Movement for Alternatives and Youth Awareness (MAYA)

Movement for Alternatives and Youth Awareness (MAYA) addresses systemic issues concerning child rights, livelihoods, education, and health. It focuses on the issue of livelihoods and builds community networks that take responsibility for their own sustainable development.

Major Interventions:

Tobacco Control and Youth: This initiative supports government measures to protect young people from the hazards of tobacco use. MAYA collaborates with educational institutions to raise awareness and cultivate smoke-free student environments. It conducts extensive research to track sales violations and provides evidence to law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, it organizes public awareness campaigns and shares policy recommendations with state ministries to strengthen regulatory frameworks.

Women Entrepreneurship in Health Sector: This initiative provides healthcare screening services directly at the doorsteps of local communities. It trains local women as health entrepreneurs who conduct blood pressure, blood sugar, and anemia tests. These health entrepreneurs also maintain a regional health library that contains searchable audio-video materials on local health practices. Additionally, the workers process and sell nutritional food items made from local millets to secure a collective income and sustain their operations.

Livelihood of the Artisans: The program focuses on enhancing the economic opportunities of traditional craft workers. It assists lacware artisans in forming a collective producer company to manage their business independently. The organization establishes shared workspaces and provides modern machinery to improve production quality. It also extends crucial support in product design, laboratory testing, and market distribution to ensure long-term financial growth for the local craft cluster.

Parents for Inclusive Development: This movement assists parents of children with special needs in identifying and addressing shared challenges. It aims to build the capacities of parents so that their children become more independent personally and professionally. The group coordinates with government hospitals to secure essential identification cards for the children.