Know Our Team: Actively Working for Society
Know Our Team is a series that attempts to bring to you the stories of our team, share our experiences, why we do what we do and special moments that have left an indelible mark in each of our lives.
Noorjahan Ansari is the Program and Outreach Officer at Ahmedabad. She has a background in community awareness building, training on women’s socio-legal and educational rights and has an extensive experience of working with the police and local government authorities. She also has a thorough knowledge of data collection and data management. She has worked on numerous issues especially with people from the marginalized sector like livelihood, housing, domestic violence, women’s rights and more. She is a trained paralegal and also has experience in counselling.
Know Our Team- Actively Working for Society
I am Noorjahan Ansari. I have been working on issues of Human Rights since the year 2002 when communal riots took place in Gujarat. Unfortunately, my family was the victim of those riots. Our houses were destroyed and we had to live in the government camp for three months. During my stay at the camp, I started working with Action Aid, an NGO, to help and support the families that had been victimised during the riots. We continued to help the families until they were able to start afresh and stand on their own feet.
I have worked for Human Rights from 2002 till 2016. I worked with the youth and women on their rights and livelihood. I feel a strong sense of fulfilment working for the society and ensuring people receive justice. When I see people getting justice, I feel an innate sense of happiness and satisfaction that I have been able to do something for my people, my society.
Since 2017 I have begun working with Safecity. I loved the work that Safecity was doing and how it was providing a platform for women like us who wanted to do something for the society. It is a fact that even in 21st century, women face violence at every step. Women are becoming victims of various forms of violence be it socio-economic, mental, sexual or physical violence and this is growing rampant all over the country. There are many who do not report this violence out of fear of social stigma, being victim-blamed and accused or having more restrictions out on them. Due to this the true statistics and numbers of cases of violence against women never really reach the Government.
Safecity is trying to collect those left out reports of crimes against women through its platform. Safecity is working against child sexual abuse and violence against women. It is providing a platform where women can report without any fear and anonymously as well. Women can report on Google Maps the various places they have been harassment at and how they have been harassed without disclosing their identity. I loved this idea and enjoy working with Safecity. Through a platform like Safecity, I believe that we can all try to stop the crimes and violence in society against women and children.
