This blog presents a comprehensive case study from ground zero that sheds light on the issue of sexual and gender-based violence within the context of Tanu (12)’s lived experience in the slum clusters of Uttam Nagar, Delhi.
The arts have always been a powerful medium for advocacy, political activism, and social change. Today, it’s more important than ever to harness the power of art to advocate for these critical causes.
The arts have always been a powerful medium for advocacy, political activism, and social change. Today, it’s more important than ever to harness the power of art to advocate for these critical causes.
The arts have always been a powerful medium for advocacy, political activism, and social change. Today, it’s more important than ever to harness the power of art to advocate for these critical causes.
Since 2010, Protsahan crisis intervention officers and child protection officers, have deeply understood from direct on-ground evidence of working with children facing child rights violations of abuse, violence and neglect within families and communities they live in, that childhood trauma can have lasting effects on an individual’s mental and emotional well-being. It can manifest in various forms such as anxiety,…
Childhood trauma is a pervasive problem in India. According to a study by the National Crime Records Bureau, there were over 50,935 child abuse cases were registered in 2021 — with more than one-fourth (13,089) of the cases registered in South India — under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, which aims to protect juveniles from sexual…
Gender transformative education (GTE) is an approach that aims to address and challenge the rigid gender norms and stereotypes that often lead to discrimination and violence. The GTE promotes gender equality and inclusivity by providing individuals with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to question and transform these norms. Art therapy can be an effective tool in the GTE process, as…
Author: Vipul Yash The Union Budget 2023 presented in India recently has brought a mix of good news and concerns for different sections of society. It brought welcome news for the middle classes of the nation. Tax rebates increased from INR 5 lakhs to 7 lakhs, which led to a wave of relief, which was witnessed across social media. Pro-poor…
Childhood trauma, particularly that caused by sexual and gender-based violence, can have a lasting impact on a child’s mental and emotional well-being. It can be difficult for survivors to process and overcome their experiences, leaving them feeling stuck in a cycle of pain and suffering. However, there is hope for healing and one powerful tool that can aid in this…
Author: Vipul Yash On 26-27 November 2022, Protsahan India Foundation was invited by the Hon’ble Guwahati High Court to the “State Level Consultation on Implementation of the POCSO Act, 2012” for the States of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram & Arunachal Pradesh. The Juvenile Justice Committee of Hon’ble Guwahati High Court organised this consultation in collaboration with the Department of Women and…
Author: Apeksha Yadav “A story is what we want it to be ” Digital storytelling is a participatory practice wherein individuals engage in activities through different art forms such as cinema, photography, and filmmaking. The idea is to empower people by creating spaces for self-reflection, healing, and critical consciousness. It is essential to capture the imagination as it signifies the…
Author: Dr Murthy & Ms Radha Murthy Title- Book Review: Stories Of Resilience by Ramendra Kumar, published by Protsahan India Foundation Child abuse, more technically called, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) has come into greater focus of mental health professionals in the last one decade. Though childhood was recognized as important for centuries, the recent evidence of the biological impact of…
Author: Sanhati Banerjee By Sanhati Banerjee for Protsahan India Foundation As the nation continues to grapple with the deadly coronavirus second wave amid vaccination drives, it has left a devastating toll on human lives and minds. Perhaps, the worst part of the unfolding tragedy has been its impact on vulnerable populations including children, who are neither physically nor mentally disposed…
Author: Sanhati Banerjee As India continues to be in the grip of the devastating COVID-19 second wave, it has left a number of children without care, homes and parents. Children losing both parents to the deadly coronavirus are now referred to as COVID orphans, a term that has gained much currency on social media in the last few weeks. Child…
Author: Sanhati Banerjee, Payal Rani & Preeti Poddar “My parents were discussing that since schools are shutdown, they should get me married. I am 14. I want to study. I want to learn English and Computer Science. Protsahan child care officers came to my home and convinced my father about my studies when my father had burnt my school textbooks….
Author: Sanhati Banerjee India’s Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the much anticipated 2021-22 Union Budget on February 1, 2021. The Budget saw the government making a big push in the infrastructure front with big-ticket projects announced in roads, highways and metro and rail projects especially in poll-bound states. Experts were clamoring for big government spending in key sectors like infrastructure…
Author: Sanhati Banerjee UNICEF DATA: INDIA’S CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN NUMBERS Every day 67,385 babies are born in India, that’s one sixth of the world’s child births. Every minute one of these newborns dies. Statistics reflect community attitudes with fewer hospital admissions for girls than boys. In 2017 alone 150,000 fewer girls were admitted to SNCUs than boys. Under-five mortality…
Protsahan’s Slum DigiLab center opens its doors on 1st Nov 2019 with the objective of bridging the digital-divide for children with no access to digital resources.
Inspired by the #SwachhBharat initiative, Protsahan girls launch the Waste To Wealth campaign providing local solutions to local cleanliness issues in their community.
Parenting today is not just about sending children to school with a healthy tiffin, ensuring their homework is complete, and they excel in sports so that they have a shot at the best colleges in a reputed university. It is a far more complex task than it used to be, because parents also have to prepare their children against any…
An educated girl has direction, she has hope. She will become a mentor to other girls, she will CHANGE THE WORLD. My second week of internship at Protsahan India Foundation opened new doors and issues, especially those related to the education of girls. Among the hustle and bustle of the city, and the cobwebs of our society we fail to…
Pune, June,2014 : In keeping with Protsahan’s aim of providing a safe and empathetic environment where issues that affect adolescent girls in urban slums are openly addressed, Protsahan’s Pune chapter kick started a series of workshops addressing child marriage on 29th June. In the interactive session, students confronted big questions about the ethics and effects of child marriage. They found…
Anshu Anshu is a very bright young adolescent girl who began coming to Protsahan in 2010. By early 2013, she had learnt Kalamkari (an ancient Indian traditional art form) and has beautifully picked up the Warli and Madhubani art forms. She comes from a family where her father is a rag picker and her mother works in an iron factory….
One in four Indian children in the age group of 13-15 years (adolescents) is depressed. This disquieting statistic was released by the World Health Organization in 2016 in a report about the mental health status of adolescents in the country. Even as we observe World Mental Health Day this year, a silent mental health crisis is brewing among children across…
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ~ Martin…
In times of increasing need for varied therapeutic approaches for varied populations, team Protsahan had the honour to visit, experience and understand the multimodal services and integration of holistic and innovative practices in existing treatment provided by VIMHANS hospital in the area of mental health through Expressive Arts Therapy. The two day visit was informative and helpful for us to…
Though there are many communities in which menarche, i.e. the first time a girl menstruates, is marked as an occasion of celebration, the hypocrisy is that at the same time the girls are not allowed to enter the temples, or kitchens as they are considered ‘dirty’. I am 15-years-old and I already find it outrageous how several people are invited…
World Menstrual Hygiene Day – 28 May, 2019 28th May is celebrated as the World Menstrual Hygiene Day and the theme for 2019 being- ‘It’s Time for Action’. Network for Enterprise Enhancement and Development Support (NEEDS) introduced one of its kind innovation to take discussions around menstrual hygiene to the last miles and that is through visual art. This year…
A UNICEF study shows 1 in 3 girls in south Asia have no knowledge of menstruation before their first period, and 48% of girls in Iran think that menstruation is a disease! At Protsahan, we work closely with at-risk adolescent girls living in slum areas of Uttam Nagar in Delhi. Almost a decade back, when we began working within urban…
In the age of smart phones, internet, same sex marriages and globalization, menstruation is still a taboo is many parts of India and the world. Be it a village, city, town or an upscale posh community, this natural phenomenon is often discussed in hushed tones. ‘Don’t wear white!’ ‘Menstruation is a disease!’ ‘Are you crazy? You’re not supposed to tell…
In Part-1 of the series, we spoke about some of the salient features of the POCSO Act, 2012, and tried to simplify it enough for everyone. In Part-2, lets take a look at why we need a special Act like POCSO to address the issue of Child Abuse in India. A lot of times, the argument has been made that…
It’s been more than a decade since the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India released a survey report on child abuse in India. During this period, there have been quite a few developments, and many positive steps have been taken to ensure that childhoods are not destroyed by the monster of child abuse. One such positive steps…
Menstruation is one of the oldest and most far-reaching taboos. Especially in India and across South Asia, the reluctance to speak about periods is widespread, resulting in worryingly low education and awareness – particularly among the demographic of adolescent girls, of whom India has some 120 million. A recent study for Menstrual Hygiene Day reported that 1 out of 3 school girls across South Asia was not aware of periods before experiencing one for the first time, and only 2.5% of the same group knew that menstrual blood came from the uterus. If menstrual hygiene is not given importance, it will raise the risk of reproductive infections and affect the health of millions of girls who are unaware of the stark consequences.
When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. – Malala Yousafzai Our voices are our most powerful weapon. They not only are a source of inspiration but reveal our emotions and depict a story unheard. With this notion, BBC Radio India graciously joined us on our journey to hear stories of PROTSAHAN girls about their life ,…
Next time, you are looking for handmade cloth pouches, soft toys, candles, diyas, souveniors to gift your loved ones, will you remember us? Every handicraft item made by a Protsahan woman and a young adolescent girl, symbolizes Empathy, Creativity & Life Skills; the 3 core values of Protsahan.
We’d love to handcraft some love for you!
Here are some of our handicraft products with their price ranges. (Delivery: Within India only)
In the photo: Divya Mathias, volunteer from Symbiosis University, teaching English to Ritu at Protsahan “Protsahan: Because Art transforms wounds into hope.” When I first saw this on the Protsahan webpage, I was intrigued and wondered was it really possible. My first day at Protsahan as a volunteer, the girls were taking a photography class, they were going to capture…
We have been able to crowd source 4 cameras for our children through Twitter and Facebook. We need another 16. Will you help us make this possible? Donate your old DSLR or digital cameras to Protsahan and become a part of the revolution to encourage creative education and skill development through art. Learning with a lovely volunteer from Russia at…
Art Heals, Protsahan Taught Me How To be yourself in a world always trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. There is another life waiting for you ‘as you step out of the comfort zone’. I had always heard but never experienced, highly grateful to Protsahan for giving me an undoubtedly remarkable and a truly memorable experience…
Travelling through the tapered roads of Hastsal, on reaching my destination I was stupefied on being received by the doting smiles of the little angels of Protsahan. Truly said, “The soul can be healed by being with children.” They rekindled me with a lot more joy and hope than I expected, exactly then did my first experience of interning kick start!…
Internships are an intrinsic part of any B-School curriculum. Abiding by this, we, Anurag Krishnam, Abhinav Singh Raat, Juhi Shukla, Prakhar Verma and Pooja Chowhan introducing ourselves as the new interns at Protsahan India Foundation this summer, traveled down from Greater Noida to a place in Uttam Nagar that changed our perspectives forever. With a to-do list in our mind…
It had all started as a discussion between Elsa Marie Dsilva (Founder: Safecity.in) and Sonal Kapoor (Founder: Protsahan) when they met during their Vital Voices Fellowship Programme in Nepal. Vital Voices is an international organization that invests in extraordinary women who are trying to transform the world, one unique step at a time with sustainable approaches. Vital Voices works with…
Girls at Protsahan never shy away from a challenge, for their stories always start at extremely complex, difficult points – social rejection and isolation, abuse, discrimination, familial pressures, poverty – but nonetheless, their plot lines are designed to move towards happy endings. For when you’re rewriting your own destiny, with hands held by some of country’s best young people, you…
After getting a little lost, I nervously waited in front of the landmark given to me and worried about what was expected of me. But soon enough two little girls came to pick me up and I could swear I’d seen them somewhere, but then again, probably not. Khushboo and Fatima effortlessly put me at ease as one explained directions…
“Stories are the way human beings understand and communicate our deepest values”, Marshall Ganz Across the world, storytelling has been used as an effective means of social change. Tales of great leaders have inspired many more in bringing a revolution. Cinema for years has been used as a mass medium of storytelling, spreading information and building awareness about social issues….
24th January is observed as the National Girl Child Day. Due to lack of stringent rules and their implementation in India, India has the highest Violence Against Children cases. The child sex ratio in the last census was 914 against 1000 males, the lowest recorded since independence. Protsahan has been working for the upliftment of Girl Child for the last…
As we stand in 2013, going ahead towards another year full of promises of progress, we can’t help but stop and reflect back on the disparity created in the society and how it has changed our outlook towards people. 40 million children below that age of 15 are suffering from child abuse and neglect. There are approximately 246 million child…
Aanchal The little bundle of joy, Aanchal is the naughtiest of the lot at Protsahan. And it’s not hard to figure out when she has a mischief on her mind. Her smiles gives it away. The Happy Face of Protsahan, Aanchal loves studies and also loves irritating her teachers. She loves English and wants to become an English teacher when…
Fatima Fatima stands true to her name, captivating, charming. When you walk into Protsahan, it is usually hard to ignore Fatima all chirpy and vibrant. Fatima spreads across energy that cheers up everyone. 14 year old Fatima tries to come to Protsahan everyday despite going to school, working at a house nearby, working at her own house and taking her…
Soni “Iske gaalon me to tube light hai. Dekho kaise chamakte hai jab vo jasti hai” (Her cheeks have tube light in them. See how they light up whenever she laughs). Soni’s friends get excited when asked what do they love about Soni. They say she always laughs and there is never a dull moment in her life. Soni lives…
Manisha Some plants grow themselves and some need to be nurtured. Manisha has to be nurtured. Manisha was a slow learner and does not act like the other children. Termed as ‘pagal’ by her peers in the village, Manisha used to stand for hours in line to fill buckets of water and everyone pushed her away, giggled and laughed at…
Kiran The girl whose eyes twinkle like a star in the night sky every time she smiled. That’s how she was spotted by Protsahan from her village. And the delicious mix of naughtiness and curiosity won over our hearts. Kiran joined Protsahan 3 years ago when she was struggling to understand the world around her. Education did not interest her….
Sonam A 12 year old, never stepped our of her home, never had friends, never knew the world beyond her family. With a large family of 4 brothers and 1 sisters, she was never introduced to the outside world. 1st day at Protsahan and she just wanted to run back home. No communications skills, hair all messed up, sitting in…
As a tribute to the #16days campaign, Protsahan would like to share the story of our 8 beautiful women in the making, fighting the harsh realities of this world and discovering their true selves. Protsahan has just been a facilitator. Protsahan India Foundation is a youth based international non-profit organisation that uses the innovative approaches of Design, Art, Digital Stories,…
Say No to Open Defecation – Filmy Expressions and Walkathon! Project Partners: UNICEF India Execution of all campaign workshops by: PROTSAHAN India Foundation September 29, 2013 Gosavi Basti slum cluster in Pune (at Karve Nagar) is an interesting place, because its resident children and communities comprise some of the most enthusiastic migrant populations you will ever meet. Every Sunday, when…
Millions of girls in India face obstacles in their lives, experiencing various forms of discrimination, exploitation and abuse on account of their age and their sex. Each year, an increasing number of children in India face sexual violence. Recently, there have been cases of rape that have galvanized global attention and sparked mass demonstrations and widespread debate on the issue…
Employee Designation: Project Coordinator [FULL TIME] Employee Role On appointment to Protsahan India Foundation as Project Coordinator you will be reporting to the Director of Protsahan India Foundation, with the responsibility of managing the operations at Protsahan’s Educare Project at New Delhi. Employee Responsibilities The following are the responsibilities attached to the role. I. Project Coordinator Execute and Manage…
Ok..so here we are hiring! Yeah. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR: Two very bright and creative [Read: madly creative..yes..that is the level we desire] Young people [Age: 18-30] who have a knack for design and creative thinking [Your NIFT/NID/IDC or design degrees are added advantage, even if you have ever sung Zombie on stage, let us know! We would admire…
Reblogged from another Protsahan blog: “Yes. I am passing days fighting my emotions everyday. Yes, I’m a warrior of self created blindfolds. Yes, I’m trying to find my way. Yes, I’m tired of thinking and trying to make the best out of my life. Maybe, I’ve forgotten the importance of feelings, the importance of emotions and the importance of human…
How many times have you looked at the streets and felt sad or angry about the dismal state of beggars? How many times have you exclaimed, “Poor thing!” OR just rolled up the windows in exasperation? How many times have you blamed the country, the politicians, the mafia or “anyone” for the prevailing issues? It’s a fact that the economic…
Hey all Protsahan – A social initiative that believes in the power of creativity of colors and stories (Click here to see) in bringing change in the lives of the underprivileged. We call volunteers and interns for 2011-12. Remember, you don’t have to have a college degree to volunteer. You don’t even have to make your subject and your verb agree…
[slideshow] “Remember those times, when you splashed buckets of rang chasing your friends and ran infinitely across streets just to take ‘the Gulal revenge’ on your sibling! What frolic and gaiety times they were… We definitely cherish our childhood and always yearned for our children at Protsahan to have wonderful memories of this colorful festival, Holi” Protsahan’s children were thrilled…
[slideshow] Finally the long awaited Delhi Twestival (Twitter Festival) 2011 is here at Ramada Plaza, 19, Ashoka Road (half a km from nearest metro station: Patel chowk). Months and weeks of hard work will be out there… not just for you and me to see…but for all those little eyes of little girls from Protsahan… whose lives might just never be…
Life will go on as long as there is someone to sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen. Protsahan believes in educating the children of the world through stories. Triggered by that thought Protsahan celebrates an ongoing, neverending Storestival..yes a festival that celebrates the art of story telling with street kids. We have used puppets, props, champaks, stages,…