UNFPA India Representative Visits Kargil Slum To Oversee The Implementation Of Socially Smart Project

Bhubaneswar: Resident Representative for UNFPA India Argentina Matavel Piccin visited Kargil Slum today to see the implementation of Socially Smart Bhubaneswar Project through community intervention with focus on youth and adolescent, safety and security of girls and gender equality.

A collaborative initiative of BSCL, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and United Nations Population Fund, the “Socially Smart Bhubaneswar’’ Project was initiated in Jan 2017 in eight slums under Bhubaneswar Town Centre District (Smart District) and currently covers 100 slums of the city. The programme is being implemented at community-level through partner NGO Humara Bachpan Trust (HBT).

The project is largely being implemented through Peer Leaders’ training, imparting self-defence training for the girls of slums in the city and also providing vocational training and recently organizing a Skill Mela for youths with the help of 14 vocational institutions in the city. While the Peer Leaders have become the messengers of social change within the Smart District and beyond, the self-defence and vocational training have made the youth more confident and self-reliant.

Peer Leaders trained under the various training programmes of  “Socially Smart Bhubaneswar’’ enacted skits with socio-cultural values and message before the visiting guest. Peer leaders like Deepanjali Swain, Sunita Nayak, Anita Nayak and Jasmin Nissa spoke and took part in the coordination of the event.

The Resident Representative for UNFPA India appreciated the efforts of the youths as their work was recently highlighted in the International Conference on Population and Development-25 at Nairobi.

Among others, UNFPA State Programme Co-ordinator Deepa Prasad, GM Social Projects Diptirani Sahoo and Arpita Patnaik from HBT were present.

The Resident Representative for UNFPA India, Argentina Matavel Piccin, who joined office on June 6, 2019, prior to her arrival in India represented Cote d’Ivoire, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Botswana. She also served at WHO and UNDP at various points in her career, as well as with World Vision. She is from Mozambique.

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