Devipriya Guha is a sociopreneur, who strongly believes in making a significant contribution to the society. Being active on field as a social worker, Devipriya is a founder member of Knognat Foundation, an NGO, working towards the upliftment of underprivileged women, children and elderlies from the marginalised section of the society. Alongside being a sociopreneur and doing tremendous work in bringing change, she is also a plus size influencer, an avid traveller and an art connoisseur.
Devipriya’s parents, in their time, were active social workers and thus, the very same was inculcated in Devipriya at an early age. Her work throughout has been tremendously inspiring and truly, people like her deserve more recognition. She is the face of the NGO and so, handles a variety of tasks including care management and ordination. She loves to look after the senior citizens specifically and she personally looks into the efficient running of projects. Being an avid traveller, Devipriya has travelled immensely across the country. She spearheaded the project called “Covid hygiene awareness outreach campaign” and motivated a team of volunteers to travel to different districts of Bengal, where they gathered men, women and children and spoke to them about the misconceptions with regards to COVID-19 spread, the importance of social distancing and showing the appropriate ways of wearing masks; to prevent the spread of Covid-19. She is the chief field coordinator for this project. Devipriya and her team has distributed over 6000 hygiene kits to underprivileged families in Bengal and have addressed over 30,000 people, including children and elderly. Each kit consists of a mask, sanitisers, 2 soaps, phenyl and handkerchiefs. This project took off in April 2020 and continued into 2021.
Apart from this continued project, they had different plans for April 2021. Since the outburst of the second wave in india, and the need for medical assistance is only increasing. The overwhelming and sudden increase in the need for oxygen supply, the Knognat Foundation launched a new project instead “#project second wave initiative” and this initiative helps and supports 2,00,000 people whose families are affected by the second wave. The initiative will go on for 3 months i.e. till July 2021 and will focus on the major aspects like;
- Nutrition support – To support 10,000 families affected by Kuwait with daily meals for up to 14 days, till they are Covid free and able to look after themselves.
- Starter kit support – providing 10,000 covid patients with the necessary medicines, oximeter, steam machines, sanitisers, floor cleaners and other essentials. A constant support from a team of qualified doctors.
- Mass awareness campaign – this campaign aims at supporting 1 lakh men, women and children in rural areas to raise awareness on how to prevent the spread of Covid including tackling stigma and myths surrounding vaccinations.
- Mental health campaign- An infectious disease outbreak such as Covid-19 can be stressful to you & your loved ones.
- It’s natural to feel overwhelmed, sad, anxious , afraid & other symptoms of distress.
- To reduce your stress & help manage the situation Knognat Foundation in association with Kornash, counseling centre brings to you help & support through free tele-counseling helpline. We have set up a confidential helpline for mental health services only for Covid patients and their families. Professional counsellors will be there to support you 7days a week between 10am to 10pm.
Being a social worker, as much easy as it sounds, is not an easy job. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and emotions to keep up with the constant overwhelming issues that the people of our country face and to make sure they are healthy and safe. Amidst the second wave outburst the Knognat Foundation, taking all the necessary precautions, yet risked themselves by putting up with the field works. It is truly said ‘not all the heroes wear capes’ for our social workers, who work day and night without their capes and are our country’s heroes. Devipriya and the entire team and foundation deserves our salute and more of recognition for the work they put up to. The truly incredible, influencing, dedicated and inspiring icon, Devipriya is someone everyone should look upto.
For More Details Visit : www.knognatfoundation.org
