Our project will:

• improve educational and social outcomes via innovative and online specialist teaching
• improve the emotional wellbeing of mothers through carer support groups
• re-integrate siblings into their local schools and thereby improve their educational and social opportunities
• promote sustainable livelihood opportunities for mothers that can take place alongside their caring responsibilities, thereby increasing household income

The project will have a specific focus on:

• promoting access to diagnosis and treatment for those affected by mental illness
• transforming the emotional wellbeing and health of carers
• increasing household economic security

400 carers of people with disabilities will be directly impacted, specifically through:

• Capacity strengthening of BIRDS staff and local government rehabilitation and early intervention workers
• Promotion of 5 block and 1 district level Carers Association
• Participation in Carers Worldwide’s new divisional level carers forum

• building the capacity of local rehabilitation workers
• establishing carer support groups to provide information, advice and emotional support
• enabling carers and their families to access existing government support

• improving access to mental health services and treatment
• supporting the mental health of carers
• raising awareness of issues around mental health and caring
• establishing sustainable links between carers and local health authorities
• strengthening the capacity of staff and carers
• improving livelihoods options and income levels for people with mental illness and epilepsy and their carers

In addition, all the families were supported with emergency food provision, supply of vital medicines and mental health support during the height of the COVID pandemic.

The project is focussing on:

• Capacity strengthening of our partner staff at SPREAD and EKTA staff on carers and the challenges they face, and on mental illness and epilepsy
• Raising awareness and promoting understanding of carers and people with mental illness and epilepsy in the local communities
• Working with local health authorities and the district mental health programme to organise mental health camps providing treatment and support for people with mental illness and epilepsy

COVID19 put an end to the follow-on funding for the project and we are still seeking funding to implement a full-scale, 3-year project in the region with 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.