CYSD

Oh God, you saved us, uttered Kailas Naik, father of Sunati spontaneously when he received a survival kit along with hygienic materials distributed by CYSD relief team at Nuapada camp.

Sunati Naik, an Adivasi sponsored girl of 8 years, belongs to Nuapada village of Khandabandha GP in Thankurmunda block of Mayurbhanj district. She was well cared by her parents as well as two elder brothers. An unlucky incident occurred in her life at the age of five. Her mother passed away before Sunati began primary education. Kailash used to manage the family by doing labour. But having a lot of hopes in mind, Sunita attended village school together with mates regularly. She had a dream to study higher education and aspiration in mind to play a leadership role through participating in their Child Club activities. But a problem stood on the way when her brother got married. The wedded couple – brother and sister-in-law neglected her in many ways. Owing to the fact, her father got separated from the family. Facing financial problem, Kailash considered to stop Sunati’s education from 8^th Std and decided to work outside in Bengaluru in a hatchery farm. With a remuneration of Rs. 7000/- per month he joined the work in year 2017. Here Sunita was waiting for her father’s return.

This year in February, Kailash returned to native village to see his daughter having in mind to go back Bangaluru within 15 days’ time to resume his work. But, the sudden lockdown declaration owing to COVID-19 outbreak gave him a big jolt, he felt as if a thunder was fallen over him. Both Kailash and Sunati have had to spend days with insufficient food, even sometime with empty stomach during lockdown. At that moment, Sunati brought a news to his father’s notice about the distribution of relief jointly by CYSD and Plan India. He rushed to the relief distribution camp immediately and received the relief packet.  Then he realized that God is always there to help the helpless. They could see a new ray of hope at the end of the tunnel. “We will remain ever grateful to CYSD & Plan India for supporting and rescuing us from the acute hunger at this critical hour. My prayers for their wellbeing”, said Kailash with tearful eyes.

“It was a delighted moment for me when I got a ‘branded’ shirt for my father and a ‘Sambalpuri saree’ for my mother” with my first salary – says Roji with her dazzling eyes.

Roji Nayak, a next door girl of 19 years, living with her father in Salia Sahi slum of Bhubaneswar – who is the only earning member with an inadequate income to support the expenses of a family of five members. The financial constraint compelled Roji to stop going for higher education after Intermediate (12^th Std.). But no financial crisis could stop her dreaming of doing something better for her family and bring them smiles. She was aspiring to get employed.

Roji’s journey began with ‘Skills for Life’ – a programme for unemployed slum youth to make them gainfully employed. Unconsciously, Roji’s personality traits transformed and she began showing keenness in learning skills with confidence. The slum community, where she stays, could not digest this transformation in a poverty-stricken underprivileged girl and Roji became a part of every discussion in the community.  She underwent the Retail Sales Associate Training programme of CYSD and like other youngsters, she learnt life skills, self-presentation with dignity and the art of being a good sales person who can pitch anything with confidence.

All said and done, Roji’s family was happy with their daughter getting the opportunity of learning something new that will help her lead a life with dignity and support the family in the long run. The training helped Roji know herself, build her self-esteem and be a self-confident individual.

“September, 7^th, 2018, the day is a memorable day for me, I got the job at a BPO called AEGIS in Bhubaneshwar” says Roji with a jubilant mood. Roji is now earning 15000 rupees per month.  She works as a ‘customer care executive’ and her job is to solve the queries and problems of the customers, accept their requests and take a note of their complaints in relation to products and services. She is happy!!!

Like Roji, more than 500 unemployed youth, who aspire of getting gainful employment have been a part of the ‘Skills for Life’ programme. In the initial phase of the programme 223 youth are trained and connected to employment in FY 2019-20.

Safeguarding the children of its operational areas through formation and strengthening of Village Child Protection Committees (VLCPC), is one of the strategies of CYSD. In 2019, around 10 VLCPCs were formed and supported in 10 villages under 2 Gram Panchayats of Kolnara block in Raygada district. These committees have been actively engaged in ensuring child rights and protection in respective villages. While ensuring the rights of children and their protection, two major issues are being taken up by the VLCPCs for community resilient i.e. Child Marriage and Child Labour. During the lockdown owing to the Corona pandemic, the intervention of VLCPC of G. Rengalpadu village in arresting an early marriage case has caught the attention of the local people as well as the Block and District Administration.

G. Rengalpadu is a tribal dominated village situated about 5 kms away from Kolnara GP and the block headquarter of Rayagada. In last week of April, a 19 years boy fled away one girl of 16 years to his home and asked his parents to organise their marriage. His parents also agreed to bind them in marriage. Getting this information, the VLCPC members counselled both the children and their parents to refrain from doing this illicit act. But the boy and girl threatened to commit suicide if their marriage would not happen. So, the VLCPC informed to the ChildLine to handle the case. The officials from the ChildLine tried to counsel both the children and the parents, but failed to persuade. Meanwhile, the VLCPC got to know about the children’s plan to elope elsewhere, so the committee took the issue to the Police. With the intervention of the Police and the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer the children’s marriage plan was stopped. The girl has been sent to CCI for temporary shelter as her parents denied to take her back to home. Also, the CWC has ordered to enrol the girl in a residential school for study after lifting of the lockdown and continue till she completes 18 years, the legal age of marriage.This incident has created a great impact in the locality. The joint efforts of the CYSD and Child Fund India towards formation and strengthening of VLCPC, as an effective mechanism at the community level to arrest child marriage and child labour, have been appreciated and recognised by the District and Block Administration.

During the second phase of relief work, CYSD Programme Team at Koraput extended humanitarian support to aspirational MGNREGS workers with survival kits. About 2400 job seekers in 8 operational blocks of the district were covered with relief distribution under Integrated Farming System (IFS) programme being supported by Ford Foundation. The relief work witnessed many vulnerable migrant returnees were receiving the relief kits.

Laxmi Saunta was one of the migrant returnees and recipient of relief kit. She shared while asked by CYSD community mobilizer, “Workers who had been migrated to Andhra Pradesh from Koraput now have returned to their native places by two buses. While returning back, we were directed by the police to stay in Sunki boarder for one night and then from there we came to Koraput and later straight way to Kundura Temporary Medical Centre (TMC) where we were quarantined for 8 days. The Panchayat took care of all our basic needs at the TMC (quarantine centre). We got normal food three times a day. That was a better shelter for me to respite after a long journey from AP and felt as if I am at home”.

On receiving the relief kit, happy Laxmi further said, “the relief kit will let her to have food for 7 more days. Meanwhile, I should explore job opportunities under MGNREGS. Being a job cardholder, soon I will give an application to make use of my card for getting individual labour work at the Panchayat. I foresee and hope under the MGNREGS there must be job openings to overcome distress till the situation comes to normalcy’.

The relief work indeed has helped the poor and vulnerable people in more than one ways in these remote hinterland. And for a sustainable livelihood the returnee migrants have found a ray of hope in MGNREGS work, not just Laxmi, but many such migrant returnees are looking forward and many have already applied for individual work. It is also evident that several columns are coming in the newspaper how more and more migrants are being engaged in MGNREGS works during this pandemic. Certainly, this effort will made the panchayats and villages self-sufficient for its people to survive. Taking proper care of the village environment, and available resources can ensure to lead a sustainable livelihood of people in the villages. Besides, setting up a clear and robust tracking system at each panchayat level can check the migration issues and minimise the rural-urban gaps.

Pritigandha Giri, a young woman Community Mobilise, being associated with the Child Development Programme of CYSD in Malkanagiri, knows that “Covid-19 is not just a pandemic for sorrow, frustration, economic crisis and global slowdown; it is an opportunity for new way of living, adoption of new technology and self-reflection”.

Responding to Covid-19 outbreak, CYSD has put its effort to show innovative pathway on how to manage the Temporary Medical Centres (TMCs) effectively with a new name ‘Ekant Nivas’ engaging the migrant returnees throughout the day productively.

With the support from Gram Panchayat and Block administration, Pritigandha has been deeply involved in managing Dalpatiguda Panchayat TMC under Mathili block of Malkanagiri district from the day it was set up in panchayat high school. A total of 46 men and 11 women migrant returnees along with one boy child have taken temporary shelter for isolation in the centre.

Malkangiri being the southernmost district of Odisha is sharing border with Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Chhattisgarh. The tribal district is very prone to migrant labour in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kochi, Bengaluru, etc. The outbreak of Covid-19 and following the lockdown declared by the government compelled the migrants to come back to their native places.  But, they did not have other way than joining the TMCs arranged at their Panchayats for self-isolation, as per the Government advisories.

Dalpatiguda TMC was equipped with beds, drinking water and toilets, electric supply along with a set of accessories, like racks, dustbins, mosquito mat, bucket and mug for use by the migrants individually, even for entertainments, a sound system along with mike was made available.

Pritigandha puts her best effort to make the migrants feel at home paying regular visits to the centre and spending time in counselling them. Her daily works include ensuring timely supply of good quality of food to the migrants, keep the kitchen hygienic, cleanliness of toilets and surrounding with the support and cooperation of the Sarapanch, PEO and Ward members.

Moreover, she was ensuring physical fitness and mental health of the migrants through conducting exercises and yoga including health check-up and medication; and skill & aspiration mapping of migrants and exploring opportunities for their future employment. Practices of prayer with yoga and exercises in the morning and evening and reciting of patriotic songs helped the inmates to keep free from stress and undue panic and gave a sense of mental happiness. Appropriate information dissemination by her on COVID-19 packages declared by both the governments, entitlements and job open ups at Gram Panchayat level through MGNREGA has created new hopes among returnee migrants. Importantly, she also helped a lot in record keeping of migrants at the Gram Panchayat.

Mr. Damu Nayak, the Sarapanch of Dalpatiguda GP says, “The rich experience of CYSD on Disaster Management made our TMC unique at the Block level. We will continue extending all our support and administrative requirements to the organisation as and when required. I am really proud of CYSD and Child Fund India for their joint support and cooperation in fighting Corona.

Further, Madan Mohan Singh, PEO, Dalpatiguda GP said,  “CYSD is doing commendable work not only in managing the activities of TMC and skill mapping of migrant returnees but also ensuring livelihoods of Migrants through MGNREGS connecting them in government schemes and programmes” .

Now, CYSD is in the process of installing five wash stations in Dalpatiguda TMC through which people can use both sanitizer and water without using hands. This technology will not only help the migrants at the centre but also more than 120 students after opening of this school.

“Managing TMC is one of the best experiences in my life. Listening to and solving day to day challenges of migrants, especially women and children gives me a sense of satisfaction. I find the TMC, a shelter which helps the migrants to respite and repair their mental and physical health and restore their skills for better livelihoods”, shares Pritigandha.

Bikas, a 7 years boy from Pangam village, returnee from Telangana with her widow mother – earning livelihood as a wood cutter, expressed his interest to learn more songs and prayers at the TMC and within 6 days’ time how he has learned “Ye Mere Watan ke logo”.

This model TMC has not only created good ambiances in the mind of tribal migrants but also bestowed faith of block administration on CYSD Programme team. Like, Dalpatiguda TMC, the team has been monitoring 21 such TMCs in 9 Gram Panchayats of Mathili, Khairiput and Korkonda blocks in the district.

There has been a great concern by the members of the Citizens Action Group on Corona – Odisha about a Cabinet decision by the Government of Odisha which entails renewal of registration of a Society in every 5 years. Besides, lack of appreciation of the CSO volunteers as Covid-19 Warriors and a definite plan to deal with the returnee migrants have further added to the concern.

However, of late, the declaration by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has given solace to the Non-Governmental Organisations. The highest court has said, “Though it is the responsibility of government to take care of migrant workers, the contribution and role played by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) “deserves all appreciation” for coming forward to help them by providing food, water and transport during the “difficult time” of COVID-19 pandemic”.

The apex court has also praised the individuals who contributed and played an important role in extending helping hand to the migrants, exhibiting their “passion and devotion”.

Like other sectors, the civil society sector – third pillar of strength is experiencing an unprecedented time. A period that will be remembered for years to come and make it to every history book of the future. Commuting for work is no longer an option and the only way to keep developmental work up and running is remote working.

Apart from the massive stress of keeping themselves safe from this dreadful virus, employees are facing a unique challenge. The challenge of making themselves future-proof and elevating their skills to fast track the economy when the pandemic resides. Also, huge section of the workforce is vulnerable to reduced income, furloughs or layoffs as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. The sudden shift has naturally hampered the overall productivity of most work. But on the other hand, people now have more time in hand. A lot of time is saved in commuting, socializing, and running errands which adds up to a couple of free hours every day.

The significance of Upskilling and Reskilling employees has increased by multi-folds. Organisations that do not take this time to upskill employees will soon find themselves in a vulnerable position.What exactly are Upskilling and Reskilling? Upskilling is the process of teaching current employees new skills that will help them in thriving in their job and help them in becoming more efficient. But, Reskilling focuses on teaching employees new and upcoming skills to do a different or more advanced job.

Reskilling involves training employees on an entirely new set of skills to prepare them to take on a different role within the organisation. This typically occurs when employee’s previous tasks or responsibilities become irrelevant, often due to advances in technology. Reskilling allows businesses to retain reliable workers and minimize turnover by investing in employee growth.

The powerful reasons for Upskilling and Reskilling employees in times can ensure, i) increase productivity, ii) future-proof organisation’s work, iii) retain top talent and reduce hiring costs, iv) cross-function teams, and v) boost employee motivation.

To accommodate traditional office-going employees in the digital world, it is essential to upskill and reskill employees from all generations. Digital competency is a fundamental skill now, yet only a fraction of the current workforce is digitally intuitive. The sooner we start to bridge this gap, the better will be the efficiency – increase productivity of the newer remote job roles. Apart, the rate of evolution in the digital world is quite higher. As we enter a new level of maturity in digital transformation, the need for new and more advanced skill sets will always be there.

To sustain and thrive in our organisational work or to make it future-proof, we must be early thinkers and early adopters. The economy is taking a massive hit as the pandemic continues to rise and it is going to take quite some time for the economy to bounce back even after the horror resides. In order to protect our work from the possible disruptions in development work, upskilling and reskilling employees should be the first and foremost step. Once we build a workforce of agile, knowledgeable, and tech-forward employees, we are in a much better position to tackle the upcoming challenges of the business world. We should take this time to explore what are the skills that our workforce lacks and define the skills gap. When we start preparing early, it will shield our work from possible shocks in the future and in terms save our ample time and money. It is the most economical step at this point.

Retain top talent and reduce hiring costs is another key areas should be seriously considered. One of the prominent employee engagement trends in recent times has been, the scope for career growth for employees. Although we were anticipating a huge shift towards remote working, what we have now is completely unexpected. Organisation’s top talents understand that in order to survive in this new world, they must equip themselves with skills of the future. Hence, there is no better way to retain our top than to encourage reskilling and upskilling.

Additionally, even if the organisation goes through hiring freeze, our knowledgeable and agile employees will be able to meet the work needs. Thus, retaining top talent through hard times is important so that, once we are back to development work as usual, we will able to scale up as quickly as possible with the best talent.

Also, Cross-function Teams are now more important than ever. How teams communication and work together will determine the chances of survival of a business in this crisis. It is time for the organization to bring all the departments together and formulate a strategy to overcome the Covid-19 crisis. Reskilling and Upskilling can help employees to better understand various job roles in the organization. This will then lead to strong cross-functional teams in the workforce.

Finally, boosting employee morale is need of the hour too. Employees are having a hard time adjusting to the new work-from-home arrangement. Lack of human interaction often leads to feelings of isolation and hopelessness among our people. Uncertainty about the future, personal, and financial safety are prevalent thoughts.

If an organization invests in reskilling and upskilling it can go a long way. It can build the right mind set, greater team collaboration, employee-loyalty and greater employee satisfaction.

The Action Group in its regular meetings, led by CYSD, deliberated several issues covering the management of quarantine centres specially the JAGRUTI experience in Kandhamal district and the ABHIYAN experience in Jajpur and Kendrapra districts. ABHIYAN’s pilot has deepened facilitatory engagements with Panchayats in both the districts. CSOs feedback and recommendations were shared with the State Government.

The redefined ‘Ekanta Nivas’ has got some traction by the rest of India. SAMARTHAN in Madhya Pradesh has done a translation and brought out an expanded version in Hindi.

Besides, CYSD’s meeting with CSO leaders at the National level on capacity building of civil society organisations, issues of migrants, the critical role of panchayats, issue of restructuring MGNREGA and the problems across the country especially in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi provided insights to help guide the Odishan civil society organisations in initiating their response to the Covid-19 appropriately.

Key Suggestions

• Communities to be empowered to address the challenge of receiving back the migrant returnees with compassion and efficiency.
• The TMCs should be well equipped and run in a manner that women, children and the transgender do not face any abuse. Further, the TMCs also need to be made resident friendly.
• People’s access to their entitlements to be ensured to help them overcome the crisis created by COVID-19.
• Job demand under MGNREGS should be transparent giving the Sarpanch complete power to receive applications and provide receipts against them, to ensure that all those who want work are able to register their demand.
• There is urgent need to develop local, regional and state level plans to address short term, medium term and long term challenges emerged due to COVID-19.
• Regular dialogue/interface with CSOs should be institutionalized at the State, District and Block levels as a space for feedback and opportunity for mutual support.

Indians are 65 days (9^th week) into the national lockdown and are consistently putting up a strong fight against the pandemic at hand. While we are all victims of this catastrophe and have been affected by it in some way or the other, there exist more vulnerable sections of society that are bearing the disproportionate brunt of these unavoidable measures. The elderly, daily wage earners, waste/rag pickers, employees in the informal sector, labourers, slum-dwellers, low-income groups, sex workers, and stray animals, etc. are some members of our community who have been fighting a tougher battle.

To help the marginalized communities, on the one hand, we see the government implementing strong and necessary measures and deploying relief funds; on the other hand, several corporates, business leaders, influencers and celebrities have donated generously to initiatives across the nation to extend a hand of support.

Undoubtedly, the local government has played an important role in containing the spread of the coronavirus, especially managing the migrant returnees at the quarantine centres or temporary medical centres set up at the panchayat level. Panchayats across India have realised that they have to shoulder significant responsibilities beyond just providing relief during this unprecedented crisis, which should take the spotlight as one of the unsung warriors.

But what is new about this moment is that gram panchayats have been forced to step up despite their lack of preparedness for a disaster of the order unleashed by the coronavirus. Hopefully a majority will successfully respond to the challenges. Even partial success offers an opportunity – and hopefully an impetus – for a new beginning. The gram panchayats are learning by doing and working in ‘putting things together’ (Jugaad) mode to beat the odds stacked against them.

Going beyond gram panchayats, in such perilous times, it is important to highlight the exemplary work being done NGOs, community-led initiatives, social activists and self-help groups (SHGs). These organizations and individuals have been working round the clock to help our community in such unprecedented times and have shown great enterprise in helping ease the distress of marginalized communities during this lockdown.

While we sit in the comfort of our homes feeling grateful for the economic safety nets we have built to get us through these 65 days, let us take a moment to thank all those ‘unsung heroes’ who have been working day and night to help the poor who are struggling to earn a single meal a day.

Among the frontline, Corona Warriors are the doctors, nurses, police, NGO workers, community resource persons, volunteers, Waste Collectors, farmers – who supply dry food including vegetables, and even newspaper delivery guys – who quietly slip papers through our door despite the lockdown. More importantly, while were are staying indoors to fight Covid-19 there are journalists and news delivery partners, who come out every day to do justice to their profession and deliver reliable, trustworthy information at your doorstep.

Indeed, it is time to recognize and applaud the efforts being made by the unsung warriors, mainly because we cannot afford to have them fail.

 “Being a daily wage earner, having two dependents – wife & a small child and staying at home during this Corona related lockdown period, without any job at hand, is extremely difficult to manage the family. So far I have not received any Government support, like ration in the absence of a ration card. In the meantime, receiving direct cash assistance of Rs. 5000/- from CYSD through bank transferred to my account is really blessings in disguise.  With this money, I purchased some dry food and consumable items for coming two months from the local market paying Rs. 3972/-. Balance amount of Rs. 1028/- will be spend in purchasing vegetables items in phased manner. I am really grateful to CYSD for standing behind us at this critical hour next to FANI”, says Bachan Mallik to CYSD’s volunteer Shri Manoj Mallik.