What We Do

Since its inception, NEN has been working towards creating a gender- just society against the backdrop of an ongoing low-intensity conflict in India’s north-east region. In the process NEN has believed in undertaking the following three processes.

Research and Survey
Sensitising / Trainings
Advocacy and Networking

Research/Survey

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NEN members usually carry out primary research on various issues like health, social and economic status of  communities, existence of natural resources, prevalence of violence against women (VAW), incidence of domestic violence (DV) and the impact of the armed conflict on communities, particularly that of women. This is normally done in order to gauge the situation and plan strategies for interventions. NEN’s growing concern with the region’s conflict is one of the main reasons why the organization took up research in conflict areas, followed by training women and facilitating a process for policy advocacy. NEN research is qualitative in nature and is based primarily on field studies and interviews with all the concerned parties. This is followed by making women aware of their situation and teaching them how to advocate for change. NEN mobilizes women’s groups to articulate their concerns about the non-accessibility of support services, understand the importance of reproductive health rights, and voice their protest against violations of human rights. Till date, we have collected invaluable data on the status of women in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland.

Sensitising / Trainings

Sensitising and training different organisations, women’s groups, health collectives as well the civil society is a primary strategy used by NEN to create awareness, serious thinking and opinion building. Apart from grassroots interventions, NEN has also facilitated trainings for the sensitisation of the police and other concerned agencies. The trainings are based on the needs that arise out of NEN’s field research and are conducted by trainers who come from within the organisation and outside. Thus far NEN has facilitated trainings in the areas of Gender, Health, Organisational building, Capacity building, Reproductive Health Rights, CEDAW, natural resource management, Right to Information and adolescent sexual health, among others. Trainings also include different strategies in which advocacy processes can be strengthened for public and policy attention. At the same time, NEN members are constantly undergoing training in order to upgrade their knowledge and understanding of the issues at hand.

Advocacy and Networking

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NEN’s advocacy efforts are made at various levels. It engages in information dissemination (through translations of relevant documents). It trains at the grassroots level to mobilise communities, especially women on rights, gender and health issues. Advocacy at this level has involved campaign on CEDAW, and the DV Bill, which has now become an Act. At the same time, NEN engages with different national and international organisations and policy making bodies to ensure the formulation and implementation of gender sensitive and gender just policies.

NEN has been active, with other NGOs, in making Alternative or Shadow reports on the CEDAW. Other women’s groups did similar work with different topics such as education, health etc. NEN  wrote about the situation of women in armed conflict. NEN has been committed to the post-Beijing process, Advocacy at this level has entailed NEN’s wide dissemination of information on CEDAW to many women’s groups and how best to use it. NEN also gave its inputs on the Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action (1995). The Review took place during the UN’s CSW Meeting and the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly (2000) in March 2005.

NEN holds conferences, arranges workshops, performs street plays, writes and publishes articles. In addition it also screens films to sensitize both civil society and state agencies on various social issues. As part of this effort, NEN published resource directories entitled, Support Services to Counter Violence Against Women,in three states of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya in the northeast region. The basic idea was to disseminate the existence of  support services available and advocate for better support services in the region.