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Misaal Raahat: Emergency support for the most vulnerable

1. What?
A monthly support of Rs 2500 pm for 6 months to the most vulnerable families in this time of COVID-
19 lockdown at each of our centres, transferred online by donors directly into beneficiary accounts, for
families on the edge to tide over the crisis period that will last for a few months at the least.

This to complement the support our Change Makers are providing communities at all our sites to better
access public relief measures being announced by central and state governments to help the affected, that
will be the mainstay of the safety net over the forseeable future.

2. Why?
- we are not planning any food packet distribution or community food stock - as our assessment is that
anything that requires physical movement/organising will pose health risks for our staff as well as
beneficiaries and will also not be possible given curfews in place. In any case, one off support of food or
cash will mean little.
- shops selling essentials are open at most sites for limited hours (mornings) and banks / ATMs too are
functional, again restricted. These will hopefully remain so.
- Work however will not be available for at least the next 20 days (most likely much longer), and those
whose families depend on daily wage (labourers, thele / rickshaw / shikara wallahs, mistris, mechanics, dhaba
boys, small shopkeepers) will have exhausted whatever little reserves they have after a few days.
- Central and state govts. have announced relief (rations, NREGS wages, direct cash..).These safety nets
will take time to operationalise and reach the ground. Apart from time lag, the most vulnerable families
will still face difficulty in accessing these measures.
- Hence our plan to provide cash, so families can buy essentials per their situation. Do this not as one off,
but over coming months, for a bit of stability. This limited to the most vulnerable, so those that neither
have reserves nor can easily access public relief, are able to cope for limited time. 2500/- is not much, but
at least enough for them to get by, and for us to cover a large number of such families.
- Separately we are also helping the needy in communities we serve access public relief schemes, with our
on-ground changemakers and volunteers, also leveraging Misaal mobile App.

3. Where?
We have some 20 locations where we have footfall (full-fledged Misaal centres through to small single
part-time worker presence), everywhere with a little Misaal community already in play (hence local social
capital). This includes Uttar Pradesh (Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bareilley, Firozabad, Jaunpur and Banda
districts); Haryana (Nuh); Rajasthan (Alwar); Delhi (Northeast, North); Bihar (Patna, Madhubani,
Vaishali); MP (Bhopal); Assam (Barpeta); J&K (Srinagar). All these will be sites where we will implement
this emergency support.

4. How?
- The unit cost of support per family is Rs. 2500 X 6 months = Rs 15,000. (This will be disbursed in 3
equal instalments).
- We wanted to kick off with 5 beneficiaries at each of our 20 sites to begin with. Once we have reached
this 100 unit figure, we will open a second round of 100 beneficiaries.
- For administrative convenience, best that donors sponsor at least one family for the entire 6 months (or
in units). We will provide bank details of families we identify, and donors will be requested to set up
direct payments into beneficiary accounts, in 3 instalments of Rs 5000 each, every 2 months.
- To identify the most vulnerable families, we are using the following criteria:
o Widows/single mothers – led households with no earning member (over 18 years).
o Elderly persons in household with no earning members
o Households with disabled persons and no earning member
o Households with members suffering chronic ailments
o Large-sized households dependent on daily wage

5. Miscallaneous

- Misaal Raahat is zakaat-compliant

- No 80gs will be generated, as these are payments directly into beneficiary accounts

6. Other ways in which we are trying to be helpful locally

- Providing up-to-date, localised and practical information on public relief measures to our local
communities at each site, for them to better access those schemes.
- Advocacy with local authorities responsible for implementing schemes, so communities we serve
– poorest Muslims and Dalits, and women among them - have access in these difficult times.
- Scanning for opportunities to enable our local volunteer groups to be socially impactful, whilst
also economically productive: producing face masks, soap/hand wash/sanitisers, among others.
- Using Misaal mobile App / other technologies to better manage information flows.
- Documenting experiences of local communities impacted by the crisis, and using those for
raising awareness through media, as well as for advocacy with authorities/policy makers.
- Tracking impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority communities, as it plays out.