Our Initiatives

Peace and Equality Cell works on a number of issues in a variety of ways :

Legal aid

  • We provide free legal representation to survivors of child sexual abuse.
  • We provide subsidized representation to survivors of gender based violence.
  • We collaborate with other organizations to provide access to justice in cases of unconstitutional violence including dalit atrocities, custodial deaths and lynching cases.

trainings and awareness building

  1. Raising awareness on prevention of child sexual abuse
    • We conduct workshops with children, parents and rural and urban communities on raising awareness of child sexual abuse and explaining to children the difference between safe touch and unsafe touch. We have field mobilisers who work throughout the year with schools, families and communities at village level and in marginalized urban areas to spread awareness on prevention of child sexual abuse. In 2018, we conducted 111 sessions on Safe touch and Unsafe touch in 81 schools. In 2019, we are planning to reach 18,000 children and 2500 parents across Gujarat.
  2. Trainings on child sexual abuse law – Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act aka POCSO
    • We have conducted various trainings with field activists at community levels, with grassroots collectives, with NGO activists and counselors and CCI (Child Care Institutions) staff.
  3. Trainings on Gender Justice Legislation
    • We conduct trainings on prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act 2013 with NGOs, educational institutions and government departments as requested. We work on raising awareness of the domestic violence legislation and it’s implementation. We conduct trainings on the Anti-Rape Act 2013, to raise awareness of the important changes and substantive law on rape and in ensuring implementation.
  4. Trainings and workshops on improving infrastructure and enhanacing capacity of government and non-government stakeholders. Last couple of years, this included the following :
    • Collaborating with Gujarat Child Protection Society on a 3 day training on POCSO and Counseling. Collaborating with Gender Resource Center and Women and Child Department and Gujarat Mental Health Hospital to provide 2 day training on understanding of mental health issues and mental health disorders. Collaborating with Gujarat State Legal Services Department and Ahmedabad District Legal Services Department to better understand the available schemes and infrastructure under the legal aid scheme.
  5. Advocacy and Implementation
    • PEC has been working with Women and Child Department  to improve the quality of shelters in Gujarat. We believe that survivors of Gender based violence must have a safe space where they can recover and rebuild their lives.  Often, we also work with government offices to ensure that implementation of a law is being carried out well. In the past, PEC has carried out advocacy with the Home Department, the Child Protection Society and Women and Child Department to ensure that the Victim Compensation Scheme is working for women and child survivors of violence in Gujarat.