Thiruvananthapuram included in ESAF programme

Thiruvananthapuram: Thiruvananthapuram city has been included in the ESAF small finance bank’s Livable Cities programme. The NGO is looking at how gender is integrated with transport policies and amenities provided. In 2012, SAKHI studied the women’s helpline 1091 in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kasargod as part of the ‘Safe City Free of Violence against Women and Girls Initiative’. Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF) is a pan India NGO headquartered in Thrissur since 1992 and has been working towards making cities liveable across the country. ESAF’s Livable Cities programme is supported by the Health Bridge, Canada since 2008. 

The Liveable City Project is aimed at improving the standard of living in cities and is currently functional in Kerala, Nagpur and Bengaluru. Apart from Thiruvananthapuram, it has also spread to Malappuram, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Kochi. ESAF works very closely with the city administration of these six cities. It is one of the core organising members of BCOS (Bengaluru Coalition for Open Streets) in Bengaluru that promotes sustainable transport by organising cycle days, open street events and cycling infrastructure which they are aiming to bring to Kerala.

“ESAF has been conducting the walkability study in three cities in India and has been working with the city administration to make the cities walkable. The public space programme, active and safe route to school programme are the other two programmes that ESAF takes a lead in promoting livable cities across the project areas”, said Manju George who heads the ESAF’s Liveable City Project. A team led by Manju George is currently busy with a research programme in Thiruvananthapuram on how gender is integrated with transport policies and the amenities provided.

Safe city/ Red dot foundation would be launching the safe city app for this project. The programme would be launched by ESAF in association with the Loyola college of Social Sciences on December 8 here which would see several top police officials and policy makers on transport attending the event.  A few years ago, the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Thiruvananthapuram chapter of the Indian Women Network too had come out with the same project during 2014.