VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMMES IN INDIA

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more”

- H. Jackson Brown Jr       

       

India is a country rich in culture and history. However, poverty and underdevelopment of some sections of the society have acted as harsh realities in our society. Thus, for us, as members of this society, it becomes our responsibility to take a step ahead through volunteering and work towards the welfare of the underprivileged sections of the society. 

There are numerous volunteering organizations who are eager to uplift the poor and the underprivileged and support them in whatever way they can. Lakshyam is one such non-profit organization that is keen to welcome enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.

Lakshyam was founded in the year 2012 by a young social entrepreneur, Ms. Raashi Anand. Lakshyam aims to work for the holistic advancement of the underprivileged and implement effective and relicable models for community development. Lakshyam today, is spread across 19 centres in India and has impacted 20 states. It has further touched over 30,000 lives and directly benefitted them. 

Lakshyam offers a volunteering program where the volunteers can work at centres spread across 5 locations across India. The volunteers are offered a choice from a wide range of tasks- media and communications, performing arts, academics, indoor and outdoor sports, data management and research etc. These diverse programmes provide the volunteers to contribute in whatever way they can as their passion and dedication can bring a positive change in the society. 

Lakshyam provide the volunteers with programs like Butterfly, a child welfare program. Through this, Lakshyam promotes the human right i.e. basic education of every individual. The volunteers can teach various subjects as well as positive healthy habits of cleanliness, hygiene and discipline to the children involved in various professions like rag picking, begging etc. The volunteers can also take workshops of art and craft, music, dance forms, drama, calligraphy etc. 

A short film, Laal Seb was made by Lakshyam children living in the slums of Delhi. It involved the students of butterfly: child welfare and education into constructive learning through electronic mediums that enhanced their creativity and allowed them to learn basic nuances of filmmaking. 

Another major initiative is Lakshyam Toy Library which provides the underprivileged children what they are lacking- innocence and essence of childhood. Various toy libraries have been set up across India. The volunteers provide them with educational toys, games and books to help the children in their growth and development. 

Rooh- awakening women’s soul is also an initiative to erode all the misconceptions and presumptions associated with women. Here, the volunteers along with the renowned professionals provide women with professional and vocational skills thus assisting them in generating self- employment and a measure of income.  Volunteers also engage in enhancing the knowledge of women with regards to sanitation and menstrual hygiene. 

Apart from these, various volunteering programmes have also been organized by Lakshyam like fashion for cause, a one-of-its-kind fashion show for fund raising which brought together various corporates and celebrities. It aimed bringing fashion and disadvantaged sections of the society together. Furthermore, Lakshyam NGO offers an opportunity to be a part of the Earthbag build which is a green sustainable school building workshop and a volunteering opportunity in Delhi.

Hence, Lakshyam appeals everyone to make this place a better place to live by engaging in the volunteering program and ‘do good’ for the society.

Women & child development, NGO working for women empowerment, woman and child development

Women constitute around 48.5% of the total Indian population according to 2011 census. Women have been a part of society since ages but never got recognition at any point in time. Women in India have been living under a constant threat of “identity crisis”. Women face a number of challenges in terms of literacy, lack of resources, labor participation rate henceforth hindering their growth. Over the years, many NGOs in India have come up to help women and empower them by providing resources, alleviate poverty, enforce women’s rights. Therefore, making recognizable changes in women empowerment and leading to better growth.

One such significant work in the field of women and child development, women empowerment has been made by Lakshyam NGO. Established in the year 2012 to work solely for the betterment of society. Lakshyam entirely focuses to alter the lives of underprivileged strata of Indian society emphasizing on child and women development.  Initially, started as a vision of providing toys to street kids thereby evolving and today it has a presence across three countries, present in over seventeen Indian states and has uplifted lives of more than thirty thousand individuals.

Under the flagship, lakshyam has 2 very successful programs currently running namely lakshyam Rooh and Lakshyam butterfly while the former works for providing not only education but also job opportunities and also working for women’s menstrual health on the contrary works for mainly to provide education to children. Both the programs are unique, well laid as well as interlinked and are impacting the lives of women and children in a positive direction.  

Women in India have never been treated equally, in fact, they have been seen as only performing household chores, or rearing and bearing of children confiding them with only household work. Women in India face gender inequality and according to UNDPs gender inequality report of 2016 India was ranked 130 out of 146. The term Rooh literally means ‘Soul’ enforcing of Awaking Women’s Soul. Lakshyam strives to fill the void of inequality of women created by ages of oppression. Rooh works as three-tier program firstly, working to strengthen roots by providing them education, secondly, providing professional training of vocational like stitching and tailoring to provide women with self-employment thereby making them financially independent and finally providing them a stage to exhibit their professional skills.

37% of the Indian population is illiterate, one of the main cause of illiteracy is poverty forcing children to drop out of school and work drawing meager salaries. The term butterfly indicates wings, just as a butterfly flies with its wings lakshyam with its Butterfly: child welfare and education program it trying to provide children with wings to fly, elevate them out of poverty, protecting their basic human rights. Lakshyam has set up centers with over 100 children of diverse age groups are enrolled in Ghaziabad and Vasant Kunj centers respectively. The children are forced out of school, dropouts or either toy sellers, rag pickers, cobblers, even some of them never went to school. Lakshyam has assumed the role of enrolling these children at the centers and also aims to provide formal education or at least enroll them at open schools. In order to provide them education till 5^th standard as that is a requirement for all skills program. At the center's kids are taught subjects like Hindi, English, math’s computer, art, general knowledge and also tutoring them with manners of hygiene, menstrual hygiene, cleanliness as well as discipline. Apart from entirely academic teaching a number of other activities ranging from drawing competition, art, puppet show, food distribution drives, and dance competition amongst others also takes place at the lakshyam centers. Lakshyam through its program has an eccentric approach and come to touch the lives of many women and children thus, leading their overall development. 

NGO Working for Women Empowerment and Child Development

NGO should strengthen women by giving them identity as informal workers by trying to work on the rights of women workers and use nonviolent manifestation methods. It should also work to improve sex workers, with the aim of fighting HIV and AIDS and ending human trafficking which include the production of sanitary napkins, which provide space for women to make and sell their art and instil vital language skills. They should defend gender justice, equality and respect for human rights and work in areas such as budget allocations for gender and women's security in conflict areas.

For the child development many NGOs in India are doing a great job helping disadvantaged children with education and for social change. Child development include initiatives to improve the condition of underprivileged children and to make sure that proper education reaches to more children in every new academic year.

What Lakshyam is doing for Women Empowerment and Child Development?

Lakshyam is an NGO dedicated to disadvantaged and repressed communities, especially women and children. Since the last eight years, Lakshyam has been working towards child development and the empowerment of women in seven states of India. Established for the welfare of humanity and society in general, the non-profit organization has participated in a series of social welfare activities. Further are the programme run by Lakshyam for Women Empowerment and Child Development

Rooh is a program that focuses on creating an environment conducive to women from underprivileged communities. Provide training in skills development and teach the art of sewing, cutting, sewing and embroidering women, thus creating opportunities to increase income. The focus on problems that affect women's lives, such as health and hygiene education, child care and basic civic sense, is provided to women in the community to help them lead a dignified and confidential life.

The Lakshyam toy library is one of the main programs of Lakshyam that distributes toys and books from privileged children to the not so privileged. The toy boxes are installed in several private schools in Delhi and each child donates a toy and / or book that is then delivered to the 8 related NGOs in 7 states. The Lakshyam Toys Library Centers have been opened in rural districts of states such as Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Butterfly program was designed, considering the two integral components of a healthy child, Development and Participation. The Education Center based in Basti, adopted by Lakshyam, JJ Basti in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, provides an education that encompasses textual knowledge and the development of personality, together with special attention to workshops on cleanliness, hygiene, discipline, extracurricular activities and positive life habits that are carried out to help children to join society in general with a wider and deeper capacity.

Workshops by Lakshyam on Women Empowerment and Child Development

Health and nutrition awareness - The habits of cleanliness, nutrition and hygiene are demonstrated through stories and tables. Consultations are answered, and easy advice is given to inculcate new habits in daily life.

Breastfeeding awareness session -Women in the community learn about the recommendations of WHO and UNICEF to feed a baby or young child in a healthy way.

Micro-nutrient - Iodine deficiency awareness session - Lakshyam periodically holds an awareness session on iodine deficiency for women in the community. The session includes demonstrations to test salt for iodine content at the domestic level. The focus at the event is to focus on self-equipment techniques to safeguard one's health.

Eye camp - In collaboration with the Sant Parmanand Hospital, Lakshyam regularly organizes a health care campaign throughout Delhi that focuses on eye controls. Patients suffering from eye problems and discomfort are examined. In addition to the check-ups, patients are also given free medications and suggestions for eye care by doctors. Free cataract operations are also performed for serious cases; Last year, there were nine patients who recovered their sight after the camp.

Dental camp - Lakshyam offers free dental services to improve children's dental health. After the dental camps last year, several children were operated on for severe cases of dental problems.

Anti-drug campaign - Lakshyam recently organized an anti-drug campaign in Ranchi to achieve stability for disadvantaged children in extreme circumstances due to drug abuse. 30 children in Ranchi were found affected by drug abuse and were taken to the hospital to provide medical assistance. They needed special attention to get their lives back on track, mentally and physically. Lakshyam, along with his team of doctors, a skin specialist, a dental surgeon and a cardiac surgeon, worked with children in the three main affected areas that are most affected during drug abuse.

Work as a Volunteer in India

volunteers at Lakshyam

India has a great share in volunteer work all over the world today. Volunteerism is really an appreciable way of partaking in tackling development challenges worldwide. Everyone can contribute their time, skills and knowledge through volunteer action; be it through imparting education, social and environmental awareness or as a community or even coordinator, there are multiple choices. An effort, as small as spending time helping others, can go a long way in bringing change in lives of many. The sheer feeling of accomplishment or joy that you get by lending a helping hand to people and organizations can be quite overwhelming. 

In fact, every helping hand is helping in extending to a more socially aware and compassionate society. Individual citizens also have an important role to play through volunteering. Every day, individuals are engaged in development initiatives through volunteer actions, both large and small, in an effort to improve conditions for others and themselves. 

India also has a lot of scope for volunteer work as it is still struggling to make basic amenities available for a large section of the population. To look at it from another angle, India also has enormous potential for growth as most of its population falls in the younger age bracket which is has to potential to bring laurels for the country. So volunteering opportunities don’t only exist for Indian nationals but also for foreigners, who can volunteer for different kinds of work. Right now, you could volunteer in India to help underprivileged populations gain access to better education, healthcare, human rights, and infrastructure. there are many programs in India that provide you with the opportunity to participate in projects dealing with health, community development, child education, disadvantaged residents and many more. They aim to improve the living conditions of the locals in India and need your support for doing so. 

Five Form Categorization of Volunteering: 

1. Self-help and mutual aid: people with shared problems, challenges and conditions working together to address or ameliorate them. 
2. Philanthropy and service to others: It typically involves an organization recruiting volunteers to provide some kind of service to others and is the type of activity which most people recognize as volunteering. 
3. Governance: volunteers who provide leadership and direction to groups or organizations. 
4. Advocacy or campaigning: collective action aimed at securing or preventing change which includes campaigning against developments seen to be damaging to the environment. 
5. Expressive Behaviors: expressing their interest and passion in a particular field through volunteering. 

There are obviously the perks of volunteering that include: 

• Gaining new experiences and insights 
• Creating connections with people 
• Giving back and helping others 
• Building career options by enhancing your CV, and 
• When volunteering at some new and unfamiliar place, there is also the added advantage of getting to discover new places. 

But more importantly, volunteers are integral to achieving the aims which the process of community development is seeking to realize. Volunteering is one of the main conduits through which the principles and values of community development can be implemented. Volunteers as individuals and groups contribute to the process of community development “by committing time and energy for the benefit of society and the community, the environment or individuals outside or in addition to one’s immediate family. It is undertaken freely and without concern for financial gain.” 

You may not notice the effects immediately, but they are present everywhere bringing change. 

When it comes to service work, it’s important to realize that, similar to an actual career, not all volunteer positions fit everyone. It is one thing to log for hours organizing files or fundraising, but the actual goal should be maximizing your utility. To get real joy out of volunteering, so that even you can give your best, don’t just settle for an organization just to rack up the hours. There’s a lot more to volunteering than that! 

Lakshyam NGO- Hands to Hearts

It’s important to choose an organization that clicks with you and India offers many such opportunities. Out of many organizations that offer volunteering opportunities and is spread across the country, there is Lakshyam spread over 11 states across India that is essentially working for the welfare of under-privileged families, education of children from such families and women empowerment. People from different states and countries can volunteer in the different branches of the country. It has succeeded in touching well over 18,000 lives in these 11 states directly benefitting them. It has a lot of projects which require volunteers apart from various other means that can be taken up as well. For example, one can also teach children Hindi, English, Computer as well as art and craft, dramatics or anything that one excels in to the children at their centre, who come from impoverished backgrounds. One can also donate or contribute to Lakshyam in cash or kind. 

Indeed volunteering can rake up a lot of opportunities for one seeking to gain new experiences, create new connections, give back to society, help others or even build career options; and as a perk of volunteer work in India with its vivid diversity, it ensures a life-enriching consummation with the local cultures.