Origin
Jeeva was registered on 5th November 2012 as a Trust. Its purpose and focus on addressing issues around mental health, livelihood and community media for Gender and Sexual Minorities in Karnataka.
Goal and Vision
Jeeva strives to build a society where all people can live in peace and express themselves freely irrespective of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Mission
Create a platform for Gender and Sexual minorities to participate equally in society, build a sustainable livelihood and attain quality of life, self-esteem and dignity. Ensure that the voices and concerns of Gender and Sexual Minorities become part of public discourse.
As a community led organisations, Jeeva brings together working class Gender and Sexual Minorities of different orientation in its intervention and reflects their aspirations.
Objectives
- To improve mental health status of Gender and Sexual minorities by providing counseling, using ART therapy, improving the knowledge and skills of social workers, developing links and referrals to various governments, advocating and expanding mental health services to sexual minorities, facilitate conversations between Gender and Sexual minorities and others in society.
- To work on incremental and fundament measures for inclusion of Gender and Sexual minorities in all aspects of life and livelihood-through policy changes, expanding livelihood options, promoting financial planning and savings, trainings and mentoring to start their own enterprise, advocating with the government and private sector for employment opportunities and social welfare measures for sexual minorities.
- To amplify the voice of Gender and Sexual minorities through community media by facilitating the production of print and audio – visual materials (training and other support), encouraging the creation of personal blogs and websites and providing training in social media. Further, sensitizing mainstream media on issues of sexual minorities, setting up and running community radio stations, and facilitating Gender and Sexual minorities in getting employed in the mainstream media.
- Carry out research and organisational development to achieve the above mentioned objectives.
Activities
- Regular conversations with the community and documentation of community experiences and its strategic dissemination through magazine, community meeting, radio programs, stake holders and public meeting.
- Addressing the issues related to mental health through weekly counseling services and setting up a system to create awareness among the community and providing referral support for follow up treatment through specialized institutions and friendly counselors.
- Documenting and disseminating quality public documents on community experiences, creating awareness among the youth and decision makers, facilitate to get government programmes and resources available for community, making the Gander and Sexual minorities members more articulate, self-sufficient in terms of being to access resources and support in the personal and public space, creating more sustainable linkages in the form of care and support and bring policy to support community members, difficulty faced to institutionalize organization.
- Intervening with the judiciary on Gander and Sexual minorities rights:
- On the 36A Karnataka Police Act which gives the police an upper-hand in creating fear among transgender community, Jeeva was a co petitioner and the high court has ruled in favour.
- For the withdrawal of 377 Uma, founder director of Jeeva is a co-petitioner in the Supreme Court.
- Jeeva, in filing an application seeking horizontal reservations to be provided to transgender persons in public employment which led to Karnataka becoming the first Indian state to provide 1% horizontal reservation for transgender persons.
- Working with the government to maximize our impact, to scale up support for the community and have been successful in building a working relationship with concerned government departments.
Strategy& Guiding Principle
Jeeva is a community led organization, it works and derives its strength from community support, and the collective wisdom of its coalitions and network partners. We are now twelve years old and are ready to step forward more firmly. For the first time in 4 years we have a small assured support for some of our core activities and a space of our own.
