Field work education plays an integral role in WCP to develop skills and perspective for work with women and to bring gender perspective in Social Work practice. To achieve the WCP fieldwork goals - of understanding and engaging in the complex socio-political realities of people and communities more specifically women; develop skills of analysis, assessment and interventions and; self reflection – a tool for social change, learners will be have both concurrent and block field work placements across settings, issues and sectors and geographic locations. Adding breadth and depth to learning of approaches and strategies required to achieve social justice. The second year field work builds on knowledge and insights developed of the socio-economic realities about people and their lives and sharpen their gaze towards women and understand approaches and strategies required to develop women's agency and citizenship. Field work enables the students to deepen the process of reflection and rethinking on equity for women in relation to self. They are able to contextualise field realities from a specific lens and then understand and critically examine women’s position in society from diverse feminist theoretical frameworks.

The centre encourages the students to define their interest and work across the School of Social Work and Field Of Practices and the centre faculty find appropriate placement and Supervision. Till date placements in the following areas: Violence against Women, Mobilization of Women, Livelihoods, Youth Issues, Sexual minorities, women/Girls in institution, corporate, prison / custody, Court and other govt. systems/ dept.

Field Action Projects / Other Projects/ Engagements :

1) Special Cell for Women and Children, Maharashtra, estd. 1984 Maharashtra Sponsor : Departments  of WCD and Home, Government of Maharashtra.Direct implementation of 14 Special Cells and monitoring and supervision of 40 Cells and hand holding of 60 Special Cells across the State of Maharashtra.

2) Resource Centre on Intervention On Violence against Women : estd in 2007

Office: TISS, Mumbai (Main Campus); Work areas: Maharashtra, Odisha, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu

Objectives:

• To coordinate, handhold, and strengthen the existing work of Special Cells model in Maharashtra in particular, as well as in other States, through a continued formal engagement of collaborative work & advocacy with State Governments, especially the Police and Protection system.

• To promote the strategies of the Special Cells model through adaptation/replication and expansion of the same in new geographies, as well as through the piloting and eventual facilitated institutionalisation of this and other models of VAW intervention; effective multi-agency coordinated response, with a focus on engaging Police support.

• To explore and innovate newer strategies to respond to VAW, and to build the capacities (both skills & perspective) of stakeholders at various levels (State structure/mechanisms & their personnel, civil society organisations & their personnel, academic institutions & their members, communities & their component groups, etc.).

• To initiate and sustain research, documentation and larger educational activities (awareness, campaigns, training, etc.) on VAW issues as well as interventions.

Centre of Excellence for Women and Children, Uttar Pradesh :

Work with Department of Women Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh:

(i) Contributed to conceptualisation & drafting of operational framework for Centre for Excellence for Women by TISS, and State-to-district-level AJK Centres programme for women’s empowerment & child rights protection, and the design, anchoring & facilitation of orientation trainings of the Government programme personnel who will be implementing the 11 district-level AJKs’ work. (ii) As part of this larger work, advocated for and secured approvals & funding by Department for the establishment of 11 Crisis Intervention Centres (CICs).

Consultations/ seminars held by the centres / faculty through field action projects :

1) Roundtable on Contemporary Practices of Witch Hunting: Social Trends and the Interface With Law organised at TISS Mumbai with Partners in Law and

Development (PLD) and RCI-VAW, TISS on Oct. 1, 2015

2) Training for Functionaries for Asha Jyoti Kendras at Lucknow in partnershiip with UNICEF and Dept. of WCD, UP Dec. 14–19, & 28 2015

3) Training Programme on Community Organising and Planning for Change and Transformation Pench CWT, Piramal Foundation Mar. 8–9, 2016

4) Basic Training on Gender, Violence against Women and Helping Skills for Social Workers at Lucknow with Dept. of WCD, UP between Mar. 9 to Apr. 19, 2016

5) Training of Police Officers on Violence against Women and Law at New Delhi Delhi with Police (CAW Cells’ and SPUWAC) from Feb. 29 to Mar. 4, 2016

6) Work with National Commission for Women (Government of India): (i) Advocacy (for Special Cells for Women approach to be adapted in more States) at dissemination meeting organised by NCW in July 2015. (ii) Signed MoU with NCW on 22.12.2015 and received grant in January 2016 for the demonstration of Special Cells for Women approach in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Assam

7) Work with Delhi Police: (i) As an outcome of advocacy with the NCW, signed tripartite MoU with NCW & Delhi Police for expansion of CAW Cell Counselling Units based on Special Cells for Women approach to 11 new district police stations in Delhi. (ii) Conducted recruitment and training of all district CAW Cells’ and SPUWAC H.Q. Police personnel, along with existing social workers, in February 2016. (iii) Advocated for and secured funding for facilitating an evaluation study of CAW Cell/SPUWAC Counselling units (based on Special Cells for Women approach) in Delhi Police.

8) Work with DWCD Maharshtra to set up a 'Violence against Women Cell' to monitor and coordinate PWDV Act and other VAW programs. MoU signed on 4th April 2017

Nature of field work agencies. Please give broad themes / profile of field work agencies :

1) Students range from issues of women's experiences in political processes adolecent and youth work , grassroots collectivisation and mobilisation issues of health and reproductive health, livelihoods, women and work, violence against women. Working with the state

Placements of students :

1) women's organisation

2) NGO's

3) Government programs