The Azadi Project in collaboration with Mariwala Health Initiative started the Khush Azad Kaabil’s Women’s Centre (KAKWC), inaugurated on 17 April 2024.
Through this pilot, we aim to create a safe, inviting, and judgment-free space for women from local host communities and migrant and refugee (Rohingya) populations in and around the Kalindi Kunj settlement in New Delhi. There are approximately 55 Rohingya families who live here and 90 women and girls. We aim to help marginalized women support themselves and find a sense of belonging within a community of strong women leaders like themselves.
The Women’s Centre, situated at the heart of a Rohingya refugee settlement in Delhi seeks to be a safe haven for the women residing in this settlement. Women from the refugee communities often face violence and oppression which is multifaceted and multilayered. KAKWC in this light, emphasizes on the importance of having safe spaces as well as fostering imperative skills in refugee women of this settlement.
The center facilitates a unique
way of mental well-being and learning for the women of the community where they can receive psychosocial support through the community mobilizers, community mobilizers, and referred experts. Further, they can learn basic English Literacy, numeracy as well as vocational skills like crochet among others.
As a support to these women who are often also the mothers to young children, the Centre also provides childcare and tutoring services to children less than 12 years old while their mothers continue to participate in a multiplicity of learning programs simultaneously at the Centre.
Through their long journey beyond borders, these women have been subjected to discrimination and continue lack access to common spaces for themselves. Therefore, this center is specifically designed for them to rest and call their own.
