Defending Democracy and Civic Space in Asia
Final Project Report: 2022-23
The Project
Title: #Strong Partnerships through Promo5ng SDG 16 amongst Indian CSOs for Enhancing Civic Space
Introduc:on:
SDG 16 - PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS aims to promote peaceful and inclusive socie5esfor sustainable development, provide access to jus5ce for all and build eﬀec5ve, accountable andinclusive ins5tu5ons at all levels. The 2030 Agenda aims to signiﬁcantly reduce all forms of violence, andwork with governments and communi5es to end conﬂict and insecurity.
Objec:ves of the Project:This project was aimed towards strengthening leadership and recognise the importance of collabora5on.
This was to invoke among them and focus on furthering Goal 16.
Thus, the objec5ves for the project included:i)To create awareness about SDG 16 amongst Indian CSOs especially those working at
grass-root levelsii)

To recognise and popularise the stories of collabora5onsiii)

To collec5vise Indian Civil Society Leaders and urge focussed eﬀorts towards achieving ofGoal 16 towards strengthening partnershipsiv)

Collec5vely iden5fy ways of enhanced CSO role play in achieving of the following
iden5ﬁed targets:

To achieve the above objec:ves following ac:vi:es were carried out.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN FOR SDG 16 +VANI will undertook a Social Media Campaign (series of ﬁve social media posts) to create awarenessabout SDG 16, generate interest and role CSOs may play in furthering it.

The Campaign informed the CSOs that VANI along with JANIC believes in mutual collabora5on andstrengthening leadership to respond to humanitarian issues. This was only possible by crea5ng
awareness and strengthening partnerships of CSOs. Further it was informed that the aim of thisCampaign was to induce partnership spirit of collec5ve ac5on and ownership by the CSOs for upli[ingthe human rights and make it clear that sustainable development cannot be achieved without ensuring
civil and poli5cal rights.
So the campaign began with:First of all eﬀorts were made to understand the importance of SDGs and the SDG 16.

1. The importance of SDGs and SDG 16 +Dura%on of Campaign 1: 10 October – 16 October 2022

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were adopted by the United Na5ons in 2015 as a universal
call to ac5on to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace andprosperity.
SDG 16 addresses the need for major interven5on to promote peace and inclusive ins5tu5ons andcontribute to the other Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goal 16 is about"peace, jus5ce and strong ins5tu5ons. The Mission of SDG 16 is to "Promote peaceful and inclusive
socie5es for sustainable development, provide access to jus5ce for all and build eﬀec5ve, accountableand inclusive ins5tu5ons at all levels". Its Status in India is that while interna5onal processes around the2030 Agenda to date have experienced unprecedented levels of engagement by civil society, and a
growing involvement of civil society and grassroots communi5es at the regional level, a signiﬁcant gap
s5ll remains in the na5onal level. The Social Media Post:
2. Importance of SDG 16.B in India
Dura%on of Campaign 2: 21 October – 30 October 2022
It is to “promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development”.
Chapters III and IV of the Cons5tu5on of India guarantees Fundamental Rights and outlines the state’s
obliga5on to provide equal opportuni5es to all its ci5zens. India also has ins5tuted policies of job andeduca5on reserva5ons for minori5es and the disadvantaged. However, discrimina5on based on caste,religion, gender, sexual orienta5on, disability, ethnicity, and skin colour con5nues.
Discrimina5on is understood as “the unequal treatment of an individual or group on the basis of theirstatuses (e.g., age, beliefs, ethnicity, and sex) by limi5ng access to social resources (e.g., educa5on,housing, jobs, legal rights, loans, or poli5cal power).”
The most discriminated in India are women (48.46 percent of the popula5on), SCs (16 percent), STs (8.6percent), Muslims (14.2 percent), Chris5ans (2.3 percent), deno5ﬁed tribes/nomadic tribes (8-10percent), disabled (7-9 percent) and LGBTQ (0.6-3.8 percent). Also facing discrimina5on are people fromthe North-Eastern states (414,850 living outside the North-East).
In the absence of a codiﬁed an5-discrimina5on law, data on the propor5on of popula5on to have felt
discriminated against remains unavailable. Ins5tu5onal discrimina5on— bias built into the opera5on ofsociety’s ins5tu5ons— manifests in how people interface with and their access to educa5on, health care,the criminal jus5ce system and employment, among others.

3. Women - The most discriminated in India
Dura%on of Campaign 3: 10 – 20 November 2022

The 3rd part of our Campaign of SDG 16 and par5cularly 16.B. is highligh5ng discrimina5on with women.
According to the 2011 census, women cons5tute 48.46 percent of India’s popula5on.

In 2011, the na5onal census recorded India’s overall literacy rate at 74.04 percent, with an almost 17percent gap between sexes— for men, the literacy rate was 82.14 percent while for women it was 65.46percent. The Na5onal Sample Survey 2014 found that “in rural India 72.3% males and 56.8% females andin Urban India 83.7% males and 74.8% females are literate.” Girl dropout rate is higher than boys, withover 20 percent of girls dropping out a[er they reached puberty.

In 2015, 3.7 million eligible girls were out of school and in rural areas girls receive an average of less thanfour years of educa5on. In the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Global Gender Gap report, India wasranked 125 out of 145 countries in educa5on equality (which is measured by female literacy andenrolment in primary, secondary and ter5ary educa5on).

Women’s par5cipa5on in the labour force con5nues to be low— only 29 percent of women are in thework force compared to 83 percent of men.

4. Scheduled Caste – suﬀering age-old prac:ce of untouchability
Dura%on of Campaign 4: 21 – 30 November 2022

According to the 2011 census, 16.6 percent of the popula5on— 201 million people— are classiﬁed as
Scheduled Castes (SCs). The Na5onal Commission for Scheduled Castes deﬁnes SCs as those who “suﬀer
from extreme social, educa5onal and economic backwardness arising out of age-old prac5ce ofuntouchability.” Ar5cle 17 and 18 of the Indian Cons5tu5on prohibits discrimina5on on grounds of caste.
The 2011 census recorded 66.1 percent literacy rate for SCs— 75.2 percent of SC men and 56.5 percentof SC women were literate. The average literacy rate for SCs is 6.9 percent lower than the na5onalaverage.

In 2014, the Ministry for Labour and Employment recorded 58.3 percent (76.1 percent SC males and 35.3
percent SC females) Labour Force Par5cipa5on Rate (LFPR) for rural popula5ons among SCs older than
15 years of age. SCs also have the lowest land ownership rates of any rural groups— 45.15 percent of SCs
are landless and depend on manual casual labour, compared to 29.84 percent STs, and Others at 26.02
percent.
Manual scavenging refers to the prac5ce of manually cleaning excreta and waste from private and public
dry toilets (outhouses) and open drains.
As per the SECC 2011 data of manual scavengers released by the Ministry of Rural Development on 3 July
2015, there were 1,82,505 manual scavengers in the rural areas of the country.

5. What can be done for protec:ng the fundamental rights?
Dura%on of Campaign 5: 1 – 10th January 2023

This is the last post of this important campaign where in knowledge on diﬀerent approaches ofprotec5ng fundamental rights are being shared.

The concept of SDG16 plus is so persuasive (prevalent) because the mul5faceted disempowerment of
those who are le[ behind will not be adequately addressed if we adopt fragmented approaches,
designed in silos and applied as Band-Aids. We need integrated approaches, grounded in broad
par5cipa5on, which build on the mutually reinforcing work of many communi5es.

Some innova5ve approaches are support networking, exchange of knowledge and ideas and develop
learning and sharing plaoorms. Iden5fy common issues and challenges and make lobby and advocacy.
Support for innova5ve solu5ons to the obstacles to mee5ng the SDGs and realizing ‘leave no one
behind’.

Freedom from fear and freedom from want, cannot be achieved in isola5on from each other?
The mul5ple and overlapping structural impediments (policies and prac5ces) that prevent jus5ce frombeing done, express the relevance of indivisibility (impossible to separate) and interdependence of all
human rights.
Source for this content:
1.

Monitoring and Review of SDG 16 Plus at the Na%onal and Regional Level (2015-2020) in Asia-ADA Report2.

SDG 16 INDIA MAPPING THE DATASCAPE - Commonwealth Human Rights Ini%a%ve

Media for the Campaign: This Campaign was run on email, Whatsapp and Facebook.

Support for the Campaign from VANI Members:

INFORMATION LEAFLET ON SDG 16
A Leaﬂet was designed with informa5on on the SDG 16 and SDG 16+. It was also translated in Hindi for
the wider circula5on to the grassroot CSOs. The hard copy of the Leaﬂet will serve as ready reference forday today func5oning.
The Leaﬂet in English and Hindi

ONLINE LEADERSHIP MEET
Two online zoom CSO Leaders mee5ngs were organized.
1. Women Leadership Meet:This mee5ng was to discuss strengthening of women leadership on the topic, ‘Empowered
Women of the Civil Society’. The Speaker was, Ms. Hemal Kamat, Director & Secretary,
Center of Needy, Crea5ve, Experiment & Par5cipatory Techniques (CONCEPT) Society,Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The mee5ng was conducted on Date: 6th February 2023.
Mr. Harsh Jaitli, Chief Execu5ve Oﬃcer, VANI requested all members to join the mee5ng toinﬂuence partnership spirit and mutual collabora5on in strengthening leadership of Women.
The Social Media Invite:

The presenta5on of Ms. Hemal Kamat covered: components of women’s empowerment
which consisted of women’s sense of self-worth, determine choices, access to opportuni5es
and resources, power to control their own lives, ability to inﬂuence the direc5on of socialchange to create a more just social and economic order. She also discussed the interven5ons
required for the empowerment of women like gender analysis, equal leadership, rightawareness, reducing drudgery, func5onal adult literacy, health services, ﬁnancial services,
hal5ng child marriages, prosecu5ng gender based violence. The discussion emphasised therole civil society should play in facilita5ng the interven5ons for the empowerment ofwomen. Around 50+ people joined the meet.

Some glimpses of the Zoom mee:ng:

Some feedback on the mee:ng in the chat box:

2. ONLINE LEADERSHIP MEETThe Second online leadership meet was an online conversa5on with the grassroot CSO memberson the Government of India Annual Budget of 2023. The conversa5on was moderated by Mr.
Harsh Jaitli, CEO VANI and Ms. Menka Sahoo, Chartered Accountant from S. Sahoo & Company.
The online conversa5on was held on 10th February 2023.

Ms. Sahoo covered in her presenta5on: Condi5ons to be fulﬁlled to keep 12A Registra5on intact,
Reduc5on in the 5me limit to furnish Form 10 and 9A, Combining 12A & 80G Provisional and Regular
Registra5on in some cases, Payment of tax on assets if an organiza5on does not apply for renewal of
12A a[er gevng “provisional exemp5on” or a[er “expiry of regular exemp5on”, Sub-gran5ng andclaim of such expenses in Computa5on of Income, Replenishment of Corpus & Repayment of Loans/
Borrowings as Expenditures, Pre-Condi5ons for “Expenses” to be claimed as “Charitable” Expenses,Amendment of Sec5on 194 R, and lastly Amendment in 206AB Declara5on & TDS of non-ﬁlers of
Income Tax Return.
There were 60+ people from all over India. Many queries were raised by them. They were the civilsociety members. Ms. Sahoo clariﬁed all their doubts.
Glimpses of the Zoom mee5ng.
The speakerThe par:cipants

Hands raisedSome apprecia5on in the chat box

Summing up

VANI made all eﬀorts through the campaigns to create awareness about SDG 16 amongst
the CSOs especially those working at grass-root levels. They were explained in simple language
about the SDG’s and its importance. Further it was tried to explain them the role SDG 16+
played. Discrimina5on exists in the society and CSO’s have to come forward to ﬁght it throughcrea5ng awareness in the society. Two issues were discussed in the campaign, one of
discrimina5on the women face and second is ﬁgh5ng the old age prac5ce of untouchability.
Lastly few techniques and approaches of protec5ng fundamental rights were shared. The
campaign encouraged and tried to popularize collabora5ons for bexer results.

Leaﬂets with the informa5on on SDG 16 and its related issues were printed. These leaﬂets weretranslated in Hindi the na5onal language of India. These leaﬂets were disseminated by post to
the member civil society organisa5ons. Northern belt which is mostly Hindi speaking Hindi
leaﬂets were posted. South India is English speaking, hence English leaﬂets were posted. The
organisa5ons were advised to put up the leaﬂets on display in their oﬃces.

VANI to collec5vise Indian Civil Society Leaders and to strengthening partnerships organised two
Zoom Leadership meets. The subjects chosen for the discussion were 5mely and very much
required and appreciated by the na5onal as well as grassroot leaders. In both the meets 60+
par5cipants joined and raised their queries. The resource persons were very well known
personali5es.

In this way the project ended 5mely in February 2023.