03 May,2010 12:15 PM IST | | Sheena Thomas
You have women crying hoarse about men exploiting them. But there still are a few good men left, who are joining the fight.
Harish Sadani, the founder of Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA) is a happy man because his efforts have finally been noticed.
He's bagged a prize of US $5000 for his contribution towards preventing violence against women, an award organised by Ashoka Changemakers and Campus of Excellence.
He's also won an invitation to participate in Campus of Excellence event to be held in October 2010 inu00a0 Spain. The jubilant Harish speaks to CS about being the change:
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It is a great honour to be recognised at the international level. More than anything, it is a great boost and encouragement to know that our efforts are being appreciated.
It's been a long journey of 16 years for us, and we've had out share of challenges. Finances have always been a concern for us, but the well-meaning citizens of the city have come to our rescue many times by giving us funds.
But, four out of our five core members have stuck it out since all these years.
As funny as this may sound, our group was formed in response to an ad in a newspaper in 1991.
C Y Gopinath, a veteran journalist, put an ad appeal that read: Wanted men who believe that women are not for battering. 205 men responded to it, including me, and after meeting together for a year, I decided to start this organisation.
Woman on top
As a man, I always felt uncomfortable when we were tagged as the perpetrators. I felt that I could get a mechanism in place that would work closely with men and help change their societal stereotypes.
Men have always been viewed as the problem, but I think that it is necessary to involve them in the solution making process too.
With the help of a fellowship, MAVA was able to start work in semi-rural hubs like Kolhapur, Satara etc as we targeted colleges across these centres. Today, we're very effective in colleges across Pune and Mumbai.
