Why are we closing down two
Community Centres?
In 2023 we closed down two Community Centres in two slum areas, Dumdum og Santragachi. Both were opened in 2016.
After 7 years, things are now much better, and LittleBigHelp no longer requires a daily presence in the slums of these two areas. Almost all children are attending school, and there is a strong awareness of the importance of education. Residents are informed about their rights and have obtained identity cards, with more babies receiving birth certificates as the majority of births now occur in hospitals rather than at home. Young women and girls have access to women-friendly toilets built by LittleBigHelp, where they can also purchase affordable sanitary pads. Through educational initiatives and free vocational training targeted at women, we witness how previously marginalized women now shine with dreams for the future and aspirations for education. When assessing our readiness to implement our exit strategy, we specifically look at the following parameters:
- Number of children under 14 years old attending school
- Number of children under 14 years engaged in work
- Births occurring in a hospital
- Babies following the national vaccination program
- Access to women-friendly toilets and affordable sanitary pads
- Possession of identity cards and knowledge about public services
- Implementation of one or more initiatives that can generate income, ensuring the sustainability of the positive initiatives initiated in recent years
All these points above contribute to illustrating a development when compared to data from before our intervention started. At LittleBigHelp, we do not undertake initiatives that are already (publicly) available, but rather facilitate residents in the slum’s access to various opportunities.
For example, we do not operate schools, as there are already schools available in the local area. Instead, we prefer to ensure that children attend the local school, rather than constructing and managing a school ourselves. This way, we ensure that the slum area does not become dependent on us and our efforts but instead utilizes existing institutions. During our time in the area, we work to ensure that both children and their parents feel secure about the school. We hold meetings with the school to emphasize a special focus on these children, who come from a less privileged academic background.
This approach is what enables us to eventually withdraw from an area, as we have provided the families in the slum with resources to continue the development independently.
Now, the residents in the slum areas themselves must continue the positive development, and we, of course, follow up and offer guidance when necessary. In the first year, we continue with the following initiatives, among others:
- Quarterly meetings with local leaders and change agents in the slum
- Quarterly meetings with local schools to prevent student dropouts
- Home visits by change agents to ensure children are attending school
- The local club allocates a minimum of 50% of its earnings to development initiatives in the slum
- Facilitation of the creation of a committee in the slum where residents can report knowledge of abuse and child marriages
- Continuation of vocational training for vulnerable adults or tutoring for young individuals
Understand us correctly: It remains a impoverished area, and the people living here still have a long way to achieve a life with an average income. However, with the efforts in these slum areas, they now have the tools and better conditions to educate, develop, and work their way out of poverty.
