2020: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
None of us will forget 2020, the year of COVID. At the 3D Program, we will also remember 2020 because of:
- The courage of the waste pickers in the city of Pune, who were designated essential workers early in the pandemic. Organized by our partners, KKPKP and SWaCH, they continued to serve the citizens of Pune.
- The innovation of our partners at KKPKP and SWaCH in creating a network of community-based service centers or kendras across the city of Pune, to increase access to life-saving services and benefits and life-changing opportunities for waste pickers and their families.
- The commitment of our partners MASUM and Chaitanya, who moved our village women’s committee meetings in Pune District online, creating a crucial lifeline of information, connections, services and supplies during COVID.
- The agility of those partners, who then delivered training to 100 rural development fellows through a new partnership with the Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation to scale up our village women’s committee model across the state.
- The innovations of our partners MASUM and ICRW Asia and the support of the Maharashtra State Road Transportation Corporation, which enabled us to design and safely deliver training on girls’ and women’s safety to over 200 bus drivers, conductors and depot staff.
- The commitment of our partners KKPKP, ICRW Asia, MASUM, Chaitanya and Sangini who are working to better understand and meet the menstrual health and hygiene needs of women, with the generous support of Essity.
- The support and partnership we received from local government officials in Pune District and Maharashtra State, who are committed to gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women.
- The continued guidance and support we receive from our diverse and talented Program Advisory Board.
2020 was also the year Sia Nowrojee, formerly 3D Program Director, was promoted to Executive Director of the 3D Program, with the primary task of facilitating the transfer of ownership of the program to our trusted partners in India and closing down our operations in Washington DC by mid-2021. Over the next few months, we will work with our partners in India to develop plans to scale up the program to reach girls and women across Maharashtra, taking the program into its next exciting phase.
We are immensely grateful to our donor, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and our host, the United Nations Foundation, which has provided us a home for the past four years. We are privileged to have had the opportunity to advance gender equality and demonstrate the power of engaging girls and women to demand and shape solutions to address their priorities.
With best wishes from the 3D Program for a very happy and healthy New Year!
December 2020