A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) document was signed between the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) and the India HIV/AIDS Alliance on Wednesday. Through the collaboration, the two organisations will now jointly organize consultation workshops at the national and regional levels to build consensus on key issues. The focus will be on identifying success stories and tracking individuals for enhancing the livelihood opportunities of the transgender community.
According to an NCUI official, the cooperation between two is a historic step in the direction of empowerment of the transgender community in India as the two pioneer organizations are working respectively in the areas of cooperative development and advocacy for sexuality and healthcare rights, “we have joined hands through the MoU for fulfilling the economic, social, and cultural aspirations of the transgender community in India,” said an official.
Furthermore, the two organizations will jointly conceptualize and implement pilot projects towards developing sustainable livelihood models as well as capacity-building programmes at selected locations in various regions of the country. Strategies will also be formulated to ensure the holistic development of the community with a specific focus on economic development while retaining the community’s cultural ethos and diversity.
Recently, the Government of India had launched the “Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise” (SMILE) scheme to provide welfare measures to the Transgender community and the people engaged in the act of begging. The scheme will give the necessary legal protection, social security and a promise to a secured life to the targeted group. Therefore, the collaboration between NCUI and HIV Alliance has a huge potential to achieve the objectives of SMILE scheme through sustainable interventions in the areas of livelihoods for the transgender community.
It is to be noted that NCUI has recently taken many initiatives to empower lesser known cooperatives and promote cooperative identity among the vulnerable sections of society. An MoU was signed between NCUI and the National Association of Street Vendors of India last week to mainstream street vendor community and execute projects for enhancing their quality of life. In addition to this, NCUI has also reached out to reputed organizations working for sanitation workers and differently-abled population in India.