Q. Tell us about yourself?
Ans. I am ANANYA SANJEEV DULTA, an undergraduate from LADY SRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN. I’m the founder at a social welfare NGO, Sandhira foundation, which is registered under government of Himachal Pradesh. It is an initiative to create a safe platform for anyone who wishes to express themselves out in the crowd. A fight against patriarchy.
Q. What was your inspiration to run an NGO?
Ans. Idea behind execution of this institution is to fight against the norms of patriarchy. My constant inspiration for this NGO has been my mother, she’s also a social worker. Also, I believe people only let their heart out when they know what protocol the platform follows, so we created this safe space connected through zoom meets and live sessions.
Q. What made you specifically choose an issue like patriarchy? Did you ever encounter such circumstances in life?
Ans. Patriarchy is something that everyone in the society is subjected to, women’s financial dependency on men or educational differences, everything counts. There were my own personal experiences that made me feel more sympathetic and woke about these issues and I saw the dire need of a platform to address them. Through communication and live sessions namely, #CHAIPECHARCHA help us deal with these issues.
Q. How did you find like minded people for your organization?
Ans. This lockdown was a blessing for me in disguise, when everyone was locked up in their homes and wanted to let things out, it gave all this a kick-start. I approached all of my close friends who helped me in every way possible. We started off with SATURDAY LIVE SESSIONS namely, tea time talks. Once I put a story on my Instagram handle asking everyone about a particular topic and I got so many responses that it overwhelmed me with joy and gave me confirmation to keep the initiative going.
Q. What problems did you face during execution of your sessions?
Ans. After all the tea time talks that happened, we needed some recognized personalities who had greater work experiences to share with everyone. For this I approached HIMADRI MA’AM, my psychology teacher at school. Approving of my idea she agreed to be the guest and that particular day we hit one thousand views which made us extremely happy. Also finding interns when we couldn’t afford to provide stipend was a difficult task, but we registered under government of HIMACHAL so things started falling into place really soon after that. The interns also held regular zoom meetings and talk sessions to keep things smooth.
Q. How long did it take you to get registered?
Ans. It wasn’t an easy process to go through, but I did enjoy myself. I was happy about starting off a good thing. It took me almost 2-3 months to get registered. It was a long process and the government procedures have loop holes that you need to get through, but in the end it was worth it.
Q. What are your goals for this organization?
Ans. For now we have been training public speaking interns who just joined us. As of now I just want more participation of deserving delegates. I truly believe I got good people at the right time. Also, training them would help make a difference as 2-3 people alone cannot alone make a benchmark. For the future we have a lot of plans for collaborations as well as for on ground work which is inclined for women empowerment.
Q. What are your views about other NGOs and how they secure fundings?
Ans. I haven’t worked for any other NGO so far but the sad part is that many are present just to binge money out of the issue. The pockets of a few are filled up leaving the needy aside with no help which is an absolutely wrong practice. It will not give society a good message and would lead people to not believe anyone else who actually wishes to work on the same.
Q. What are your views on menstrual awareness?
Ans. The world is really cruel. The sanitary products the organizations get are often sold back to retailers which are then resold to consumers along with taxes. We had a talk show for this menstrual awareness issue which had a great response, we had men who not only truly talked about it but also told their own menstrual experiences they encountered.
HIGHLIGHTS
ANANYA SANJEEV DULTA is pursuing her undergraduate from LADY SRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN. She is also the founder of SANDHIRA FOUNDATION, a social welfare, non-profit foundation led by youth.
Idea behind this organization is to break the norms and practices of patriarchy in the society and provide a safe to talk platform for the people to talk about this issue.
Issues such as women’s financial dependency over men or educational indifferences, are discussed through live sessions named #chaipecharcha.
Our interns and public speakers are our support system as they constantly ensure smooth functioning.
One of the most important moments for her was taking a call for menstrual awareness with men who shared their menstrual incidents on the live show.
Comentarii