Projects::Health Care and Living Assistance for Senior Citizens and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women - 2006

NGO Partner: Grameen Vikas Lok Sanstha, Latur
TNGO Partner: Nari Samata Manch, Pune
Nari Samata Manch a Pune and Mumbai based well known NGO, works for the cause of women.
Besides providing support in the form of temporary shelter, legal aid, and counseling, the NGO assists women to resettle in their lives. In this endeavor the NGO faces the following significant challenges: safe work environment, training opportunities and support in job oriented skills, placement and referral service, and life skills to survive against the odds.

To meet this need, the NGO has proposed to institute an innovative training program .Health
Care and Living Assistance.. After going through such training, the women will have acquired
valuable job oriented skills, and through the placement and referral assistance they will be able to find income earning opportunities to support themselves and their dependents.

Decision to institute this program has been a conscious choice. There is an ever increasing demand for trained healthcare assistance due to the changing demographic set up in the urban communities. A large number of senior citizens now prefer to live on their own; several of these are parents of NRIs. These senior citizens would very much welcome a house companionship and Para-nursing assistance services. Thus this program has a great potential to offer a mutually beneficial solution: an opportunity to become independent and earn their living for the women; and to the senior citizens, a reliable and well trained health care and living assistance service. An appropriate training curriculum has been developed which covers: communication skills, household management, cooking, basic first aid, telephone usage, bank and post related work, efficient reading and writing, and household accounts.

The training is also covers topics such as awareness regarding the aging process, diet, and old age diseases. This will enable the trainees to tackle health problems, depression, and related issues. The training will be given with the help of renowned experts. If this experiment proves successful, it can be replicated in other major cities in India under the auspices of local NGOs.

The project duration is three years and the total estimated project cost is $ 20,000.