“Todo Bandishen” is the final product of an eight-month long workshop with 31 young girls who live in the “bastis” around Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. The girls in the second level of FAT’s Young Women’s Leadership Program chose the theme “Early and Forced Marriage” as a common issue that they face in their lives. Todo Bandishen is the story of five young girls; each of whom have faced and fought against EFM (early and forced marriage) in their own way. The five ways we chose to depict the issues of EFM were showing the effect on their Education, Health, Livelihood, ability to fight against Violence, and Choice. The film ends with each of the girls collectively walking into the light; symbolizing the fact that only their victory will lead society from darkness into light.
In 2014 the girls used their film, 'Apna Haq' (Our Right) to run an awareness campaign in their community on how the lack of toilets impacts girls. The girls screened their film in their homes and their communities and held discussions with community members asking them to take some action on the issues highlighted. While the toilet scenario did not improve as expected, sexual harassment faced by the girls decreased to a huge extent immediately after the screenings and the campaigners were acknowledged as leaders in their community. Some positive impacts of the campaign were seen this year, the most prominent being the installation of CCTV cameras outside toilets to keep a watch on incidents of harassment. Besides this, toilets in one community were cleaned and repaired while in another, the fee charged for using the toilet was slashed for women users. Community members applauded the campaigners and indicated that this had been done by the local Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) after he heard about the campaign run by the girls.
A documentary movie made by young girls from Tech Center at FAT on the issue of lack of toilets in their community. The movie has been screened on several national and international platforms and was made entirely by the girls with guidance and assistance from Ms. Pooja Pant of Voice of Women (VOW) Media.
Made in 2011 by the girls of our Tech Center. This was the first video project that girls did after the Tech Center began in 2010. These girls had just learned basic camera and internet skills while understanding issues related to girls rights in their communities.
Saraswathi got married at 16, had her first child at 17, worked through the day as a domestic worker in multiple homes as a malnourished tired young mother. Gayatri (FAT's founder) knew her through her mother. As a young 16-year-old, Saraswathi and her sisters used to show a lot of curiosity in learning to use a computer. This inspired Gayatri to hold a free computer workshop for girls from nearby neighborhoods during summer break and see how she can integrate rights education with it. The word spread out fast through the network of domestic workers and other daily wagers working in the area and soon 19 girls from 4 different communities attended this workshop. By the end of the workshop, girls demanded a permanent center nearby, and that is how the idea of setting up a Tech Center formed. That has become the Young Women's Leadership Program today. That was 10 years ago. Today, Saraswati is a 26-year-old mother of 3 kids pursuing a degree in nursing and happy to have finally started her career, after years of setbacks. After working for years with us, she went back to work as a part-time domestic help while completing her education and bringing up her kids.