The project is aiming to increase the knowledge of SPREAD and EKTA staff in regards to carers and the challenges they face, as well enhancing knowledge on mental illness and epilepsy. Awareness about carers, mental illness and epilepsy will also be built in the local communities.

We envision that this 6-month pilot project will lead to the implementation of a full-scale, 3-year project in the region which would have the potential to impact the lives of 35,000 carers, people with mental illness and epilepsy, and their family members.

At the end of 2018 we received funding from the Commonwealth Foundation to develop a new four-year project that will upscale and complement our previous project “Promoting the Recognition and Inclusion of Carers of the Disabled and Mentally Ill in India”.

It seeks to strengthen civic voice in advocating for the rights of family carers and is encouraging the passing of favourable policy and legislation for carers at the national level.The stronger civic voice will be created through the formation of State Level Carers Forums (SLCFs) and an Indian National Alliance of Carers (INAC).

Working with our existing partner organisations in four states – Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Odisha – this project will make use of existing carers groups and Carers Association networks to increase the reach and impact of our work across India. Our key priorities in this project include:

• Implementing services at a local level that directly support carers, and ensuring the services become enshrined in policy at a local and national level
• Designing an engagement approach that is capable of influencing local, state and national level policy that will immediately enrich plans for our work in India. This approach will then shape our work further afield in Nepal and Bangladesh and assist our formation of our longer-term South Asia strategy
• Leveraging the infrastructure and capacity created by our work to date at the village and district levels in order to achieve significant steps towards establishing a robust civil society movement that is able to successfully petition for the recognition of the human rights of Indian carers. This will be done by enhancing the capacity of the Carers Associations and increasing the representation of carers from grass roots level upwards.

The project is being implemented by our three local NGO partners – EKTA, SPREAD and WORD.

During this project we aim to:

• Improve the physical and mental health of 1,500 carers
• Promote the social inclusion and increase the household income of 1,500 carers
• Empower groups of carers to advocate for their needs and rights
• Establish necessary links and facilitate provisions to ensure the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and therapeutic needs of the 1,500 disabled and mentally ill individuals being cared for are met

The specific objectives of the project are to enable carers to:

• Continue their caregiving responsibilities but with a support structure in place
• Address their own health and emotional needs
• Find ways to financially support their family
• Advocate as a group for their rights and needs through the establishment of local and national networks
• Access the necessary services to enable appropriate assessment and management of their disabled or mentally ill relative’s health and therapy needs

For more details on the needs of carers in this project, take a look at our baseline survey report from the project locations.