Sister Pauline Prince lights a lamp to mark the launch of the project in Panighatta Tea Estate. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, March 9: The Loreto Sisters of Darjeeling has launched a project to create awareness on government schemes among women, youth and children.

The pilot project was started in Panighatta Tea Estate, 30km from here, yesterday.

Collective Voices is expected to not only highlight various educational, health and nutrition schemes but also update women about the development in these sectors.

Mary Ward, when she founded the Loreto congregation 400 years ago, had said: “Women in time to come will do much.”

The project started by the Mary Ward Development Centre, the development wing of the Loreto Sisters, is in consonance with this spirit.

The garden will serve as a model village where the programme will be implemented for a year. It will be extended to other areas depending on the success and response that it evokes.

“Such initiatives for women were unheard of in her (Mary Ward) days. But she had rightly remarked that women in time will do much. This project is about developing a women, youth and children friendly community where the target group will be involved in bringing about a change within the community,” said Sister Monica Affonso, the regional superior of the Loreto Sisters in Darjeeling.

The centre has collaborated with Child in Need Institute (CINI), an NGO that works for women and children, to run the project. “Communication between government officials and the target group is vital. The target group needs to have greater access to government policies. We will act as the facilitator for this process,” said Sister Pauline Prince, a representative of the Loreto Sisters from Australia and a co-founder of CINI.

The project director of the rural development cell of the DGHC, D.T. Sherpa, said: “There are a lot of skill development and livelihood programmes for women but there should be proper channels so that these programmes reach the target groups. NGOs can facilitate this process and create awareness in society.”

“During this programme, members of local governing bodies and people from the target group will discuss pertinent issues and prepare a priority list for development in the area,” said Pasang Bhutia, the co-ordinator for CINI in north Bengal.

“Often policies are not utilised properly as people are unaware of their benefits, or the money assigned for the schemes misused. We will set up committees to oversee that such things do not happen,” said Barsha Dewan, the deputy director of the centre.