Shaheen: A beacon of hope for the oppressed

Hyderabad: The Old City of Hyderabad will have its own exclusive Sakhi Centre for rehabilitating women in distress. A full-fledged Sakhi One Stop Centre (SOSC) will be coming up at Champapet, Saidabad. The new centre for women is playing a vital role in creating awareness and in turn, reducing crimes against women.

The SOSC, a component of the Mission Shakti scheme, an umbrella scheme under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, has selected Shaheen Women’s Resource and Welfare Association from Hyderabad. The women-led grassroots organisation is dedicated to solving the needs of marginalised women from Muslim, Dalit, and other underprivileged communities.

The Centre provides a wide range of services including medical aid, psycho-social counselling, legal counselling, facilitation of police support, besides offering temporary shelter to women affected by violence in an integrated manner under one roof. Jameela Nishat, Founder and Director of Shaheen said, “Shaheen, since, it was founded in October 2002, it has worked with around three lakh people in 25 impoverished urban slums of Hyderabad, and with the Sakhi centre, Shaheen has committed to serve the women in large.”

The Sakhi centre reaches out to aggrieved women experiencing any kind of violence due to attempted sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, trafficking, honor related crimes, acid attacks or witch-hunting. Jameela said, “For the last two decades, Shaheen has been committed to a region plagued by ongoing inter-communal violence. Shaheen advocates for women’s rights, supports their struggles, helps them find relief, and promotes the unique identities of all women.”

Jameela Nishat said, “From October 2000 to June 2023, Shaheen provided intervention to over 86,989 households, preventing 1,041 child marriages, re-enrolling 4,522 females in open schools, schools and colleges, 7,461 victims of violence receiving benefits, 17,389 people enrolled in vocational training, and 13,658 people gaining economic independence. Additionally, 1,962 people found employment through placements.”

The organisation provides daily home visits to identify vulnerability and violence, health camps, counselling, legal empowerment programmes, workshops on sexual & reproductive health rights, mental health sessions, skill training courses both traditional & non-traditional.

Jameela said “Through the activities conducted by Shaheen, this helped in reaching out to basti leaders, men of the community, powerful fundamentalists & orthodox pehelwans, increased awareness about legal schemes and entitlements, able to negotiate for their rights within the families and community, raising voices against injustices and increased awareness to maintain physical and psychological well-being of girls.”