Making Ernakulam safer for women, children

Maps of crime spots in 14 panchayats to be ready by next month

Atrocities perpetrated against women and children and the places where they are most vulnerable will be mapped by Kudumbashree in 14 panchayats in the district by the end of next month.

The survey and the ensuing crime mapping are aimed at identifying such blackspots and turning them into women and children-friendly through effective interventions in coordination with various stakeholders.

As part of the project, 38 resource persons from across the 14 select panchayats have already been given training in survey and crime mapping. They will in turn give training to one representative from each Community Development Society at the panchayat level from Monday. This will be followed by training to 40,000 Neighbourhood Group (NHG) members from the panchayats. Training for other stakeholders like residents’ associations, clubs, political parties, and people’s representatives will also be imparted alongside.

“The project is being implemented on a pilot basis and more panchayats will be selected next year. The idea is to identify and map crime spots targeting women and children across all 102 panchayats in the district in the coming years,” said Shine T. Money, District Programme Manager (Gender), Kudumbashree Mission.

The survey will entail a detailed questionnaire based on atrocities faced by NHG members and their children in the past five years. It will cover details about physical, mental, and sexual violence, including domestic violence. Social and economic challenges faced by women will also be surveyed.

“This will be followed by a ward-level meeting of the representatives of NHGs to map the violence and atrocities perpetrated against women and children in their respective areas. Another meeting of stakeholders, including social and voluntary organisations, will be held to create a second map based on their feedback. These two maps will be combined to create an exhaustive map for each panchayat that will mark the most vulnerable spots for women and children,” said Mr. Money.

Effective interventions will be planned under the leadership of Snehitha, the Kudumbashree gender resource centre, to turn these vulnerable spots into women and child-friendly with the support of local stakeholders like residents’ associations.