| Major group affiliation: |
- Indigenous people
- Workers and trade unions
- Children and youth
- Women
- Non-governmental organization
- Farmers
|
| Involvement in UN Partnerships: |
Yes |
| If yes, explain in detail: |
The Soham Baba Mission has been accredited in the Honorable capacity of an ‘Observer Organization’ by the UNFCCC since 2011. |
| Affiliation with other organizations: |
The Soham Baba Mission aspires to stimulate the spirits of millions of individuals around the world and to enable this it has associated itself with closely with many Institutions, Organizations and NGOs around the world.
The Soham Baba Mission got associated with numerous organizations during the four months long Kumbh Mela held in Haridwar, India in 2010. Further the Mission has also linked herself with many other organizations during various functions, manifestations, lectures and events that were organized to raise awareness about Climate Change on an international platform. In the 2010 Kumbh Mela, in India, the Mission with its campaign of ‘Stop Global Warming’ enthralled the heart of millions of people. Several organizations extended their heartfelt support and complemented the efforts of the Mission to clean the banks and the water of River Ganges and the Himalayas. On the 9th of May 2010 with almost a hundred youngsters the Mission eventually ensured the removal of the trash and plastics from the banks of the River Ganges. Further, the Green Campaign taken up by the Mission inspired the Government of India in proclaiming the act of throwing plastic waste on the banks of the river Ganges as misdemeanor and banning plastic all together in the bank of the Rriver Ganges in the Himalayan region.
The Honorable Board of Soham Baba Mission suggests that planting trees is the easiest way to impede climate change. In the efforts taken up by the Mission to plant thousands of trees along the banks of River Ganges and Himalayas, a diverse group of the youth from different universities and colleges joined the members of the Mission in successfully accomplishing this endeavor. The Government of India accoladed The Honorable board of Soham Baba Mission with the Municipal Award 2010, in recognition of their action to promote sustainable development and their unperturbed dedication for keeping the city clean.
A short list of the various Institutions, Organizations and NGOs that are associated with the Soham Baba Mission is mentioned below:
1. PASCHIMBANGA YUBA KALYAN MANCHA planted together with the Soham Baba Mission 200.000 trees on the fringes of Kolkata.
2. UNIVERSITY OF HARIDWAR, SHANTI KUNJ DEV SANSKRITI research on how the civil society organizations are run and managed.
3. Institute of Technology ROORKEE scientific collaboration on sustainability.
4. BOSEPUKUR TALBAGAN SARBOJONIN waste management collaboration.
5. KARANDA sustainable programmes.
6. UNFCCC accredited the Soham Baba Mission with the status of Observer Organization.
7. GANGA MISSION KOLKATA and HARIDWAR raise awareness about man-induced pollution to the river Ganges.
8. SAHARANPUR COURT planting trees with the lawyers and judges.
9. KRIHNASYAM KOLKATA sustainable collaboration.
10. HRISHIKUMBHA from Bangladesh campaigned with the Soham Baba Mission to ‘Stop Global Warming’.
11. RASHTRIYA CHETNA MISSION collaboration on Global Warming.
12. DISHA CHANNEL a renowned tv-channel in India. It commemorated its operations with the broadcasting of the ideals of the Soham Baba Mission so as to raise the awareness of our Being and our Environment.
13. STAATSBOSBEHEER, THE NETHERLANDS working towards creating a sustainable living environment for man, plant and animal. |
| Publications: |
- The Soham Baba Mission has published her own website www.sohambabamission.com dedicated towards Sustainability and Social Development.
- The Chetana, a quarterly magazine from the house of the Soham Baba Mission has been published since 1991 until 2008.
- Soham Baba Mission Digital Newsletter- a monthly newsletter has been published from 2008 to 2010.
- The activities on Sustainable Development of the Soham Baba Mission have been documented through photography and videography. All these pictures reflect upon the stories of the heart-to-heart connection which the members of the Soham Baba Mission have created with the people in the areas they have offered their service in. In 2009 a series of these photographs have been formatted as books with the inspiration from the famous saying: “A picture tells a thousand words”
* The Soham Baba Mission Part I, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part II, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part III, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part VI, 2009 |
| Affiliation with other organizations: |
To promote the social development The Soham Baba Mission is associated with many other organizations. The affiliation is as follows:
1. KRISHNAYAM The affiliation with Krishnayam from Kolkata, India, started when they organized a Felicitation Program at the Kolkata Town Hall, on the 13th of June 2010. The delegate from the mission addressed the audience of highly distinguished guests from Kolkata. The whole event was a salutation to honor the work of the mission. The delegate was enthralled "to speak from the same stage as Swami Vivekananda, the man who showed how religion can enhance politics."
2. ROTARY INTERNATIONAL, The board inspired Rotary International to help the helpless. The board of the Soham Baba Mission was also invited at meetings of Rotary Club Delhi, Rotary Club Kolkata and Rotary Club Mumbai.
3. STICHTING WELZIJN VEGETARISCHE OUDEREN (Foundation for the Well Being of the Vegetarian Elderly) in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, is working closely with the Soham Baba Mission. The Soham Baba Mission visits the elderly to thank them for entrusting us with a world where we can freely live in peace. A special group of elderly are the vegetarians. They don’t eat meat out of idealism and conviction. The Soham Baba Mission gives the elderly special attention through their affiliation with the Foundation for the Well Being of the Vegetarian Elderly on the 1st of October, the International Day of the Elderly as proclaimed by the United Nations.
4. GAYATRI ORPHANAGE HARIDWAR The Soham Baba Mission started her affiliation with Gayatri Orphanage in 2010.
5. ALORMAN ORPHANAGE CAIRO The affiliation with the Alorman Orphanage in Cairo, Egypt, started in 2008.
6. SHANTI KUNJ DEV SANSKRITI UNIVERSITY OF HARIDWAR has joined hands with the Soham Baba Mission to research on different activities with respect to social development.
7. OHM SEVA SANSTAN is a relief organization in the field of health-care. The Soham Baba Mission started her journey of association with the Ohm Seva Sanstan during a Blood donation Camp in 2010 in India. The mission made a special contribution by inspiring the youth and the elderly about the importance of blood.
8. SOCIO CULTURAL CELEBRATIONS Several socio cultural committees of Kolkata are affiliated with the Soham Baba Mission. The mission inspires them to donate clothes, blankets and disability-aids among the poorest of the poor. Among these are: Behala Natun Dal, Baishnab Ghata Patuli Upanagari, College Square, Tridhara, Amrito Kumbher Sandhane, Parnashree, Roynagar Unnayan Samity, BagalaMater Ashram, Sromo Palli, Bharat Mata, Kaibalya Dham, Baishnabg Hata Patuli Upanagari, MandirRoad Yuvak Vrinda, BiswaSuk Sevashram Sangha and Alhmher Street.
9. KARANDA Numerous projects have been realized with the inhabitants of this beautiful community and the mission has distributed food, pens and notebooks to the children of the poorest of the poor, football outfits to the rural youth to promote social coherence and donated her 22nd Ambulance to the community of Karanda.
10. UNLDC IV, the Soham Baba Mission was actively involved in the 2011 meeting for the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, Turkey.
11. UNFCCC, the Soham Baba Mission connected to many different NGO’s from around the world (i.e. NURSES ACROSS THE BORDERS) with the aim of working together and to make a difference in the world of today, during the UNFCCC meetings in Cancun (2010) and Durban (2011).
12. BHARAT SEVASHRAM SANGA HOSPITAL NABADWIP (WB, India), started her association with the Soham Baba Mission during the inauguration ceremony of the Hospital in 2010.
13. WORLD PEACE MOVEMENT AWARD In January 2011 the efforts of the Mission in spreading the peace-message and helping the helpless was recognized and the Esteemed member of the Board received the Paridhi ‘World Peace Movement Award’, in New Delhi, India. The campaign to Stop Global Warming is based upon this message of peace within and peace outside ours |
| Publications: |
- The Soham Baba Mission has published her own website www.sohambabamission.com dedicated towards Sustainability and Social Development.
- The Chetana, a quarterly magazine from the house of the Soham Baba Mission has been published since 1991 until 2008.
- Soham Baba Mission Digital Newsletter- a monthly newsletter has been published from 2008 to 2010.
- The activities on Sustainable Development of the Soham Baba Mission have been documented through photography and videography. All these pictures reflect upon the stories of the heart-to-heart connection which the members of the Soham Baba Mission have created with the people in the areas they have offered their service in. In 2009 a series of these photographs have been formatted as books with the inspiration from the famous saying: “A picture tells a thousand words”
* The Soham Baba Mission Part I, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part II, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part III, 2009
* The Soham Baba Mission Part VI, 2009
- Hindu Life Magazine the Netherlands, 2008, by Dr. Ratna Bechan.
- Help to the victims and the women of the cyclone Aila in India 2009, by Dr. Ratna Bechan. |
| Purpose of the organization: |
Soham Baba Mission is an International Organization dedicated to promote peace on earth by offering self-less service to the Humanity. The objective of the Soham Baba Mission is closely associated with the Millennium Goals of the United Nations.
The worldwide organization is formed by the “Youthful people” of all nations to work together with a positive mentality, cooperating with other good willing people and organizations with similar intentions and same goals.
The members of SOHAM BABA MISSION believe that:
-- every living creature on Mother Earth is a member of a single planetary community, born with an equal right to live on that planet;
-- every living creature is born with an equal right to share the Land, the Water, the Air and all precious naturally occurring phenomena on this planet.
-- every living creature has the right to have and to share a positive dream about their future
-- through the increase of our wisdom and understanding, every living creature is fully accepted as it is and dreams to be; and that such a “better understanding” a harbor is in the storms of life, but living without this “better understanding” is a storm in the harbor.
The Mission hopes to achieve the development of these expectations for the world individually as well as collectively through encouragement and education.
In the pursuit of achieving the goals, it is the intention of the organization to create an atmosphere of sharing and subsequently help acquire a humane state of mind of genuine responsibility towards mankind. The Mission seeks to remind the mankind constantly that we human beings are entitled to use this world together with and for all living creatures on this planet. |
| Activities relevant to the conference of States Parties to the convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: |
The Soham Baba Mission is closely associated with several Orphanages in the world where disabled children are accommodated. In orphanages in Sri Lanka, Kolkata, Cairo, Haridwar, etc. physically and mentally disabled children are cared for and they are given a home to grow up. These children are generally not welcome in the family they are born in and are left in desolation on an unknown doorstep. Poor families for instance, cannot support a child with a disability so they normally bring them to places where they hope they will survive. For these children survival is hard. Luckily most of these children find a new home in an orphanage. The Mission provides the children the love and attention they lack so often and need so badly. It is not only the children who are given the attention but also the staff is encouraged. Some of the orphanages are supported financially to reconstruct or restore the buildings and infrastructure. Furthermore with respect to supporting the individuals, the Organization funds the adults who try to make a living in spite of their disability. The Soham Baba Mission donates many wheel chairs to affiliated organizations. These wheel chairs are brought from German hospitals and are then shipped. During the Kumbh Mela 2010 in Haridwar, India, the Mission donated few hundred wheel chairs to several organizations that help people with serious disabilities. The wheel chairs were welcomed whole-heartedly. |
| Confirmation of the activities of the organization at the regional, national or international level: |
The activities of the mission have been documented as follows:
1. Banner campaign in Haridwar, India, to raise cognizance to prevent AIDS, poverty, illiteracy and Global Warming.
http://kumbhmela2010.org/Glimpses%20banners.html
2. Relief program for the victims of the Cyclone Aila, Sunderbans, West Bengal, India in May/June 2009.
http://www.sohambabamission.com/video.htm
http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=45
3. Relief programs for the victims of Floods in Nabadwip in 2006, West Bengal, India. Many villages were flooded due to the torrential rainfall. The Soham Baba Mission provided relief for the people who were trapped and for the people who had to flee from their homes. During the floods the Soham Baba Mission sets up camps for the helpless evacuees. The Mission provided food to thousands in 2006 for a continuous period of ten days when the land was flooded. The most dangerous time of the flood is when the water drops. Men are accompanied by the snakes in occupying the dry land. The Organization disinfected the dry land with bleaching powder and bi-carbonate to stop diseases like cholera from spreading. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=39
4. Relief program for the victims of the Tsunami of 2004 in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=30
5. Relief program for the Street Children of Delhi, Varanasi, India; Egypt, Peru, (Lusaka) Zambia, etc. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=33
6. Relief program for war-victims, orphans and habitants of the dump of Cairo, Egypt. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=25
7. In Kenya, Africa a special program for poor people has been setup by The Soham Baba Mission to improve their social structure by donating sport clothes. Mosquito-nets and clothes have been distributed to the deprived Massai people in Kenya. The poorest of the poor in Kenya, Zambia and Botswana received the help of The Soham Baba Mission. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=29
8. A warm welcoming program for poor people in Ladakh, India has been organized, to help and support them during days with extreme cold climatic conditions. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=34
9. Program for poor people in the rural village Karanda, West Bengal, India. Donation of sports clothes and accessories, notebooks, school materials, mosquito-nets and food. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=50
10. Relief program for poor people in Varanasi, India. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=26
11. Relief program for poor people in Bucharest, Romania. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=48
12. Relief program for poor people in Nepal. http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=51
13. The Mission realized the drilling of a few thousands of tube-wells worldwide every year. Safe drinking water is a prerequisite for good health. The Soham Baba Mission specially emphasizes upon drilling of deep tube-wells. Good quality drinking water can only be pumped up from considerable depths. Bad quality drinking water can be cleaned with special water filters. The Province of Limburg, the Netherlands has sponsored these filters to be used in India.
http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=32
14. Few hundred ambulances and rescue boats have been donated to the poor rural communities worldwide. The ambulances of The Soham Baba Mission are stationed in remote areas and have saved the lives of many patients with snakebites and other time-critical injuries. The Soham Baba Mission provides the most extensive ambulance-services worldwide.
http://www.sohambabamission.com/frmPhotoGallery.aspx?Id=31 |
| A list of members of the governing body of the organization, and their countries of nationality: |
The Soham Baba Mission is actively involved in 128 countries.
The Soham Baba Mission is actively involved in 128 countries. The list of members of the governing body of the Soham Baba Mission of the European Headquarters in Netherlands is being provided below:
Founder/Chairman: His Holiness Shri Shri 1008 Soham Baba (India)
Vice-Chairman: Mr. Johan Barth (The Netherlands)
Treasurer: Mr. Johan Barth (The Netherlands)
Secretary: Ms. Annelous de Vin (The Netherlands)
Co-Ordinator: Mrs. Charita Ramnathsing (The Netherlands)
D.C.P: Mrs. Marja Olff (The Netherlands)
Advisors:
Mr. Philip Aartsen (The Netherlands),
Mr. Peter Klinckhamers (The Netherlands) |
| Description of the membership of the organization, indicating the total number of members: |
The Soham Baba Mission is governed by the Dutch Law (Dutch: Nederlandse wet voor een Stichting) and cannot have any members. Soham Baba Mission is one of the world’s largest volunteer based NGO wherein people offer their selfless service to successfully realize the activities of the Mission on a universal platform. The associates from different countries join hands together to ensure the successful manifestation of the activities undertaken in any part of the world. |
| Publications: |
- Hindu Life Magazine the Netherlands, 2008, by Dr. Ratna Bechan.
- Help to the victims and the women of the cyclone Aila in India 2009, by Dr. Ratna Bechan. |
Statements or documents submitted
to the Commission on the Status of Women:
|
The Soham Baba Mission and the Advancement of Women
The Soham Baba Mission has addressed the issues and problems of women from all over the world on an individual, local and global platform. The Mission organizes several projects that highlight upon the importance of having a wife, a mother, a sister in life. These projects emphasize on saving the lives of the women who are often neglected in the society and aims to provide them with a better life.
It is clear, that when clean drinking water, food, clothes, proper housing, medical care and schools are absent in the Far East and the developing countries, the basics of life for women need improvisation. Therefore, the Mission has organized several projects for medicines, clean drinking water, dry food, milk powder for baby food, clothes and blankets for women and their children in Africa, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and many other countries worldwide
The Mission has established numerous water wells worldwide to provide clean drinking water.
The Mission has taken care of hundreds of schools worldwide.
The Mission has established an ambulance center Rescue 006 with hundreds of ambulances worldwide to help women and their families. Also part of Rescue 006 are the rescue boats, for times of flood.
In 2006, when the flood reached Nabadwip in India, The Mission has set up rescue camps and cooked food for over 4,50,000 people, women and their families, who had no food. The disaster was devastating, the need for help was urgent!
When the Cyclone Aila hit the ground in the Sunderbans in 2009, The Mission provided clean drinking water, food and had set up a medical camp for several months, which saved many women and girls, as well as men and boys from cholera, gastro-enteritis, malaria, throat infection, urinary tract infection, etc. The special heart-to-heart approach of The Soham Baba Mission gave a dimension of hope to the people in the victimized areas.
The women in our society are often deprived of adequate health care. Thus healthcare projects for women are one of the most important goals of the Mission. Often in some rural areas, women burn themselves with acid when the pressure or stress from the family and/or family-in-law becomes too much for them to survive. By bringing this issue to the media and local governments, the Mission has saved the women from these horrendous acts.
Trafficking of women and girls came to the attention of the media with the project taken up by the Mission in 2006, which saved many women prostitutes from the local area where they were kept. They have been offered a new life by sending them back to school and providing them with clothes and study materials.
Violence against women is not acceptable in the society of the civilized. The organization has offered the women who have suffered violence at home a safe place. Some members of the Mission started a new life as a working member of the Soham Baba Mission after being freed from life filled with violence.
In order to enable women to start their own enterprise, the Mission has offered sewing machines to several women on a large scale in various countries.
Women can make a difference in the economy of today. The products which some women produce in India for the Soham Baba Mission are sold both in the East and in the West. This is making a big difference in their daily income as well as their contribution to the world economy.
There are many activities and projects of The Soham Baba Mission where women are involved and where women have helped to manifest a better world for their environment and for themselves. In the media, through the films on the Soham Baba Mission available on YouTube, one can also see an impressive coverage of the role of women in the Organization.
If the problems of the women in this world can be solved, a better future can be ensured. Therefore, The Soham Baba Mission supports and empowers women with their ideas and ideals. |
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