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Liberty Project The Janani programme is predicated on the need to make reproductive health products and services easily available to clients. But it is also clear that many social and economic hurdles have to be tackled if the clients have to take rational decisions to use these services. The direct correlation between economic empowerment of clients, especially of women, with lower fertility has been established internationally. Janani initiated the ‘Liberty Project’ in 2003 to deal with such issues. The issues are centered on two broad questions: What are the ways to break these social and economic hurdles? Can the rapid globalisation and privatization currently underway be an opportunity? The Liberty Project is based on the hypothesis that people living in grueling poverty develop the ability to withstand major physical and mental hardships. The Liberty Project explores if this ability can be turned into a socio-economic activity. The Liberty Project has initiated two pilot interventions in Delhi: training women to handle cremation services, and to deal with children with special needs. The cremation services’ project is aimed at sensitizing the women to the social and cultural ethos of the clients. Most urban residents are short of help at the time of death in the family and appreciate some trained assistance. Also, long ingrained social practices dictate that funeral rites are handled by men. The role of men in Hindu funeral rites is a major reason for son preference, even among the most educated families. Introducing women in this area has a two-fold objective: it provides an economic opportunity for the women; it will also, over time, change the rigid perception that only men can perform death-related rituals, and make the proceedings more gender inclusive. Under its caregivers programme, Janani has trained women to look after children with developmental delays like autism, as well as those with mental retardation and spasticity. The training was organized in collaboration with specialist organizations which formulated special curricula to suit illiterate candidates. The creation of trained people, a much-needed resource, again serves a dual purpose. It gives the families with special needs children valuable respite time. It also turns into an economic opportunity for the poor and the vulnerable. Janani recovers the cost of training by deducting a small percentage of the earnings. This will continue till the entire amount is repaid. In the near future, Janani will also be train women as geriatric caregivers (caregivers for the aged). The technical training for the same will be conducted in association with reputed hospitals.
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