Redefining Leadership: Alfiya Shaikh

24 year old Alfiya Shaikh is a resident of Gandhigram, Akola. While she looks for a job post completing her M. Com, Alfiya has dedicated her time towards bringing change and awareness in her village. Her village, though bigger in size compared to her neighbouring villages, lacks efficiency when it comes to government processes and social work.

Alfiya shares, girls in her village often complete their graduation but are not able to work, rather, they are married. A majority of them also drop out of school post class 10th as they are expected to travel outside the village to pursue further education. In the past, women have missed out on awareness about hygiene and health as the ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers would not conduct the required workshops unless ordered by authorities. In general the people of the village are unaware of the social issues around them.

Assessing the need of the hour Alfiya decided to put her skills and experience from the National Service Scheme (NSS) in an attempt to create space for social work and change the current conditions of the village.

Alfiya has been involved in the social space since her college days, she volunteers with SAATH Foundation since the past four years and has been involved in their events like ‘Social Diwali’ – where clothes and books are distributed and even anchored in the public speaking competition held by them. Other than this she has also trained in a district police campaign called ‘Janani’ and conducted workshops with school children on topics like ‘good touch, bad touch’ and ‘cybercrime’. Having experience in organizing events, workshops and volunteering, she along with her friend decided to set up SEWA; a group whose goal is to spread awareness among the residents of the village about the social problems around them.

As their first activity they decided to set up a blood donation camp along with a seminar by a caretaker of a hospital. The camp received a good response and saw the presence of the prominent members of the village, the group also received appreciation from them. Although there was a lack of resources and funds in organizing the program, the positive response further motivated Alfiya to organize more such events and many more girls to come forward and show interest in the group.

SEWA is not the only initiative in which Alfiya has shown courage, she has also exposed the shortcomings in the government system in the village. She requested the Registrar or Patwari to give a date and time at which he would be present at the gram panchayat so that women could approach him for help. In response to this, the registrar passed several casteist remarks to her, which were also heard by other members of the village. Eventually owing to complaints by the villagers he had been transferred elsewhere.

After the Samvidhan se Samadhan program, Alfiya shares, she has a better understanding of her rights and is more confident when it comes to raising her voice. She has also been able to share this information with others through the workshop she conducted in the village school to explain the importance of the constitution to the children. She believes that the power of the constitution allows one to move forward fearlessly.

Alfiya believes that change is only possible with awareness. She holds on to her dream for SEWA to become a big organisation one day to spread awareness and lead positive change. Resilient as ever she continues to work towards her goal.

The above story has been written and published with the explicit consent of the individual involved. All facts presented are based on WTPA's direct interaction with the individual, ensuring accuracy and integrity in our reporting.