ABOUT US ! -  India is a land of paradox

A land having the distinction of boasting the world's largest number of professionally qualified women is yet to ensure a life with dignity for the majority of its womenfolk!

Smile Foundation, with support from Population Foundation of India (PFI), has initiated the Project on Health and Empowerment of Women with a special focus on Girl Child under its special programme named Swabhiman. In fact, Swabhiman as a women development programme was initiated by Smile Foundation two years back in Delhi and NCR. With technical expertise and financial support from PFI, it has come of age. The project named Swabhiman aims to cover about 78000 under-privileged population residing in slums and urban-rural hinterland of Delhi. The Project focuses on girl child /young women with an objective of empowering them and enabling them as change-agents to improve health seeking behaviour in the community.

Besides awareness generation, advocacy and empowerment programmes, Swabhiman also seeks to address issues of domestic violence, female feticide, infanticide, sexual harassments, rape and abuse - linking up with institutional supports available for redressal. In addition, the project has the component of a comprehensive Reproductive and Sexual Health Services through a Mobile Clinic consisting of mobile medical Team led by a qualified Lady Doctor. There is a wide network of Community Educators and Swabhiman Volunteers deployed in the community for project activities.

This project is initially for a period of 3 years. Besides PFI and Smile Foundation, it involves four implementing organizations at community levels across the selected pockets of East and South Delhi.

About Population Foundation of India

The Population Foundation of India (PFI, formerly known as Family Planning Foundation) was established in l970 by a dedicated group of industrialists and population experts. The Foundation has been at the forefront of the Non Governmental efforts towards a rights-based, Gender sensitive approach for Human Development, Social Development including population stabilisation in India. The Foundation supports and works on innovative research, experimentation and social action to further the cause of population stabilisation and provide a forum for pooling of experiences and sharing of professional expertise to strengthen and enlarge the operational base of the family welfare programme. PFI works in the following area.