Shield Foundation started working with their mission since 2009. The organization was then registered in 2010. Since the beginning, our organization started working on various community issues. The need assessment survey of community was done in 2010. Based on the findings, we have chosen to work for senior citizens at Dharavi. The ‘resource centre’ was initiated for them. Additionally, various need based services are available for the senior citizens there. In the early years, we had the capacity to cater to only 250 elderly, whereas, now we have developed our capacity to provide services for around 2500 elderly per year. One of our major and most consistent aim is to provide physical and mental health care for senior citizens. We have networked with more than 50 organizations and corporates to reach our mission.
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The year began with one of our first activities, a ‘Youth Festival’ which was organized at Dharavi, especially for women, in the month of January. The turnout was a slim 14; however, the participants had a good time.
Later in January, a session on ignorance about our constitution and fundamental rights of citizens in India, showing a great attendance again. But, the highlight of the month was the cultural programme at the Samaj Mandir Hall, Matunga Labour Camp, and Dharavi. A total of 22 persons performed on the day and 98 people were in attendance as audience.
An exigent need to address issues, which are not covered in the school syllabi, urged Shield to tie up with a school in Dharavi to conduct workshops/ seminars to talk about the same. Three sessions took place in the month of February.
Since then, we have been running a pilot project- a free course in English speaking, along with vocational training in mehendi and basic beauty courses at our Centre for women.
Later in the year, Shield undertook the need to identify the needs of the people in the community in order to establish the organization’s credibility in the eyes of the people. This helped Shield to know the core areas of concern for the community and also helped publicize the programmes and initiatives to the people. These efforts helped us build a secondary line of workers for conducting these projects and encourage self-sustaining activities in the community.
In the month of September, Shield and ARDSI organised an Intergenerational Sensitisation Workshop for Senior Citizens and National Service Scheme (NSS) Students. This was organised in collaboration with South Indian Educational Society (SIES) College, Sion.
As for new work in progress, Shield also conducted a rapid survey of residential institutions and facilities such as transit accommodation homes for women, observation homes, orphanages and juvenile delinquent homes in Mumbai. The purpose of this survey was the need of assessment and avenues for activities for NGOs like Shield.
On the occasion of World Mental Health Day (October 10), Shield Foundation organized a workshop titled ‘Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders’ on October 11. The workshop was targeted at community health workers and a total of 77 workers attended the workshop. Three speakers, Dr. Nilesh Shah, Meenakshi Shiledar and Ms. Arote addressed the workshop.
To mark the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Day, Shield Foundation collaborated with Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI) and organised street plays in Dharavi. The plays were aimed at educating Dharavi residents about the disease, its causes, symptoms, prevention and ways to manage it. The biggest tragedy with a condition like Alzheimer’s is that the patient’s family, if ignorant, simply fails to recognise it as a disease – often dismissing it as ‘simply old age.’
