Imaara Foundation: A Peace Tech Built Offering Support to Survivors of SGBV and Bystanders

Hello fellow WP members!

As always, I hope this post finds you doing safe and well and I send you lots of warmth, love and positive vibes with this write-up!

I have some exciting news to share! A year ago, I began The Neeti Project, an initiative that worked towards supporting people who have experienced or continue to experience any form of trauma as a result of enduring violence or violations and and preventing sexual and gender-based violence in communities. Today, this imitative has transformed into a formally recognized NGO in my country - India - going by the name Imaara Survivor Support Foundation.

Acknowledgements:

1. This milestone could not have been achieved without Kirthi Jayakumar, advisor to Imaara! Kirthi is someone who has been by my side offering SO MUCH support, kindness, and love each time a hurdle was experienced or achievement was celebrated and I do not have enough words to thank her. She is truly a blessing to me, WP, and the world.
2. World Pulse & Ana Lozano - for introducing the Changemakers Lab which helped shape Imaara for what it is today.
3. All my friends and family without whom this feat could not have been achieved.

The context:

Sexual and gender-based violence continues to be a rampant issue in my community and country at large and it is exactly this problem that Imaara is striving to prevent and ultimately mitigate. Our vision is to see a world that prioritizes empathy and respect towards fellow human beings that is devoid of judgments, dangers, and insecurities - a world where basic human rights are enjoyed by everyone regardless of their background.

The NGO also aspires to prioritize redressal to survivors or victims of SGBV and lay importance to survivor-centricism in all our activities. Imaara acknowledges the extreme amounts of strength and capability it takes to choose to thrive and heal despite the long and short term effects of any form of violence or violation. As an organization, we wanted to show our tribute to this willpower that survivors hold, therefore calling our NGO Imaara made sense as it means strong, capable, firm, or to enliven in various languages including Swahili, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi.

Why is this issue important enough to tackle?

Apart from the damaging effects violence or violations can have on every person who has experienced it, there are lesser known outcomes that violence can have on societies progress:

• Lesser income and more remedial expenditures for the survivors or victims automatically places greater pressure on judicial systems, healthcare systems, social service systems, etc. 
• Economic sectors that are handled by individuals or companies confront lower productivity rates from survivors or victims of SGBV due to the traumatic effects that violence has induced on survivors or victims.  
• Survivors or victims who are parents can unintentionally pass on trauma to their children causing the aftermath of violence to be intergenerational. These children are more likely to experience physical and emotional issues which can transform into behavioral problems when they reach adulthood (example: greater chances of self-harm, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, etc.). Having constant exposure to violence as a child or behavioral issues that develop as a result of parents who have endured trauma can cause youngsters to become perpetrators or victims of violence in the future. Consequently, the cycle of violence would continue in societies. 

How has Imaara set out to tackle SGBV in India & Support Survivors?

We are fulfilling our goals through 4 projects:

1. The Butterfly Hug Project: This project (named intentionally to let you know that we are extending our butterfly wings to envelope you with love, warmth, and support if you so desire) aims to provide useful information and resources to survivors or victims or SGBV and offer bystander support and intervention tips. The information is currently disseminated through our site and includes information on:

• Pan India resources - legal, mental health, medical, police, shelter/food/crisis response, education & employment, child support, state women's commission, local complaints committees, legal service authorities & one stop center's.
• Detailed breakdown of how to navigate each resource in the Indian context and highlight expectations one can have while seeking a particular resource.
• normalizing various psychological states of mind and trauma by offering in-depth article write-ups.
• providing bystander intervention training and bystander support too.

1. Project Tell-Tale: This projects aspires to document and share courageous, inspiring, and moving tales of survivors or victims of sexual and gender-based violence and bystanders.
2. Voices for Change Project: This project aims to consensually and ethically research and document the experiences of survivors or victims regarding their experiences with trauma and support systems and services in place for their benefit. It is for any survivor or victim from any age group, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, educational background, socio-economic status, etc.
3. The Transformative Justice Project: This initiative aspires to ethically engage in research on transformative justice, a study that can potentially inform policy and law making, training, and education surrounding sexual and gender-based violence prevention and enhance survivor/victim redressal.

Current challenges:

As a platform that has only provided love and support to me when I required it the most, I have decided to share my current apprehensions and hurdles that I am experiencing with regards to Imaara's progress in the hope of receiving direction, feedback, collaboration, or action from my WP sisters and friends.

1. Funding: As you may know already, running an NGO requires financing sources to support its long and short-term objectives. I would love to hear any tips you may have on bootstrapping, crowdfunding, investments from professional funders, and grants. It would also be extremely helpful if you could direct me to international or local organizations that provide funding for NGO's.
2. The absence of a team: Since The Neeti Project began as a one woman army and has transformed into Imaara, the NGO continues to have a lack of a team that could collectively make important decisions, split tasks, and improve productivity. The slow inflow of funding hinders the option paid employment. I would love to hear any feedback or direction from all of you regarding this and would be even more elated if you would like to join the team.

Links:

1. Website: https://www.imaara.in/
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imaara.foundation/
3. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theneetiproject
4. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/83951052/admin/feed/posts/