About Sanjeevani Foundation in 4/Lourdes Building, Rambaug Lane No.6, Kalyan - West

OBJECTIVES:
•To reach out to the poor and the marginalized through education, and empowerment
•To enable the women to develop their inherent capacities and resources.
•To encourage them to bring about positive changes in their educational, economic and social conditions.
•To organize groups of women, men, youth and children to create awareness and bring positive changes in their life.
•To promote communal harmony
•To preserve and protect the environment.

Sanjeevani Foundation, the CCO of Our Lady of Lourdes Church Kalyan (West) began its work with the relief and rehabilitation operations soon after the major floods that devastated many parts of the Thane district in July 2005. The relief operation comprised of health care for the affected people and the distribution of relief materials to them and the rehabilitation operation comprised of the repair of houses as well as the construction of 50 new houses. The relief and rehabilitation operations were supported by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas India (CI) and the Centre for Social Action (CSA).

During the follow-up visits made by the Sanjeevani Foundation team members to the communities that were affected by the floods in November 2005 it was observed that the women were both economically poor and socially weak. There was no organization to bring them together and so Sanjeevani Foundation got down to bring them together to empower them. Since then 12 women groups have been formed with approximately 300 women being a part of the Sanjeevani Foundation Mahila Mandal. The women are given awareness and training programs on various social issues that affect their day to day lives such as – the public distribution system (PDS), HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, human trafficking, the Right to Information Act etc. In order to liberate the women from the clutches of the money lenders, bachat gats or self-help groups (SHGs) were started in order to encourage a savings and credit program for the women. Over a period of time the women have gained self confidence and economic stability. They take loans from their savings at low rates of interest to meet their financial needs for their children’s education, medical expenses and other emergencies.

During and after the floods in 2005, Sanjeevani Foundation also worked in 21 villages in the Murbad Taluka. The team visited the people regularly and built a good rapport with them. Regular meetings were held with the village people and medical camps were also conducted in the village of Rajiv Nagar. However, work in the villages had to be stopped in 2007 due to the financial constraints faced by Sanjeevani Foundation.

Some of the other activities of Sanjeevani Foundation over the years have been - counseling of the prisoners in the Thane and Kalyan prisons and upon their release assisting their families to rehabilitate them effectively, vocational training for the women in the Kalyan prison (sewing, knitting classes etc.), working with children and youth, HIV/AIDS interventions and home based care, legal assistance for domestic violence, promoting inter-religious dialogue, vocational training for youth (computer courses, sewing, English speaking classes etc.), counseling, guidance and education for school dropouts through the National Institute of Open Schooling – NIOS.