Questions/Answers

Mirzapur police along with Hope NGO is mobilising rural women to become the part of Green Group. Green Group is a nascent movement through which women raise issues pertaining to domestic violence and household problems faced by them in a society dominated by males. This started from Khushiyari village of Varanasi. Here, women fought bravely against domestic violence. They also came out to speak against gambling and drug addiction which influenced most of the males of this village. The women were trained for two months. They were given basic education and were given self-defence training. They were also taught about their legal rights and matters related to health and hygiene. Realising the potential of these women, the local police administration supported their cause and assigned them the title of ‘Police Mitra’ and gave then ID cards. The same model has been applied in many other villages as well. Later, at Mirzapur the Green Group also got involved in voters’ awareness campaign, demanding toilets, electricity, schools and hospitals.

Green group is an innovative approach with rural green saree clad women working in (high security risk) left wing extremism infested areas. Mirzapur Police and Hope NGO are responsible for capacity building and handholding. The women have helped eradicate social evils like domestic violence, gambling, liquor, gender inequality. They have made administration accountable using mobilisation and IGRS(integrated grievance redressal system, e-governance initiative) with police and NGO support.Politically, they have increased voter awareness and voting percentages with voter awareness campaigns amongst females. Prerna canteens and dovetailing with SHG is causing economic empowerment.Socio-political-administrative-economic empowerment leads to gender responsive public services to achieve SDGs.

Green group is promoting Gender equality(SDG-5) in socio-economic-political-administrative spheres by empowering them using power of unity and capacity building by police-NGO partnership. It is relevant to SDG 5.1(social empowerment by uniting), 5.2(attacking root cause of domestic violence and abuse i.e. liquor and gambling) , 5.5( Participation in political and administrative decision making by female voter awareness and increase in percentage of female votes, holding of administration accountable by collective demand and using IGRS with the help of police and NGO, Independent economic decision making by ownership of prerna canteens and SHG, Leadership roles through presiding community gatherings to promote gender equality), 5.b (Introduction of IGRS(Information and communication technology) for time bound quality disposal of developmental problems leading to empowerment of women.

Green group has positive impact on vulnerable sections in socio-economic-political-administrative-technological domains. Green group has eradicated the menace of naxalism(no left wing extremism violence in last 2 years), domestic violence, gender inequality, drug abuse, liquor and gambling. Each house of the village has been given a green hand mark as certificate that it is free of social evils. The empowerment of green group women, some of whose husbands have been killed in the naxal encounters with police, has started a chain reaction. The women who were behind closed doors and veiled appearances are having a voice now. They also help in traditional community policing functions like village chaupals(meeting) health camps, sports and prize distributions, propagation of government schemes, nukkad nataks(theatre), folk songs, sewing centers, “police ki pathshala”(School by police for children), gender equality wall paintings; 500 volleyball, cricket and football tournaments in different villages along with sports kit and blanket distributions for youths,SVEEP(Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation) campaign for increasing the women voter participation in UP Assembly election 2017. GD Binani college of management sciences and Rotary club Mirzapur survey got more than 60% favourable responses by community. Green Group has been able to solve local education, health and electricity problems using IGRS.

Green group is probably the first rural women group which has police-civil society support and wears the same green saree as symbol of unity. Rather than working in silos, It has holistic socio-political-economic-administrative-technological empowerment. With amalgamation of green groups, decentralised police beat system,NGO, local community, youth and children along with village elders, village chokidars(security persons), civil defence, special police officer(SPO) scheme has resulted in an unprecedented reach of intelligence system and voice to the political and administrative setup.

It is first of its kind in India and is an original innovation. It works across all socio-political-economic-administrative-technological spheres and caters to all sections of society in a holistic way.

NO

About 30000 INR were spent in procuring green sarees for 150 women. 5 NGO persons and about 30 policemen were required to implement the initiative.

Initially, The initiative required handholding and capacity building. Now, The initiative is self sustainable with active guidance from NGO and police. Leaders from the green group are joining hands with local political representatives, newer NGOs, SHG, administration and are launching green groups in newer areas. 'Train the trainers' concept is leading to a chain reaction. Green group initiative is being linked to prerna canteen and nudge foundation(thenudge.org) to create holistic initiative. Apart from social empowerment economic empowerment will come through both these initiatives. Youth is also being linked to green group through various sports competitions and rozgar melas. Plan is to roll out green group to all 107 naxal infested villages in multiple phases this year.

Yes

An independent study was done by the local police administration to know the impact of the community policing led by green group. GD Binani college of management sciences and Rotary club Mirzapur made detailed questionnaire. Local intelligence also gave reports about the impact on security and development perception.

Indicators were perception of police working on various parameters like behaviour, efficiency, empathy, effectiveness, community participation. In local intelligence reports indicators were decline in social evils and improvements in developmental indicators like attendance.

Mirzapur police due to its community policing got more than 60% favourable responses by community. Local intelligence units reported that the green group villages were free of social evils like domestic violence, gambling, liquor, drug abuse etc with a positive upswing in health, educational institutions' attendance.

Green groups focussed on gender equality(SDG 5) with the help of collaboration, engagement, coordination, partnership and inclusion across socio-cultural-political-administrative-technological dimensions creating good governance.Following were the roles and contributions of different stake holders. Police – Police station with beat system to be in touch with the green group and provide them adequate legal support. NGO – Training, capacity building and hand holding of green group. Women– Active against drugs, gambling, crime against women offenders. Intelligence sharing. Awareness drives in villages using dholak and folk songs with NGO. Running of Prerna canteens. Community - Encouragement and participation in events organised by green groups. To launch more green groups for sustainable implementation. Youth- Through rozgar melas and sports competition link with green groups to propagate green group to more villages. Intelligence agency - Gathering intelligence from green group.

The key learning was that innovation, collaboration, partnership, participation and a 'never say die' attitude can lead to unthinkable deeds.The women who never came out of home or raised voices became community leaders through holistic empowerment in a sustainable way. To scale up and improve the initiative, a tie up with private sector corporate social responsibility program along with international visibility can work wonders!