who work locally. These RMP's are very poorly educated, often just learning some medicine from a friend or relative. However they only charge about Rs 20, so people go to them as a first step. Only when the RMP's treatment doesn't work will residents consider accessing a government hospital. Government hospitals are staffed by MBBS doctors and are theoretically free. However they are far away, so cost money to get there & inevitably involve many hours of waiting. The consultations are of poor quality with overworked doctors dealing with hundreds of patients a day. Sometimes patients even report verbal abuse from hospital staff.

In the project, a small team of residents focus on various areas of concern in the basti:-

• Education: Helping parents access reasonable, affordable education, for their children.
• Employment: Helping people to find jobs, which are permanent, paid reasonably and safe.
• Health: Helping residents access health care that is of reasonable quality, accessible & affordable, either at government hospitals, private providers or NGOs.
• Documentation: Helping people to acquire up to date, legal & correct documentation (such as Election Identity Cards) & the government benefits that flow from them (subsidised rations, pensions etc).

In each of these areas we're using an advocacy/empowerment style of development in which our workers help other residents access resources (jobs, education & health) that are already available through the government, private enterprise or other NGO's. This differs from a service delivery model, in which the NGO seeks to fill the gap of service by, for example, setting up a clinic or a school itself.

So far we have 5 part-time field volunteers all  of whom are residents of Janta Colony:-

Ruksana has been working on education issues with us, since July '07. Through her work she's helped over 50 children, who were previously not studying, to be enrolled in government schools. In addition, through school visits & advocacy she's helped bring about significant changes in local schools.

Ateeq is a young man who has been working with us since January '08 to help residents find stable employment. So far he's managed to get 8 young men work, primarily in the Delhi Metro.

Rehana & Shagufta are our Health Advocates, helping residents to access health care at government & private hospitals and NGO's. So far they've helped more than 20 people access treatment, including a quite major surgery – for free!

Anugrah is our documentation worker. He's a highly educated middle class young man who together with his wife is planning to relocate to live in Janta Colony shortly. He's already been working with us for a couple of months during which time he has helped a widow access the Widows Pension when clearly, without his advocacy, she would have had little chance. There are dozens more widows, disabled and older folk who could benefit from such advocacy.

Anthony iis our manager of the project and the only full time staff member. He runs the team meeting each week, meets each of the workers weekly and helps them plan and carry out their work. He also documents and reports on the work, as well as networking with other agencies active in the area. Anthony is from a Jesuit background and has an extraordinary story of his own prior to joining us.

Anthony is also responsible for helping to establish a Community Based Organisation (CBO) that will meet regularly to discuss and assist the community in resolving community problems that arise from time to time such as:-

• Any move by the government to demolish the Colony.
• Poor sanitation: Blocked drains, unswept paths etc.