Our programme, Building Blocks, builds back power and purpose in the lives of adolescents who have had very vulnerable childhoods because of which they are unable to lead complete lives.
To enable men and boys about the importance of personal space, professional respect, boundaries and for them to be more sensitive and empathetic about women’s issues.
With a strong focus on ensuring deterrence of harassment and ensuring safe, nurturing and enabling workplaces, our corporate engagements are built around the idea of Gender Justice in public spaces, essentially workspaces.
We work with ordinary citizens who occupy public spaces for large parts of the day, and instill confidence and responsibility in them so they can proactively deter sexual harassment.
This program seeks to shift the narrative of gender-based violence by moving the responsibility away from survivors and placing it on the environment. Safety is a collective responsibility. Public spaces have also been historically created by hegemonic structures of power thereby perpetuating violence (that is both gendered and caste and class based), making spaces inaccessible and unsafe for marginalised people. By engaging men as allies and active bystanders, we challenge the harmful norms of masculinity, entitlement, and dominance that underpin harassment and structural violence.
Through this program, we equip men to:
- Grasp how intersectional identities shape public spaces and workplace dynamics
- Take action as allies and active bystanders, intervening to prevent violence at even the smallest level.
- Challenge and transform harmful gender norms, fostering environments of equality and respect.
Our work began in public spaces, recognising that unsafe conditions for women were not just the result of inadequate infrastructure, but of spaces historically shaped by hegemonic and gendered power structures that marginalise women and other vulnerable groups.
Today, our partnerships span diverse communities, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Traffic Police, security guards, auto drivers, cab drivers, delivery partners, childcare institutions, observation homes, and most recently, the Delhi Transport Corporation.
