Organisations
Asha recruits and trains volunteers from slum settlements and gives them important tasks within their areas. These people are hugely influential in educating and inspiring the rest of the community.
Women's groups (Mahila Mandals)
Asha saw the potential of the women within the slum communities at a very early stage. The women tend to stay in the slum and look after their children while their husbands go out to work, or find work that can be done from home. In many slums, the women are illiterate and lack confidence and so they stand to gain a great deal from their partnership with Asha.
One of Asha's most successful innovations has been the creation of women's groups (Mahila Mandals) within the slums. Asha recruits women who are interested in learning new skills and helping their neighbours, and provides training for them. Topics covered include healthcare, contraception methods, advocacy and lobbying training and empowerment and gender issues.
Some of the women take on responsibility for their own "lane" within the slum, an area that covers around 25 houses. Lane volunteers are always aware of the number of children under the age of 5 in their lane, and know if any of them are malnourished or have not been vaccinated. They also keep an eye on any TB patients and pregnant women who are in the area. They stress the importance of antenatal checkups for pregnant women, and encourage them to include their children in vaccination programmes. The women also check on the condition of their lanes and ensure that drains are kept clear and that the community has access to a clean water supply.
Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) have an important function within the groups. These women have completed 6 months training and are the providers of primary healthcare within the slums; each has her own medical supplies and is responsible for around 250 families in the area. The CHVs are able to earn money using their healthcare skills, as Asha gives the CHVs a small sum for their work and provides their medical kit, and they can sell medication to their patients at a low cost.
Together, the lane volunteers, CHVs and other volunteers form a Mahila Mandal. Each of the groups has a structure that includes a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. They hold weekly meetings with a formal agenda and documentation in which they discuss any problems relating to health, sanitation and infrastructure as well as social concerns in their areas. Any issues are prioritised and the women decide on ways to address them.
Once trained, Mahila Mandals have the skills to lobby local communities, authorities and politicians to gain environmental and infrastructure improvements and other basic rights. They form a support network for victims of abuse or injustice, and tackle conflicts within the community. The women develop relationships with local schools and headteachers and find ways to address any difficulties experienced by slum children, as well as gaining admittance for those who are not attending school.
Children's groups (Bal Mandals)
Children's groups are a great success within Asha slums. There are between 20 - 25 children in each group and they have the same structure as Mahila Mandals with members taking on responsibilities as president, secretary and so on. The children are aged between 7 and 14 and each looks after the welfare of up to 25 households within their area. They are taught about health matters, environmental and sanitary improvements and social issues affecting children. The group then holds weekly meetings with the focus on communication, problem solving and teamwork.
Each child has health responsibilities within his or her lane. They speak to neighbours about good health and sanitation practices, and provide oral rehydration remedies for diarrhoea patients. They will also get involved if their peers have schooling problems and will go with them to talk to teachers or encourage school attendance if it is a problem. In addition, they organise weekly sanitation drives. The children are trained and encouraged to meet with municipal authorities about any environmental issues in their area, developing skills that help their community and will be of real use to them in the future.
The Bal Mandals have developed the children's community spirit to such an extent that children in some slums collect money to give to the most needy members of their community - often elderly residents with no family to care for them. Exchange visits are organised by Asha so that Bal Mandal members from one project area can go to other areas. Seeing how the groups function within other slums motivates the children even more, and allows them to share experiences and information about good practices.
Male volunteers
More recently, Asha has devised a Men's Awareness Programme that helps men living in the slums to become responsible within their community. The scheme promotes gender equality in family life and in society and stresses the importance of men fulfilling their social and family roles. Mahila Mandals and Asha staff have identified socially minded men and youths from various slums and trained them as male volunteers.
These volunteers are educated in the role of men in supporting the women's health, preventing unwanted pregnancies, preventing spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reducing gender-based violence. They then speak to other men about these issues, encourage better communication between spouses, provide contraceptive choices for men and promote images of male role-models. The volunteers also encourage men to become more aware of family issues, to get more involved in raising children and to encourage schooling for both girls and boys.