CASE STUDY #144
GARDEN REACH SHIPBUILDERS & ENGINEERS LTD (GRSE)
Project Akansha
Children growing up in red-light localities face a complex web of vulnerabilities including educational exclusion, social stigma, unsafe living conditions, trafficking risks, child labour, substance abuse and early marriage. Accepting these challenges, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), through its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative and in partnership with Child Rights and You (CRY), launched Project Akansha in June 2023. The three-year intervention focuses on the highly vulnerable redlight localities of Munshiganj and Watgunj in Kidderpore, Kolkata. It creates a safe learning environment, strengthening educational continuity, promoting life skills and self-defence training and building community-based child protection mechanisms. The project strives to break intergenerational cycles of poverty plus exploitation. Supporting over 300 children annually and engaging families, schools, local institutions and community stakeholders, Project Akansha demonstrates how targeted, holistic interventions has the ability to transform vulnerable communities and create pathways toward dignity, education, safety and opportunity.
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