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About
us
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Founded in 1995 by a dedicated couple
from Belgium, Tollygunge Women In
Need (TWIN) is a
registered not for profit social organization working in Kolkata with
the underprivileged women and their children – regardless of caste,
religion, age or gender.
Our Mission The
goal of TWIN is to
improve the social, economic and health
situation of the destitute communities by means of prevention,
education and income generation.
Our projects
TWIN has designed
an effective
holistic approach for achieving its sustainable development aims with:
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Targeted communities
We focus on three categories:
- Slum children and their parents
- Children engaged in child labour and their parents
- Commercial sex workers and their children
Slums in Tollygunge
TWIN
projects cover 6 slums in Tollygunge: Biswas Para, Hogla Para, Jhoro
Basti, Masjid Para,
Modartala and Mollahati. Under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Ward
Nos. 93&94, of 2500 families. The
number of families actively
accessed by TWIN is about 600. The project which
started in 1995
has 199 children and 294 women
actively engaged in the project.
Slums in Dhobiatala
Dhobiatala is situated in
New Tangra in KMC Ward No. 58. This area is a recycling ground of
hazardous wastes. Children and women are engaged in battery
breaking,
sorting metal, rubber & plastic wastes as well as reclaiming
lubricant & oil from wastes.
The target group is child
workers engaged in hazardous
recycling work and their parents. 63 children and their parents take
part in the programs.
Red-light areas in Diamond Harbour
In the District of South 24
Parganas under Diamond Harbour Municipal Ward Nos. 9 & 10 we work
with the target group of commercial
sex workers and their children. In 1998, TWIN started a trial
project in the red-light area, with a group of 50 sex-workers and 70 of
their children. At present, there are
137
children and 146 women in the projects.
Basic characteristics of the targeted communities:
- Overcrowded & unhygienic settlements. People are deprived of civic amenities that they are supposed to receive from local authorities.
- Inadequate access to safe water, sanitation and electricity.
- People are mostly neglected and underprivileged. They are not protected with appropriate and social security schemes.
- Constant fear of eviction.
- People are mostly unorganized and have no time for collective development action because of their daily livelihood struggles.
- Domestic violence concerns a lot of women and children.
- Most of the men folk are addicted to alcohol /drug and are not at all concerned about their families.
- Increasing number of unemployed youth and out of school children/adolescents having no definite plan for their future.
- High risks of trafficking especially of children and adolescents.
- Malnutrition