About the Organisation
Founded in 1995, Sankalp संकल्प Rehabilitation Trust provides care and support to street-based drug users and seeks to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mumbai, India.
Organisation Activities
Operating from seven permanent sites, Sankalp is committed to a philosophy of harm reduction; a team of outreach workers and peer educators, who are former or current drug users, reach out and provide health education to the street-based injecting drug-using community. Needle and syringe exchange, abscess management, and safe injecting education services are initiated through this first point of contact. Medical staff and social workers provide necessary follow-up treatment, counseling, and distribution of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) at the lifeline of Sankalp, our drop-in centres: Mumbai Central, Ulhasnagar, and Sion.
Sankalp operates a programme for injecting drug users in Arthur Road Jail, where it promotes awareness, encourages adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and offers counseling and medical support. Sankalp also runs a 24-hour Community Care Centre at Charni Road for drug users in crisis who are seriously ill and in need of consistent medical and psychological treatment. Additionally, the newly opened Detoxification Centre expands Sankalp’s continuum of care by providing this new service and helps clients on their road to recovery.
Sankalp promotes various skills training, sustainable livelihood and income generation projects. The latest venture, Project Hunar, provides recovering drug users with a residential computer training programme where they learn how to perform English language data entry using only visual recognition. In the process participants develop related professional skills and participate in a variety of educational and empowerment sessions. In addition, Sankalp has facilitated the training of several rehabilitated clients in various handicraft-production and gardening skills, which enables them to bring in modest livelihoods. Sankalp is committed to seeking out those in need, supporting those in recovery, and strengthening its clients, so that they too can contribute positively to society.
Beneficiary Groups
Street based Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) and their families
Geographic focus
Maharashtra
History of the Organisation
-
Mission
Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust seeks to improve the quality of life of drug users and their families.
Sankalp aims to dramatically reduce the rate of HIV and Hepatitis C infection amongst injecting drug users in Mumbai, to aid drug users in rehabilitation and reintegration into society by providing informal education, sustainable livelihood training, and medical support, and to advocate on behalf of the drug user and those who are HIV+.
Vision
Theory of Change: If all outreach and behavior-change communication programs were to be easily accessed by 70% of injecting drug users, then there would be less high-risk behavior amongst IDUs. If there were safer practice among IDUs with awillingness for treatment then there would be lower drug related crimes, more contribution to their families and a marked improvement in the overall health and well-being of the individual.
Awards / Recognition
Founder and Director, Eldred Tellis, was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2007 for his innovation and demonstration of social entrepreneurship. In 2008 Sankalp received the Red Ribbon Award from UNODC/UNAIDS for 'leadership in reducing the spread and impact of AIDS.'
