Oxfam India’s Community Leader Wins Woman Exemplar Award 2019

Oxfam India’s Community Leader Wins Woman Exemplar Award 2019

Born into a Dalit family in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district, 32 year old Kanchan was a child bride and a child labour; she was denied proper education and faced caste-based discrimination. With her grit and determination, Kanchan became a leader from a survivor. She has worked for the rights of Dalit children and women since 2002. In April this year, she was awarded the CII Woman Exemplar Award. 

For Kanchan, education was a far-fetched dream as her family believed in educating only their son. As the elder child, it was her responsibility to take her brother to school. “I would have never been introduced to education had I not been accompanying my brother to school. I enrolled myself in school. I dropped out when I was in class eight as my parents couldn’t afford to pay the fees.” Kanchan’s parents were daily wage labourers; after dropping out she started going to work with her mother. As soon as she started earning some money, she went back to school and eventually completed her B.Ed exams. 

But it wasn’t easy. Belong to a Dalit family, she faced discrimination in school everyday. “Whenever I volunteered for any extra-curricular activities, the teacher would tell me that I come from a Dalit family and I should not aim for anything more than basic classroom activities,” she said. 

Struggling her way through this systematic humiliation that Dalit children face in classrooms, she recognised the need to empower the adolescents to fight such identity-based discrimination. 

Her ordeals, however, were not restricted to her identity as a Dalit alone; she was married off as soon as she attained puberty. As a child bride, she faced immense family restrictions and was subjected to physical assault. It was not an easy journey. From negotiation to arguments to fights, I tried them all to get my family to support me. However, today I have the last say when it comes to decision making in the family,” she says. 

She started work as a community mobiliser at the age of fifteen in 2002 after completing her matriculation. She started working with Child Line Kushinagar as a counselor. Having faced discrimination herself, she wanted to work for Dalits.  She joined Jan Vikas Sansthan (JVS) in 2016, a Jaunpur-based community led organisation and one of the partner NGOs of Oxfam India. CLOs are grass root level organisations working for the rights of marginalised communities and are led by the communities themselves. Oxfam India trains its partner CLOs on issues of gender, health, education, and inclusion.

READ HOW OXFAM INDIA'S WORK ENABLES MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES LIVE A LIFE FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION

In JVS, Kanchan works with adolescents to address gender-based discrimination within the Dalit community. She works in remote parts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and has reached out to 5,000 Dalit children through her work on rescue, rehabilitation and life skills. Through her work, she has mobilised 8,000 Dalit women to speak out against caste-based violence and discrimination, including that which pushes Dalit children out of the education system.

JVS has trained groups of adolescent volunteers who in turn teach their local community members (adolescents, parents, and farmers) about their rights, in each intervention village. Kanchan works on these community engagement programmes to train adolescents and their parents on health, education, and safety with an aim to improve marginalised communities access to education and health services.

Social Inclusion

Our work enables marginalised communities, such as Dalits, tribals and Muslims to live a life free from discrimination

Read More

Related Blogs

Blogs

Stories that inspire us

Social Inclusion

22 Oct, 2019

Delhi

Say yes to #EqualWaliDiwali

Dussehra, Dhanteras, and Diwali constitute the most awaited festive season in India. Marking new beginnings and celebrating the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, it is of...

Social Inclusion

09 Oct, 2019

Delhi

Celebrate Daan Utsav with Oxfam India

What is Daan Utsav (Joy of Giving Week)? Daan Utsav or the Joy of Giving Week is celebrated from October 2-8 every year. Marking its onset on Gandhi Jayanti, this week-long celebration a...

Social Inclusion

31 Jul, 2019

Delhi

The scourge of manual scavenging

Manual scavenging, one of the most abominable realities that exist in the country today is defined as “the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner, hu...

Social Inclusion

05 Feb, 2019

Uttar Pradesh

Jalaun's Manual Scavengers- Fighting for Right to Life with Dignity

Phoolan Devi from Mangraul Village in Uttar Pradesh has a regular morning routine for the past many years, which includes waking up, performing household chores and then visiting houses i...