IMPLEMENTING COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY AND PERSONAL SAFETY EDUCATION IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS
IMPLEMENTING COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY AND PERSONAL SAFETY EDUCATION IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS
Enfold Proactive Health Trust
22, 3rd Main Rd, Ashwini Layout, Ejipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560047.
The team works on issues of child protection to advance children’s rights and implementation of laws. We engage with evidence generation, policy engagement, system strengthening, and academic activities. The team also addresses legal queries and requests for research assistance, and contributes towards the development of guidelines, SOPs, and handbooks related to child protection.
The team provides support services to children and families who report sexual abuse, from the time of reporting of the abuse, through the various procedures in the criminal justice system The team focusses on enabling child survivors of sexual abuse to access justice, other available support systems and in healing. Having gained extensive ground experince, the team conducts training on the POCSO Act and procedures for stakeholders like the police, medical and judicial personnel, social workers, counselors and NGOs, besides working collaboratively with the Government on these issues, advocacy and policy making with support from UNICEF. The team also does trainings onPOSH Act (workplace sexual harassment and redressal mechanisms) for stakeholders , corporates and educational institutions.
Ms Meena Sivaraman, equipped with an M.Sc in Child Development from MS University, Baroda, has worked in the area of primary education for underprivileged children, and is on the expert panel of Parent Edge, a parenting magazine. She now runs several day care centers in Bangalore for companies like Infosys, Ness Technologies, HCL and Mind Tree.
Dr S T Ramesh is a retired Director General & Inspector General of Police, Karnataka state. In his time in office, he spearheaded the modernization program including computerization and software development for all of Karnataka police, as well as the introduction of several e- governance initiatives. He emphasized the importance of updating police training to incorporate Gender Sensitization & development of ‘Work place policy for HIV.’ He also presented several reforms to humanize prisons, which won high acclaim from the Supreme Court & Karnataka High Court, Government and NGOs.
After getting his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Dilip began his career in 1984, as a member of the Technology team at Madras Computer Labs, and since then has gained over 30 years of experience in the software business spanning engineering, management and business development. Along with being a hands on engineer and entrepreneur, Dilip helps Enfold raise much needed funds.
Ms Abha Choudhuri is a graduate from Calcutta University with a BA honors in Geography. with Cartography 1961, and an LL.B University of Bombay 2003. She is a free-lance cartographer, and associate member of Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospital – assisting in adoption of orphaned or abandoned infants, Pune. She is a freelance editor for private publications like ‘And the Bamboo Flowers in the Indian Forests’ by Dr. Manorama Savur. She is also a life member of Maharashtra State Womens’ Counci, worked at Asha Sadan Rescue Home for Girls 1989 to 1998, and a life member of Bombay Natural History Society.
Karuna Bishnoi – has over four decades of work experience in social development, advocacy, programme planning and management with a specific focus on child rights since 2000.
Since her retirement from UNICEF after a term of over 27 years, she has continued to work on policy analysis and programme reviews to contribute to organizational learning and guide strategic planning and advocacy, undertake research and analytic documentation for knowledge development.
Subhashini is a sexuality educator and a trainer. She holds a Master Degree in Zoology and holds an M.phil., in Biotechnology. She began her career as a lecturer at Mount Carmel College, nurturing and guiding young adults for over 10 years. As a passionate facilitator in the field of sexuality and life skills has been associated with Enfold Proactive Health Trust for over 10years. She has an extensive experience with training teachers (trained over 1000 teachers) in life skills, sexuality and child/adolescence psychology thereby enhancing their professional awareness and growth. She has conducted sessions on gender sensitisation/empowerment, assertiveness, child welfare and personal safety, Demystifying sexuality, child sexual abuse awareness and prevention. Also, as a practicing Integrative therapist, works to support the autonomy of the individuals, enabling balance, coherence and wellness in a relationship based on safety, trust, respect, curiosity, openness, love, compassion and acceptance.
Vibha Angre, born and raised in Bangalore, found herself drawn to Human Rights and the legal sector after her active participation in the Model United Nations. She decided to enhance this interest by graduating from University Law College with a B.A LLB in 2019. Pursuant to this, she joined Cardiff University, UK to pursue her long-standing dream of a Master’s in Law in Human Rights. It was during the successful completion of her LLM that she found her passion for research and Child Rights and even submitted her final dissertation on child autonomy in the medical and legal sector. After working in the UK in Immigration Law, Vibha decided to start her journey in child rights at Enfold in the year 2022. Vibha’s past employments in the capacity of a lawyer make her hopeful of using this skill set to continue work in Legal Research and eventually pursue a Ph.D. in Law focusing on Child Rights and child autonomy. Vibha has also been a professional dancer for the past 8 years, a part of her life that she enjoys even today on the weekends. She is a workout fanatic and loves kickboxing, she is sometimes found cozied in a nook either painting or embroidering numerous pieces of cloth.
Antara is an intersectional feminist working towards creating safe spaces for women and adolescent girls from marginalized communities. She has over six years of experience in program implementation, community engagement and partnership building. She has led research and advocacy projects on women and children in internally displaced areas in India, and deterrence of sexual harassment in public spaces and workspaces. She has enabled safe spaces for adolescent girls in the tea estates of Assam while mentoring and idenitfying peer leaders in the same. She believes that collective social action can create a larger social change.
Suja Sukumaran has been with the ‘Support and Rehabilitation’ team, since 2013, assisting children with their rehabilitation. She is also engaged in advocacy, liaisoning & fund raising for the organization. Suja imparts trainings for POSH, POCSO Act & Life skills. She is a counsellor in addition to being a POSH IC external member for several organizations. Prior to this, she had worked as a CASA volunteer for juvenile delinquents, in a non-profit called Voices for Children, in San Diego, California. Suja holds Post Graduate degrees in Molecular Biology from University of South Carolina and Bangalore University. She was a Junior Research fellow in IISc, Bangalore and as a Research Scientist in a Pharma company, USA. She has worn other hats as a journalist, a writer and is a hobby photographer.
Shivangi Puri has completed her M.A. in Social Work specialising in Criminology and Justice from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Previously she was a part of the team at Enfold that works using Restorative Practices within the Juvenile Justice System. That work involved her engaging with both Children in Need of Care and Protection and Children Alleged to be in Conflict with Law within Child Care Institutions. She has also contributed to research and writing in the area of child rights and juvenile justice, having been a part of 2 statewide research studies in this area. Currently, in her capacity as a part of the Research Team, she is working with the team on research related to child protection and implementation of child related laws. While she’s not working she likes to paint walls, read, listen to podcasts, swim, play badminton, meet new people and lately has discovered a newfound love for cats.
Ranu is a law graduate from Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. Her areas of interest include Criminal Laws, Children’s Rights, International Human Rights Law and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). She is passionate about legal research and writing and has previously interned in organizations like Enfold, Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Centre for Justice, Law and Society at Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat, etc. She joined Enfold in June, 2021 as a Junior Legal Researcher in the Research Team.
Sreedevi is a law graduate who is interested in the areas of human rights and social justice.
Gopika has a degree in law and development studies. She is interested in making the legal system more accessible to everyone. She worked for several years in the field of labour law, and is currently involved in research on laws concerning child protection and juvenile justice.
Shruthi Ramakrishnan has been working since 2014 as legal consultant in Bangalore primarily in the area of child rights. She completed her BA.LLB. from Christ College of Law, Bangalore in 2011 and her LL.M. from Columbia University, New York in 2014 where she majored in Comparative Constitutional Law and International Human Rights.She subsequently worked as Research Consultant at the Centre for Child and the Law (CCL), National Law School of India University, Bangalore until 2015, where she worked extensively on juvenile justice laws and the law related to child sexual abuse in India. During the course of her work with CCL, she co-authored two books: Frequently Asked Questions on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Rules, 2012 And the criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, [2 nd ed., Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, 2015], and Law on Child Sexual Abuse in India – Ready Reckoner for Police, Medical Personnel, Magistrates, Judges and Child Welfare Committees, [Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, 2015]. Shruthi has published several articles and has been associated with emperical studies on the implememntation of child sexual abuse laws.
Pavithra is a trained social worker, has 4 years of experience in child and adolescent Counselling, since her Master’s in Social Work from the Bangalore University (2017). She initially worked as a review team member in child right trust. Part of the project she visited 47 CCI’s in Bengaluru and interacted with the children regarding facilities provided in CCI’s and identified the needs as well as the gaps. Detailed report on this inspection visit was submitted to the supreme court of india.She worked in UNICEF projects as a relationship manager based on neonatal babies health and awareness campaigns. She worked as a counsellor in government run and NGO run CCI’s for the period of 4 years. She joined Enfold in 2020 and working as a Restorative Practice Facilitator.
Dee (they/she) is a queer, anti-violence organiser and researcher with a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from Ambedkar University Delhi and a Bachelor’s degree in English (Hons) from University of Delhi. She has been associated with Enfold since August 2020, first joining as an intern and currently working as a Junior Researcher. Dee also works towards building community-based and anti-carceral strategies to address violence independently of the criminal legal system and other punitive structures in India. Her work is rooted in an abolitionist praxis and focused on building meaningful and accountable relationships within her community.
Swagata has been working since 2005 as a legal researcher. She has worked with leading human rights organisations in India and taught courses at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU) and School of Law, Christ University. She has led research studies on the working of Special Courts under the POCSO Act, authored several articles, studies, and books on juvenile justice, laws on child sexual abuse, and human rights institutions. She has contributed towards the drafting of Juvenile Justice Rules in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. While working with the Centre for Child and the Law at NLSIU, Swagata was part of a team that provided technical support to the Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Justice from 2014-2018. Swagata is a resource person for capacity building programs for judges, prosecutors, police, and functionaries within the child protection system. She has received training on facilitation of Restorative Circles and Harm Circles from several experts in USA. She earned Mst in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University and B.A.LLB (Hons) from W.B.National University of Juridical Sciences. She was the recipient of the Morris Prize for the highest overall score in her class at Oxford University.
Arlene is a trained social worker, specializing in child protection and juvenile justice, with over three decades of experience since her Master’s in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, (1990), with specialization in Family and Child Welfare. She initially worked with children in street situations while at civil society organizations in Mumbai and Bangalore for 9 years. She then worked at the Centre for Child and the Law, (CCL)-a research centre of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) for 19 years, where she served as a Research Fellow, heading the Juvenile Justice Program, leading a multi-disciplinary team and also led the centre itself for 2 years. At CCL-NLSIU she engaged in action-research, working within government run child care institutions while also undertaking research, training, teaching, writing and advocacy to inform the formulation and reform of policy and laws relating to children as well as their effective implementation, at state and national level. She was appointed to numerous statutory and other committees by the State and Central Government on matters concerning child rights and is a national level trainer on child protection. She works as an independent child protection specialist, consulting part-time with Enfold as the Head of the Restorative Practices team.
Serina D’Souza is a graduate of MSW. She has interests in working with women and children. With over 6 years of experience in the social and psychiatric sector she enjoys growing and training. She has extensive work experience in the fields of anti-human trafficking and rehabilitation including rescues, follow up, reintegration, and repatriation of the trafficked survivors. Additionally she has worked in a psychotherapy sector, which involved in nursing care responsibilities, therapeutic counseling, facilitating and training sessions which focus on the rehabilitation process, ultimately ensuring a safe and warm environment for the vulnerable. Meanwhile she has Worked as an outreach coordinator where she supervised students in social activities such as plantation, traffic rule following rural exposure and visits to different shelter homes for the aged and children. Serina currently works as a project coordinator for Enfold with the Rehabilitation Team, handling the UNICEF Project on Trainings for Supporting individuals across India. Through Enfold she is also involved in assisting and facilitating child survivors of sexual abuse with the legal and restorative facilities.
Vasu aka Vasumathi has done her MA in economic and Journalism. Diploma in counseling skills, child and student counseling, Certificate course in Life skills and special educator.
Later followed her passion to work with the sexually abused children. Joined as a coordinator, Rehabilitation and Reintegration team since the year 2018. Painting, writing in Kannada is her hobby. Love to live in present. *Live and let live* is her motto and *This too shall pass* is her signature line.
I am Babu K.V. finished my MSW in the year 2016, I did my internship at Enfold and continued working here after my post graduation. At present I am working as Coordinator, Rehabilitation and Reintegration.
My passion is to support children emotionally. My hobbies are playing cricket, reading books and spending time with children and my motto is that ‘the best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something’.
Kushi has been working with Enfold Proactive Health Trust, Bangalore since 2010. Her work largely involves supporting children who have faced sexual violence, their families and the involved stakeholders like police, medical officers, Child Welfare Committees, etc. She and others at Enfold’s Support and Rehab team assist children through the medical and criminal-justice processes and provide assistance until the child has moved on and the trial is complete. Kushi also provides training to stakeholders involved in the implementation of POCSO Act. The learning from their experiences on the ground have led her to be invited to provide inputs to the government on policy and advocacy matters.
Dr. Vinalini Mathrani has been associated with Enfold Proactive Health Trust in the capacity of a trainer/teacher on Research Methods and as Research Consultant for the Ford Foundation Project on Gender, Comprehensive Sexuality and Personal Safety Education. She has 35 years of experience in Research, Training and Social Work. Her focus areas are gender, education, and health. She started her career as a rural social worker and then went on to be a Lecturer in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Since 1995 she has been working a freelance capacity as a Research Consultant. She completed her PhD. in Social Work from TISS, Bombay in 2011. She has been associated with the following organisations as a researcher, trainer, lecturer, peer reviewer and board member: UNICEF; Directorate of State Education Research and Training, Government of Karnataka; Sutradhar (An educational resource centre); Belaku Trust (A women’s health research organisation); Community Health Cell; Karunashraya (A hospice for terminally ill cancer patients); Mahila Samakhya – Karnataka (MSK is a grassroots women’s empowerment programme); Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Bombay); Christ College (Bangalore); Azim Premji Foundation; Ramalingaswami Centre on Equity and the Social Determinants of Health (under the aegis of Public Health Foundation of India); Headstreams (an educational NGO); British Journal of Social Work; Development Solutions (Research and Evaluation Studies Organisation), Enfold Proactive Health Trust (NGO working on Gender, Sexuality and Personal Safety Education) and We World (Funding Organisation – Italy).
Eldrida Rita Lewis is an independent psychologist, researcher and content editor. She has Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology from Montfort College, Bangalore, Investigative Forensic Psychology from Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, and a Post-graduate diploma in Criminal Justice from IGNOU. With a passion for both Psychology and Law, she has volunteered and worked with various institutions and NGOs for over 8 years, primarily in the space of child rights and children in conflict with the law. She has been affiliated with Enfold since 2019. By using the skills that she has accumulated over the span of her professional life, she wishes to continue and puruse a lifelong career in Humanitarian work.
Gautham sathyaprem has over 5 years of experience in the Public health sector worked as a senior executive, team leader, field investigator, and educator for volunteer workers in health projects at the ground level, local level, and community level, and in schools, he understand the problems of the community level because we trained to improve social and economic overall build the strength of the community’s through conducted various health camps, youth programs, Environmental and sustainability Programs and IEC in the community for Improve Health, hygiene, with experience in various sectors like project management and implementation, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, and research, in Public health projects.
Pushpa has been in the development sector for more than 2 decades. She primarily engages with underprivileged children, youth, women, and families by empowering them to bring social change, particularly in the areas like child rights, gender equity, sexuality, and personal safety education for all. She worked with school heads, cluster level, and block level resource persons of the Education Department in Mysore District to build their capacities on leadership and resource mobilization skills that contribute to improving the quality of education in public schools. She developed a facilitator manual ‘Samujwala’ to build capabilities of School Development and Monitoring Committees in collaboration with GRAAM (Grass Root Research And Advocacy Movement), Mysore. She has done her Master’s in Sociology, this has nurtured her conviction that education and awareness can bring social change in both individuals and communities at large.
Juhi started her journey with Enfold as an intern with the Prevention Team at Enfold. Having a bachelor’s degree in psychology, her interests lie in the fields of developmental psychology, social psychology and interpersonal relationships. In her free time, I like to try new recipes, paint, crochet and play badminton.
Renu is a Special Educator with specialization in Autism, mainstream science and Biology educator, Gender equity and Personal safety educator and trainer in Personal Safety and sexuality education for children with disabilities. She is currently working as Project Director, and subject expert, Personal safety and Sexuality educator, trainer and facilitator for project SUVIDHA. which aims at Empowering caregivers, educators, trainers and other professionals working with children with Intellectual disabilities, Autism spectrum disorder and auditory and visual impairments, to provide life skills, personal safety and sexuality education to children and adolescents in their care . She has lead the Suvidha team since 2017 and helped Enfold in conceptualizing and developing the Suvidha Suraksha kit which includes hands on visual teaching learning aids and the Suvidha Sparsh kit with books in braille, audio files and sign language videos. Renu has co authored the Suvidha Manual for facilitators and 37 social scripts books for children with disabilities. She has also co authored and presented research papers at national and international conferences and published articles in journals, Autism magazine and online sites on personal safety and sexuality for children withdisabilities. Renu is an owner & creative director of a small enterprise “Wings ….to learn”, which specializes in handcrafted, customised & individualized Teaching- Learning aids for children with Autism and other related disabilities ( since 2013). As an educator and a parent of an adolescent daughter with Autism, Renu is passionate about working with children with neurodiverse abilities and their families and aims to empower children with knowledge and life skills, provide them access to equal opportunities, and support them to be able to grow as independent, productive and respected individuals in an empathetic and inclusive society.
Antara is an intersectional feminist working towards creating safe spaces for women and adolescent girls from marginalized communities. She has over six years of experience in program implementation, community engagement and partnership building. She has led research and advocacy projects on women and children in internally displaced areas in India, and deterrence of sexual harassment in public spaces and workspaces. She has enabled safe spaces for adolescent girls in the tea estates of Assam while mentoring and idenitfying peer leaders in the same. She believes that collective social action can create a larger social change.
Bilquis joined Enfold in 2013 with a background of over 20 years in business development. She has the operating experience to turn strategy into results, while building credibility with key collaborators. Her work involves strategic partnerships with a special focus on schools. She and others in the prevention team actively engage with projects which have a tangible impact on the communities Enfold serves in the area of gender equity, sexuality and personal safety.
Bharath has done his B.com graduation from Bangalore University. Worked closely to 3+ years in corporate sector. Joined Enfold in June 2019 as Coordinator to manage Accounts & Finance team.
Dezly has over 5 years of experience in the development sector. He has completed his MSW from Mangalore University and has previously supported the Restorative Practices team at Enfold in the capacity of ‘Consultant -Restorative Practices- having conducted the circle process with children in conflict with law at the Madivala Observation Home for boys in Bangalore. His prior experience includes working with ECHO- Center for Juvenile Justice as a programme coordinator and was primarily responsible for implementing programmes for the rehabilitation of children in conflict with law. Having done his undergraduate studies in hotel management he has also worked in the capacity of a hospitality/ vocational trainer teaching subjects like food production and hospitality law under ECHO’s rehabilitation programme affiliated to TISS School of Vocational Education. Apart from his social engagement and responsibilities, Dezly enjoys cooking and travelling but mostly enjoys spending time with his 5 year old daughter Delina.
Bhavana has done her Post Graduation in Master of Business Administration Finance. Has 4 years of experiance in accounts as Junior account executive and later Joined Enfold in the year 2014 as Executive-Finance. Her forcus is on Finance and accounting. She loves working with childeren and she is happy that she is part of Enfold team. When not at work she enjoys cooking visiting, hill stations and spending time with family.
Geetha is an experienced Consultant with 26 years in building and leading teams in the areas of Global Mobility, Expatriate Management, Travel & Immigration, Vendor Management , Operations and HR. She has worked with various corporates for 21 + years in operational roles for large, multinational retailers. Joined Enfold as Consultant in 2015 to manage the Finance , operations and CSR team. oversees Budget and financial planning, systems and services for the Finance team. Geetha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Bangalore University and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from ICFAI, Tripura.
The team addresses shame and silence around sexuality and sexuality education and builds the capacity of adults and children in recognizing and responding to sexual violence, especially child sexual abuse, in an empowering manner. Our trained facilitators conduct Gender Equity, Sexuality & Personal Safety education for children, children with disabilities, college students and adult stakeholders with the aim of creating safer spaces and preventing sexual and gender-based violence against children and adults.
The team ensures compliance and efficient functioning of all teams being the backbone of the organization.
Enfold is guided in its activities by a Board of Trustees.
The team has been using Restorative Practices to build and strengthen community, impart social and emotional learning, address misbehaviour or harm, and repair relationships within the Juvenile Justice System and in schools. The team facilitates Circles and trains Child Care Institution staff, school teachers, counselors, and social workers in building a restorative culture and addressing conflict through Restorative Practices.
The team pioneered sexuality and personal safety education for children and adolescents with disabilities in India. We created the Suvidha Suraksha kit – one of its kind, an interactive, easy-to-use visual teaching-learning tool for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities and Autism, and a Suvidha Sparsh kit for those with visual or auditory impairments. We have reached over 3000 parents, teachers, and trainers in over 50 schools and organizations across India through direct training, workshops, and online sessions. The adults have been empowered to support children with disabilities in learning the basics of sexuality, reproductive health, and personal safety as part of their life skills education.
Sakshi Aggarwal is a graduate in Psychology and a post graduate is Public Health. She is passionate about issues pertaining to women’s health and enjoys having discussions on gender issues. She joined Enfold in January 2021 as part of the Suvidha Project.
Varshini(She/her/they) is a graduate in English (Research) with a Minor in History. Learning more about intersectionality is her passion. She also writes poetry, explores places and tries to learn new things in her free time. She hopes to continue making the world a better place.