Holistic development of slum residents

Calcutta Rescue is working on Vermicomposting

Calcutta Rescue has started a pilot project using the humble earthworm to tackle waste and generate employment. Vermicomposting uses worms to turn things like food waste and bedding materials into fertiliser. Slum areas are generally unclean. There are dingy alleys, and narrow spaces, animals roam around, and garbage is dumped anywhere. The waste collection system does not operate. And, due to the pandemic, people in urban slum areas, many of the labourers, have lost work. So Calcutta Rescue decided to plan something that will reduce waste and also provide employment to the slum dwellers. Slum dwellers working on the project will collect waste from nearby cowshed, water hyacinths (an invasive weed) from nearby canals, and waste from local vegetable markets. Currently, these things are being dumped into drains creating blockages that encourage the breeding of mosquitoes and pollute the environment. This project is funded by The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited (CESC). Calcutta Rescue has built rooms where the composting will take place and is running talks with local people so they understand what the project is for and how it will help them.Firstly the waste materials are collected, then comes a decomposing process where it rots down for a few days. Then it is put inside the composting pits with earthworms where the compost will be created. The whole process takes 40-45 days. Presently 2 female staff have been recruited and 1 male staff will be recruited very soon. If the initial intervention is successful there is plan to make it a long-term project.

Gender Equality Survey at Calcutta Rescue Promotes Awareness among boys

Boys at Calcutta Rescue’s education centres have started receiving targeted gender-equality training to help them break the patterns of sexism, domestic abuse and gender-based violence that are endemic in the slum communities where they live.

A Boy's Club has been set up with funding from the Cloverleaf Foundation in the The Netherlands, where 160 male students aged around 10 to 20 are getting the chance to explore and learn about these difficult issues.

Calcutta Rescue has employed a male social worker to deliver the programme. He said, "It is better for the boys to have a man before them discussing social problems. If I explain to them that boys can cry too, for instance, it is easier for them to relate because I express a man's perspective.”