Apne Aap Women’s Collective

Apne Aap Women’s Collective (AAWC) is an anti-human trafficking organization established in 1998 that serves the women in brothel-based prostitution and their daughters in Falkland Road, Kamathipura, and Turbhe the red-light area of Mumbai. Their vision is to provide the tools and resources for empowerment to trafficked women in prostitution and their daughters in Mumbai’s Red-Light District, to prevent the cycle of intergenerational prostitution.

Outreach plays an important role as it is the primary point of contact between the organization and its existing and potential members, making daily visits to the brothels and red-light areas to conduct, check-ins and maintain necessary amicable ties which enable the organization to conduct programs mentioned below and provide an array of services to the beneficiaries.

1. Unmeed for Women Program

The Unmeed for Women is a brothel-based prostitution to help women who have been trafficked into prostitution with their physical, mental, and economic well-being. It is a constant empowerment program, which aims at a holistic and overall development of the beneficiaries through services such as outreach- the outreach team helps identify potential beneficiaries, conducts field visits, and provides aid in obtaining identity documents (Voter Card, Ration Card, PAN Card, Aadhar card) which enable them access to government benefits and schemes. Finance/ financial literacy, empowerment/ vocational training, education/ adult literacy, health- mental & physical such as medical referrals, medical monthly check-ups/ health camps/ nutrition, counseling, recreation, and shelter home placement. Since these women enter prostitution at a very young age, they are uneducated and unskilled, which makes such an empowerment process imperative.

These processes have a positive impact on the women beneficiaries as it is seen since the time of inception they have a potential increase in the enrolment of women beneficiaries in their adult literacy program, they hav also been successful in providing job skill training to the beneficiaries which have led beneficiaries to quit their profession and attain job placement in reputed factories and centers.

AAWC has been able to serve more than 3200 direct and indirect beneficiaries under the Umeed program.

Achievements:
– Breaking the clutches of the societal stigma and socio-economic background 50 women beneficiaries were able to quit their job in the year 2022
– Nutrition reached 900+ women beneficiaries in the year 2022
– Increased enrollment in adult literacy classes.

2. Udaan for Their Daughters (2.5-18 years) Program

While serving the women in brothel-based prostitution, AAWC realized that their daughters were at a greater risk of entering the cycle of inter-generational prostitution due to their close proximity to sex trades. They were normalized to the act of becoming a prostitute, did not have any positive role models, and thus had no alternative aspirations for the future. Hence, the Udaan program for the daughters of women aims at providing these young girls with various services, utilizing education as the main tool to break this inter-generational cycle of prostitution. They equip girls to pursue aspirational professions and enable genuine socioeconomic mobility which exposes the beneficiaries to various professions, the services provided to the girls include formal and informal education which involves kindergarten, enrollment in government and private school, tuition after school, mentor-mentee programs, exposure visits, educational vocation classes, educational workshops, and career guidance-oriented exposure visits referrals, health includes both physical and mental health which consist of monthly checkups, medical referrals, quarterly medical camps, daily nutritional meals, and multivitamin supplements, counseling, art therapies, involvement in extracurricular activities such as dance, drama and music, recreational activities and shelter home services. Along with these services, various job skill training are conducted and Job placements are provided to the beneficiaries for their economic independence away from red-light areas after the completion of their education. The services provided to the Udaan girl beneficiaries have a positive impact on the overall development of the beneficiaries that makes the beneficiary self-reliant and also help them pull their mothers away from the profession. They have had a 100% success rate in curtailing the intergenerational cycle of prostitution in the last ten years.

AAWC has been able to serve more than 800 direct and indirect beneficiaries under the Udaan program.

Achievements:
– 100% success rate in academic promotions of the Udaan girl beneficiaries
– Three beneficiaries passed the 10th examination with 73, 75, and 83% academic year 2022 and now pursuing further education in reputed colleges.
– One beneficiary is pursuing BFA in applied arts at a reputed college in Mumbai
– One beneficiary scored 90% in the FYJC examination
– 100% successful in overcoming malnutrition among enrolled beneficiaries
– Steady decline in the medical referrals being conducted
– Good cognitive and motor skill development among beneficiaries
– Increase in the happiness index of young beneficiaries leading to an overall development
– Successful in providing a conducive environment for education leading to preparedness for formal schooling.