Sakhi One Stop Centre staff sensitised on gender-based violence

A two-day workshop was held in Noida for personnel deployed at the One Stop Centres (OSC), popularly known as Sakhi, across 18 districts of western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday

A two-day workshop was held in Noida for personnel deployed at the One Stop Centres (OSC), popularly known as Sakhi, across 18 districts of western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sakhi One Stop Centre staff sensitised on gender-based violence

Sakhis are intended to support women affected by any sort of violence with specialised services such as medical, legal and counselling assistance. It also acts as a temporary shelter for women who may have escaped violence at home and do not have any other place to go till the time a permanent and safe home is provided to them.

According to the Gautam Budh Nagar district probationary officer (DPO), the women and child development department of Uttar Pradesh government directed the workshop in a letter to the DPOs of 20 districts on November 4, of which 18 participated.

The districts included Moradabad, Bijnor, Rampur, Amroha, Sambhal, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Baghpat, Gautam Budh Nagar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Agra, Mainpuri, Mathura, Firozabad, Kasganj and Auraiya.

“The workshop was held in Sector 62 and was carried out by personnel of Noida-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Sadrag (Social Action and Development Research Action Group) and UN Women, New Delhi. The workshop was mandatory for the centre managers, a paramedical worker and a case worker from each of the OSCs in these districts. These personnel are the first responders to victims coming to the centre and hence sensitising them about gender-based violence, how to approach the victim and how to assist them, is of prime importance,” said Atul Soni, Gautam Budh Nagar DPO.

Mala Bhandari, founder of Sadrag NGO informed that 43 participants from 18 districts took part in the workshop.

“The personnel were trained in how to address the survivors, case management, providing support through coordination with other departments such as medical, legal state authorities and police. They were also informed about the schemes and programmes for compensation and monetary support to victims of gender-based violence,” Bhandari said.

DPO Soni informed that on an average, OSCs provide assistance to at least 30 to 40 women in a month.

“Usually, local NGO workers and police personnel guide such victims to come to the OSC in order to get relief and legal assistance,” DPO Soni added.