On 23rd January 2010 Mangalore will see a great conglomeration of inspirational women from various parts of the Dakshina Kannada district talking about ways to end domestic violence and discuss the case of Lt Shamshad. This open event is being organized by Breakthrough in partnership with about 300 to 400 Anganwadi workers from 9 Blocks in the Dakshin Kannada.

Anganwadi is a scheme by Government of India started in 1975 for women and child care.  These Anganwadi women have also gone through Breakthrough’s leadership training program called Strength in Action which is intended to provide teachers, NGOs and youth leaders with a powerful tool to engage with community to address domestic violence.

The trainings were conducted with 9 groups from 9 different areas of Dakshina Kannada district, each group constituting of 25 to 30 Aanganwadi women. In this meeting for the first time all these women will come together and share their learning. The purpose behind this event is many fold:

• To consolidate the learning process and share the learning. Each group will be represented by one women who will give a 10 min presentation on “how to prevent domestic violence.”
• To show the video of Lt. Shamshad and call for action from local government and other decision makers to work towards proper implementation of PWDV Act. T
• The exercise will make the women more confident and empower them

About Lt. Shamshad

Sister of one of our Rights Advocate, Shamshad lived in abject poverty and was a victim of domestic violence for many years. She tried taking recourse to police and made trips to the protection officer under PWDV Act but the system turned a deaf ear to her. On 1st Dec 09 unable to bear the beating she committed suicide. The above video is her statement recorded some time earlier when we had gone to meet her. On 23rd Jan 10 in Mangalore we will be remembering her and will promise that collectively we will end domestic violence.

Besides the presentation and discussion there will be cultural programs like Yakshagana performance by Breakthrough’s folk theater group. This performance is not just an ordinary performance. Traditionally Yakshagana performances are based on mythologies but rights advocates use this traditional theater media to talk about Domestic violence and women issues.

Coverage of the Event on social media

Keeping up with our constant efforts to use technology and mass media to highlight social issues we decided to rope in the bloggers, twitterers, photographers film makers from the urban tech community to cover the event live on various social media platforms including Bell Bajao Blog. By including them we will be able to (1) bridge the rural – urban, social – corporate, techie – non techie gap. 2) create web content for the great work done not only by Breakthrough but also by these Anganwadi women. Today if you google for ‘Anganwadi’ there is hardly any quality content that comes up in the top search results. 3) It would be a great opportunity for an urban youth to connect to grassroots.

We have identified 3 cool young bloggers from Bangalore who will cover the event, meet them:

• Hrish Thota – This young blogger is quite popular in the Twiterati by the nick name @Dhempe. Hrish is always active and dedicated to events related to blogging/social media, film making, photography and social change. Hrish’s Blog

• Vaijayanthi K M alias VJ is a Kannadiga + Tamilian women entrepreneur blogger. Known as @adropofwisdom on Twitter, she is also the India co-ordinator for Twestival – VJ’s Blog

• Gururaj is a Kannadiga; he is a very good writer who is aware of anganwadi schemes. He doesn’t blog but his reports would be blogged by Hrish.

Watch out this space for the live coverage. And if you are in Mangalore join us in this exciting event.

The meeting will be attended by various Government officials and decision makers and people from the press.

To recap,

Event: Breakthrough Anganwadi Mela

Date: 23rd Jan 2010

Timings: 10.30 pm to 4.30 pm

Event venue: Vidya Bhawan, Pandeshawar, Mangalore.