VIKALP SANSTHAN

WHAT THEY DO

India accounts for 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages, with 43% of women in India aged 20-24 married before the age of 18. In Rajasthan, a shocking 57.6% of women were married as a child. Vikalp Sansthan was established in 2004 with the aim of creating a violence-free society that is based on equity, justice and peace. They work with youth and adolescents in nine districts of Rajasthan to address gender-based violence and end child marriage. Vikalp partners with local governments, state officials, NGOs and law enforcement agencies to create conditions that will finally put a stop to child marriage in the state.

Vikalp Sansthan has developed a Youth Task Force responsible for reporting child marriages in their villages, counselling community members against child marriage and organising awareness raising activities. Vikalp Sansthan also has a strong focus on increasing access to education for girls (when the education of girls increases, child marriages decreases), working directly with parents to encourage them to keep their daughters in school.

Vikalp’s success has been enormous:

  • 74 villages in the areas where they work have been certified as ‘child marriage-free’ - huge progress in a state where child marriage is so prevalent
  • More than 600 child marriages and 450 guanas (the process by which brides are moved to their in-laws house) have been prevented
  • Over 150,000 people have taken an oath never to perform or participate in a child marriage
  • Marriage service providers have started informing Vikalp when they hear of child marriages taking place
  • More than 4,800 girls are now pursuing further education in 10th standard as a result of Vikalp counselling parents and actively enrolling girls in school
  • 330 schools are working closely with Vikalp to end child marriage in their community

FOCUS OF OUR PARTNERSHIP

Vikalp Sansthan is GoPhilanthropic’s newest partner in India, coming on board in February 2017. GoPhilanthropic will focus our support around the development of a new counselling and resource centre for women and girls, the first of its kind in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The counselling, support and helpline centre will provide psychological, legal, financial and other support necessary for their empowerment - this will be a ‘safe space’ where women who have experienced any kind of violence or discrimination can come to seek advice. In particular, GoPhilanthropic is supporting:

  • Start up funds for the new centre (the running costs)
  • Two full-time counsellors to run the centre and provide professional advice
  • An emergency survivors’ support fund

THEIR VISION: Vikalp Sansthan’s vision is to create a violence-free society based on equity, peace and justice, where all people enjoy physical and mental freedom, freedom from gender violence, equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination. They aim to do this by empowering youth through creating alternative and innovative ways for them to voice their opinions and integrating them in the process of social development to help them create a future which is just and equal for all.