American Center in Kolkata organises workshop to empower youth against gender-based violence

The workshop was attended by Craig Hall, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Kolkata, and West Bengal's Minister of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare, Dr. Sashi Panja.

Forty selected student leaders from several states of eastern and northern India participated in the workshop, which consisted of group discussions and activities, such as communicating through puppetry, etc.

The participants were selected on the basis of community projects carried out by them after attending preliminary workshops in Guwahati, Kolkata and Ranchi.

Consul General Hall said, "The United States and India as enduring global partners in the 21st century are committed to provide leadership on issues of shared interest. Working together to end all forms of gender based violence is a crux of this partnership.To me they were great examples of how Indians and Americans can work  together to change the world. In fact, it showed how people like us can play tangible roles in the US-India partnership."

One of the participants, Sneha Harsh, who recently graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi, reiterated the idea that students can play a pivotal role in eradicating gender-based violence.

"I believe students play a major role to spread awareness about gender-based violence (GBV), which includes all forms of violence that specifically and disproportionately target women and girls, including dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual assaults," she said.

Another participant, Gitanjali from Guwahati, organised cultural  rallies and a women's day celebration in her college campus to disseminate  information about gender-based violence and how to prevent it.

"It is our responsibility to empower women in university campuses and community," said Gitanjali.

Minister Panja felt the government can only formulate laws and make policies but it is the community which needs to come forward to spread awareness.

Panja said men should be on board in a reform movement to stop gender-based violence.

However, the workshop appeared to limit itself mostly to defining gender-based violence as violence against women.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)