Standing up for excluded communities

Ashif Shaikh, Founder, and CEO of Jan Sahas

3 min read

"We want to prevent sexual violence against women and ensure safe migration within excluded social groups."

In its work to eliminate gender-based violence and ensure safe migration Jan Sahas (which means "People’s Courage") focuses on delivering measurable impact. Jan Sahas has developed low-cost, replicable solutions for state and private organizations to implement.
In India, three women are raped every hour.¹ The conviction rate for rape cases is just 37% – which means two out of three rape survivors won't get justice. Based on Jan Sahas' work with over 28,000 at-risk women and children, the organization has developed a comprehensive model to tackle sexual violence (PR3). PR3 focuses on prevention, response, rehabilitation, and systemic reform.
In India, 140 million workers are forced to migrate due to a lack of employment opportunities. They typically suffer from poor and unsafe working conditions; long working hours; and a lack of water, sanitation and safety equipment.² Jan Sahas' model aims to secure dignity for migrant workers and their families by focusing on social security, worker protection and responsible recruitment. Over the next five years, the model will benefit at least ten million migrant workers and their families – 2.5 million of which will be women.
Ashif Shaikh is a social entrepreneur dedicated to eliminating sexual violence against women and ensuring safe migration of workers from marginalized groups. In 2000, he helped mobilize Dalit women forced into the inhumane practice of manual scavenging. He also founded "The Campaign for Dignity" – a forum advocating for stringent policies to eliminate the practice. Ever since, he's helped liberate and rehabilitate over 56,000 people affected by manual scavenging.
Learning that marginalized women often face violence and lack access to justice, Ashif expanded his support to provide legal and rehabilitative care to survivors.
In 2020, Ashif anticipated the unprecedented harm of the COVID pandemic, and raised over two million US dollars to support around >1.5 million migrant workers and their families.
Ashif launched the Migrant Resilience Collaborative (MRC) – a collaboration between companies, philanthropists and governments that simplifies the delivery of social security, worker protection and responsible recruitment. MRC works in 100 Indian districts, rebuilding livelihoods and providing a safety net for migrant workers. The project aims to protect the basic rights of 10 million migrant worker families over the next five years.

¹https://jansahas.org/prevention-of-sexual-violence-against-women-children

²https://jansahas.org/safe-migration-and-worker-protection

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