Kamathipura is home to a large number of destitute people migrated from different parts of the country. The area was initially inhabited by migrants of Andhra Pradesh (called Kamathis) who used to work as laborers on construction sites, but the population of sex workers in the area gradually rose over the years, making Kamathipura the second largest Red Light District in Asia.
The oldest of its kind in the city, this Red Light Area is currently divided according to regional and linguistic backgrounds of sex workers, who have come from the North, border areas of Karnataka, West Bengal and Nepal. Lack of basic education and job-oriented skills pushed the youth from the marginalized sections living in this slum to take up this demeaning profession early on in their lives to support their families and children.
This project is aimed towards sensitizing and empowering such youth and women in order to provide them means for a dignified living. For the same, candidates are offered various job-oriented courses and trained in areas like computer literacy, English proficiency, sales and management and personality development that help them get an employment.
Smile Foundation has partnered with Prayog Foundation to implement this STeP project.