Rethinking India’s Cities Through The Eyes Of Women Caregivers

As India aspires to achieve a $5 trillion economy, women’s workforce participation in this journey is crucial. Unpaid care work is among the primary reasons for women dropping out of the workforce. Mothers in particular face a disproportionate burden of caregiving responsibilities, often leading to stress and feelings of inadequacy or guilt, particularly during early parenthood.

Addressing the lack of support programs in Indian cities is crucial to easing this burden and ensuring better outcomes for both caregivers and children. Recognizing the severity of these issues, the Nurturing Neighbourhoods 2.0 program (NN 2.0), supported by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Van Leer Foundation, with the technical support of WRI India, is encouraging cities to focus on caregiver well-being.

This blog looks at the challenges caregivers face in cities and offers strategies that communities and city authorities can pursue to address them.

Challenges Faced by Caregivers

Caregivers face numerous challenges, particularly in the following focus areas, that must be addressed to create supportive urban environments for them:

Limited range of mobility: Lack of safe and supportive infrastructure coupled with comparatively slow speeds can restrict caregivers’ range of mobility to 600m-800m.

Shared responsibility and support system at home: Women caregivers often have little to no support available in their caregiving responsibilities due to a lack of awareness and empathy.

Social support and peer support groups: Peer interaction with other caregivers in the neighborhood can help allay the anxiety or isolation caregivers feel during pregnancy and the early years of parenthood. However, these avenues aren’t always available.

In an effort to drive sustainable change and overcome these challenges, NN 2.0 is helping promote the following targeted strategies and actions for city authorities and communities to better support caregivers.

Strategies for City Authorities

Involving caregivers in project planning and implementation: Involving caregivers in formative research to understand their needs, co-creating solutions with them, and involving them in implementation and maintenance can lead to continued usage of the public space in the long term.

Capacity building of officials: The capacities of officials can be strengthened to ensure caregiver-centric amenities in public spaces. Alongside conducive policies that support caregiver well-being, this can translate to a more meaningful impact on the ground.

Sensitization of frontline workers: Empowering and sensitizing frontline workers – traffic police, bus drivers and conductors, and security staff at parks, public spaces, and bus stations – to be supportive and empathetic towards caregivers is a step towards building a community that prioritizes caregivers, infants, toddlers and their unique needs.

Clustering diverse opportunities in public spaces: Integrating supportive services for caregivers with livelihood and skilling opportunities and engaging activities for children in public spaces can go a long way in addressing caregivers’ time poverty.

Strategies for Communities

Sensitizing communities through awareness campaigns: Conducting events and awareness programs on caregiver well-being can help communities acknowledge the needs of caregivers and develop strong support systems. The champions created through these engagements can help generate a demand for sustained, caregiver-centric public spaces and services in neighborhoods.

Training caregivers on responsive caregiving practices: Empowering young mothers and pregnant women with information on responsive caregiving practices is crucial. It can help ease their anxiety and equip them with the knowledge they need to nurture their young ones with confidence. Making such information accessible in places they frequent can help them positively engage with their children.

Facilitating peer support groups: Creating affinity groups in communities to support young parents and peer interactions can help enable a reliable support system for parents.

Operationalizing these strategies requires efforts by communities, frontline workers, local NGOs, urban practitioners, other relevant organizations and city agencies. Building strong support systems can enhance caregivers’ well-being and their access to livelihood opportunities, leading to better development outcomes for children.

It takes a village to raise a child. By working together, communities and local governments can build cities that center young children and caregiver well-being.

(Published under Creative Commons from World Resources India. Read the original article here)