Engaging with Migrant Communities

My second article for the CARE India blog. It was preceded by a really interesting field trip to Shalimar Gardens, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh (one of the project sites). I've been meaning to write about that visit for a while. But for now I just have time to copy, paste this -

Every year thousands of Nepalis and Bangladeshis migrate to India in search of employment and a better quality of life. Separation from spouses, families and familiar social and cultural norms, language barriers in the new environment, substandard living conditions and exploitative working conditions (including sexual violence) often result in isolation and stress leading migrants to engage in behaviours like unsafe casual or commercial sex, increasing their risk to HIV and AIDS. Moreover, due to inadequate access to HIV services and the fear of being stigmatized for seeking HIV-related information or support, the issue is largely ignored.

Asia constitutes 14.4% of the world’s people living with HIV/AIDS. While overall HIV prevalence is low in Bangladesh and Nepal, vulnerable mobile populations are increasingly forming a bridge from high prevalence areas of India back to Bangladesh and Nepal. To disrupt this vicious cycle, Enhancing Mobile Populations’ Access to HIV/AIDS Information and Services or EMPHASIS, a CARE project, uses the unique Community Life Competence Process (CLCP) approach which focuses on the strengths within a community as the primary step to tackle pertinent problems. The approach believes that “every community has the capacity to respond to life challenges, to build a common vision, to act and adapt.” Thus, through this approach, communities participate in the process of change rather than being mere recipients of the change. They are given a forum to voice their concerns and dreams, and over time they gain confidence in their own ability to recognize and overcome their problems. The approach seeps into the social fabric of the community ensuring sustainable impact that goes far beyond the project period.

Over the years, engagement with migrant communities has highlighted that though the problems and concerns of migrants coincide with those identified by EMPHASIS, there are many other deeper issues that need to be tackled beforehand. For example, migrant communities acknowledge health as an area of concern but it is a lower priority for them.

Deepak Chanda Rai, a young man from Mahendra Nagar village in western Nepal has been living in Shalimar Garden, Ghaziabad for 15 years. Highlighting his community’s concerns he says “We face a lot of discrimination. We are paid less than the normal salary because we are Nepali and we have no job security. Many times we are asked to produce ID cards stating that we live and work in India but there is no authority to help us attain this ID card so we are beaten mercilessly by people who think we are thieves. We can’t even purchase SIM cards without an ID card.”

Narendra Bhandari, another Nepali who has lived in many cities across India adds, “Nepali’s are denied basic human rights in India even though we have been working here for generations. Our children can not go to school because they do no have a birth certificate. Their health is neglected because we don’t have access to any facilities. All 5000 men in my community are guards who have to work 24 hours without a break. Our responsibilities are not defined; we are made to do extra work which interferes with our duties and if something goes wrong we are always blamed and punished. Now finally, with CARE’s help we are emerging as one community and have begun to think about solving our own problems.”