Problem Statement
The community of Rohingya refugees that The Azadi Project supports reside in the informal settlements of Delhi. One such settlement has a total of 53 families, which includes about 234 individuals, i.e., men, women, children, and infants (The Azadi Project Database, 2023). There are 62 women between the age of 18- 80 years. Of them, 93.6% of the women are unemployed (The Azadi Project Database, 2023). The community has access to one kind of healthcare: a government hospital (public hospital).
The only government hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, which is located 20 km away from the community, provides free healthcare to a population of over 13 million people, half of whom are beneath the poverty line (Delhi City Population, 2023). Therefore, the distance, overpopulation, and lack of quality healthcare combined with the poor and dense living conditions create severe health problems for the Rohingya community along with a lack of access to available healthcare. This small community reflects a small microcosm of what appears to be the quality of life and living conditions of over 20,000 Rohingya refugees living in India, and over 960,000 Rohingya Refugees and other countries (UNICEF, 2023). Thus, due to their “illegal status” as declared by the GoI and lack of future citizenship, healthcare, or education, the Rohingya people are stranded in an impossible circumstance, where they are seen as illegal, but are also in most cases prohibited from leaving the state, thereby elimination any hopes of resettlement in India or elsewhere.
Our Intervention:
The First Aid Training Program for Women Leaders included a ‘Training of the Trainer’ (ToT) Model. In this model, 10 local leaders, all of them women from the refugee community, committed themselves to undertaking a full day, 9 hours intensive First Aid Training Certificate Course. In addition, 2 Azadi members also underwent the course with the refugee women leaders.
The course took place through a paid collaboration between The Azadi Project and the First Aid Training Institute 24×7 Medical Service, India. One community member volunteered to give us the space. The training was held on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023, from 10 am-3:30 pm, and included a full day of hands-on practice. The course was taught in English and Hindi and cost 1200 INR per participant (14.5$). The leaders committed to teaching the rest of the women in the community basic first aid knowledge in a practical simplified way and training them both in theory and practice. After course completion and community training, each participant received a medical First Aid kit that they can use henceforthe in case of emergencies and for further trining. Each THADHANI FIRST AID MEDIC 1000 kit costs 920 INR which comes to 9200 INR/- or (11$x10$=110$) and their certificate for the session.