Case7-January-2013

DHAN Service Centre for Migrants (DSCM), Tirupur

Mothering of development innovation being one of the core purposes, DHAN Foundation nurtures new themes on various thematic areas for advancing the development. The new theme - Migration and development evolved so has started designing its components on two dimensions as a cross cutting theme and as a standalone theme.

Tirupur, the textile hub in Tamilnadu is a well known destination to migrants and attracts migrants from all over the country. The garment industry over there offers employment opportunity to many. The migrants are subjected to many developmental issues like issues in living conditions, middlemen and sub-contractor exploitation due to unorganised situation, child labourer issues, social issues-suicide, alcoholism, camp labour system-Sumangali Thittam, low income, uncertain future, prevalence of usury or kanduvatti, health and education issues. DHAN Foundation hence has taken Tirupur to pilot the new theme –Migration and development and to build a model to address these developmental issues.

As a part of our piloting efforts in the migrant destination (Tirupur) DHAN Service Centre for Migrants (DSCM) was inaugurated in Tirupur on 30.01.2013.

DHAN Service Centre for Migrants (DSCM) – Facilitation centre: This DSCM will be a facilitation centre and it will work in 3 main fronts – Migrants especially with special focus on other state migrants who are more vulnerable, garment industry and mainstream institutions. It will work with other state migrants and garment industry through skill building and wage employment services. Through these services, DSCM will enhance the skills of migrants’ and facilitate them to get placed in decent work places with increased wages. Also it will collaborate with mainstream institutions for collecting data base, providing ID cards, facilitating to get entitlements, financial and social security services and other services (like health, education etc). Through these services, DSCM will empower the migrants on rights based approach to live a dignified life in the destination on par with the origin/native communities. These two kinds of facilitations will reduce the poverty in all aspects among the migrant families esp. other state migrant families.

The services to be provided by DSCM are discussed in detail below

1. Skill building and wage employment services: This centre will act as a facilitator between migrants’ and industry through skill building and wage employment services. For this, the centre will collect the data base of migrants’ including their educational qualification, skills and experience. On the other side a data base of garment industries and their human resource needs will be created. Based on the needs and demands migrants will be facilitated to get employment skills through various training programmes and by offering skill building courses.
2. Capacity building and awareness services: The migrants will be educated to understand their rights. Their capacity and skills will be improved with specific training and educational programmes. To build the capacity/awareness and to facilitate to access the services every month a meeting will be organised with migrants in a fixed date where the mainstream stakeholders will be invited as guest. This will create conducive environment to facilitate the services for the benefit of migrants.
3. Financial and social security services: The seasonal/distressed migrants are having cash flow. And they are in the position to send earned income to their origin. Here they don’t have proper savings and remittance system. More over no migrants are having social security protection especially life and medical insurance services. To provide the financial and social security services, the seasonal migrants esp. the other state migrants – women and men - will be organised in Kalanjiam SHGs.
   These migrant Kalanjiam SHGs groups will be promoted as homogenous groups (ex. state wise/ language wise/community wise/relationship wise). This platform will build community bondage, improves their mutual support systems. The Migrant Kalanjiam groups will open a bank account which will provide identity, recognition for them and also facilitates remittance to origin through this bank account.
4. Ensuring entitlements services: Entitlement services will be provided to all migrants (not only to the members of Kalanjiam) through the DSCM. It will facilitate them to get entitlements provided to them such as ID cards, opening bank accounts, getting health and education services etc. These services will lead the migrants’ esp. other state migrants to live a decent and fearless life in Tirupur.
5. Health and educational services: These services will be provided on need basis; remedial schools, evening tuition centres will be promoted to educate the migrants’ children and also to minimise the child labour issue. These services will be delivered through organising the unorganised migrants (building social capital) and through collaborative efforts with mainstream institutions and industrial associations. DSCM will work closely with respective departments of district administration, health and educational, Police dept, Industrialist and other stake holders in order to improve the migrants living and working conditions and standards. A formal and informal network will be promoted along with those who are working on migration issue – NGOs, training and educational institutes, Govt departments/officials.

Governing and executive system of DSCM: A committee will be formed with the representatives from the executive committee of the federations (Nine leaders), Federation Coordinators and staffs of DSCM. This committee will meet once in a month to plan and review the activities of the DSCM. A field team comprising of one professional staff with minimum three associates will be placed to execute the works planned by the DSCM and this team will closely work with the federation leaders and staffs to deliver the services to the migrants. This centre will operate from an office at North Kalanjiam Federation, Tirupur.