• For economic empowerment the initiation of survivor based SHGs by the CBOs was itself a great move .The process involved motivating the BDO and WTO to accept and appreciate survivor based economic group and also to facilitate the process of giving loans to these groups.
• There has also been a process of modelling a survivor based SHG group with only 5 members, this model was also advocated and showcased and duplicated in other districts.
• Continuous rapport building with BDO, WDO,BLDO for livelihood and the ability to convince and sensitize the duty berates of their demands helped them to avail many schemes which includes livestock schemes.
• SHG with group business and business plan was also initiated initially. They were only interested in individual business, but the CBOS has given them training on the success of group business, made them understand the group capital, also the advantage of collectivism and collectiveness ownership and collective responsibilities, sharing of skills and division of work. Through such a process the survivor learnt the skill of group planning and team building.
• Livelihood and economic empowerment has led to financial inclusion for the survivors , they are now able to contribute at the family level , this has strengthened their decision making position at the family.

Mental health was taken as a key aspect of the Shakti programme, the CBOs did a lot of advocacies for integrating mental health for the survivors and also for the community and also for the social workers. There was a series of awareness given to the survivors for the need to access mental health. The service is still not available at all the blocks, psychiatrists are not available at the block hospital. Psychologists are available over phone for free online counselling. This needs to be continued in future, as the pandemic has further enhanced the cases of mental health. Shakti team has learnt that in spite of multiple advocacies there is rigidity in govt. system in regard to mental health services. Mental health is the primary right for all the survivors still the government is indifferent. In the coming phase Shakti team is predicting if deputation at district and state level can help.

One of the key lessons of the Shakti Project is formation of several committees like SHG management committees. The Shakti project covers several axes which are also interlinked with each other and having wide coverage, the management /coordination team felt that it was not possible to discuss all issues, challenges and escalate them in one committee nor can it be solved by a single stakeholder. The CBOS leaders of the Shakti project felt that there is a need to have multiple representations of various stakeholder viz directors, social workers and even survivor leaders in different committees. This was mainly done to mitigate issues, solve challenges and escalate and do advocacy. These committees helped in bridging the gap, for better connectivity and very smooth flow of communication and information from the CBO to the field and backward. The committees also helped in monitoring and evidence-based reporting from the community to the CBOs.

When the survivors are rescued, they are kept at these state-run institutions for rehabilitation for almost two years. They receive counseling, free medical aid, and training on livelihood. But when they come back after two years and start staying back in their own community, they face the severe stigma and depression and go back to the same state as when they were rescued. Even the skills or the livelihood training that they usually receive from these rehabilitation institutes are of no use or relevant for them as these training are mostly not demand or market-specific, so both socially and economically the survivor is not at all in a process of empowerment. The survivor’s source of Rights violation is the place where she lives in her community, her Panchayat, Block and thus ensuring her rights and entitlement including rehabilitation process starts at the source level.