Perceptions and challenges of the staff

No exposure of cooking while staying in Rainbow homes. Therefore, girls faced challenges in cooking food and survived on packaged and easy to cook foods. Challenge in money management from YAs’ own contributions and financial supports from

Rainbow. Many YAs mentioned about spending money lavishly in the beginning of the month and struggling at the end of the month. Challenge in taking all decisions by themselves without adult supports, guidance and advice. Challenge in time management to do household chores apart from studying. Chances of getting exploited financially by the job consulting firms. Many of the girls across cities reported paying money to consulting firms but got target based sales jobs. Not able to mingle with the community and hence have poor networks in job market.

keep motivation up for retaining jobs: One of the major challenges faced by the staff across cities have been keeping the motivation of YAs in retaining part time or full-time jobs. Young adults are choosy about jobs despite not being capable of anything better they are placed into. Despite too much of efforts in placing YAs into jobs after series of negotiations with companies, arranging skill-based training at concession rates, YAs do not value the efforts and are not able to retain their jobs. Despite trainings on work ethics as part of Rainbow’s ‘Future’ program, many YAs take impulsive decision of leaving jobs and not ready to compromise even for a few days to learn and gain experience at workplace. Some young adults have serious medical conditions and health issues for whom sustaining stressful job or work demanding long working hours seems problematic. Future program support for such YAs’ basic living expenses and medical expenses till they find suitable job after completion of studies. For example, one of the girls in group living arrangement in Delhi had to leave job due to her throat problem whereas another group living girl in Hyderabad mentioned about losing part time job as the company closed down. However, some of the YAs leave their jobs for trivial reasons such as petty conflicts with line managers, extra working hours etc.

in Group Living: Despite future team’s efforts in maintaining regular contact with young adults in different living arrangements to know their health conditions, emotional wellbeing, regular happenings in their lives and guiding them to manage their day-today affairs or supporting in any kind of contingencies and emergencies, young adults tend to hide their problems from staff. Staff across cities mentioned that most of the time, YAs in different living arrangements do not inform about the challenge they face in their community or living spaces. Young adults, mostly, in group living arrangements have tendency to hide their problems such as health issues, conflicts among inmates or problems faced in communities because they opt for group living on their own preference despite alternative choices being given for social welfare hostels or other living options. For example, in one of the group living arrangement in Kolkata, neighbourhood faced conflicts between two political parties and incidences of bomb throwing happened during election time. Girls got terrified due to the political violence but did not inform Youth Mentor or state future team at that point. Similarly, in another group living arrangements, one girl was suffering from poor appetite and did not menstruate since long time but none of the girls in the group informed state team or the mentor even during the routine follow up. Most of the time, YAs across cities do not proactively share the problems being faced in group living and issues are identified only from surprise visits in their living arrangements. On the contrary, YAs in hostels keep regular contact with mentor or future focal persons in case any small problem they face which is quite positive as state team can have close monitoring on them.

Challenge to keep contact in regular intervals: Due to the distance of different group living spaces, team visits the living arrangements on weekly basis. Despite the future focal persons across all states

ensured fortnightly follow up with all YAs at different living spaces over message or phone calls, all staff agreed of communication gaps since YAs do not proactively share their challenges on regular intervals. In cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad, girls in hostel accommodations come up with complaints regarding hostel management or living issues or the day-to-day requirements weekly once over phone. In all cities it was noticed that girls come to state office individually as and when required to discuss their needs or challenges faced. However, one of the challenging tasks for the future focal persons across all states have been to arrange monthly or quarterly meeting with all YAs in different living spaces to get the concerns and complaints on their independent living since preferences and conveniences of YAs never match. This indeed led to communication gaps in certain instances.

There are incidences of young adults dropping off from Social Welfare Hostels to stay with their families without informing properly to the future focal persons. YAs with education scholarships wasted their scholarships despite series of orientation before placing them in hostels to know their preferences in continuing education. Few of such girls had gone to the families and got married with their own consent. Neither they bothered to inform future focal persons nor other girls in the hostel or warden informed the state team.

Another challenge is to handle lack of discipline among some of the YAs in group living arrangements. For example, girls in group living in Delhi stopped cooking in the group or obeying daily rosters or sometimes were coming very late in night. Those problem were solved with repeated visits and sitting in their living arrangement to understand their problems. Future team at state level had to intervene and tell the YAs that with such indiscipline in the group, Rainbow would not support them in any way. In Kolkata, despite repeatedly speaking about different options for breakfast and easy methods of cooking nutritional breakfast or lunch, girls found to be either skipping breakfast or surviving on tea biscuit/ outside food in college or workplace. Such issues do not come to the notice of mentor or future focal person despite follow up since girls never count on such mistakes and share with staff.

Apart from that, conflicts among YAs in group living arrangements over silly things are common across all cities. Since girls always do not proactively share the challenges and problems in group livings arrangements, future focal persons across cities get information from houseowner of the houses and possible solutions are provided arranging group discussion with girls. For example, in one of the group livings in a sample city, houseowner frequently complaint to state team about few girls for wasting water or not obeying rules set by the houseowner. Sometimes, because of the mischief of few girls in group living, conflicts arise in the whole group and without interventions of staff, the conflicts get even worst.

working peers- This has been a challenge for future focal persons across all sample cities with YAs in group living. Most of the working YAs are not ready to contribute for their non-working peers in group living spaces. Working young adults get carried away with the material things of their affluent peers in colleges or workplaces and start spending much money on things like mobile phone, clothes etc. Working YAs often deny to contribute financially for non-working girls in GL so that they can spend their earned money for themselves only and hence conflicts in the group living starts. In Delhi, many of the working girls who were initially placed in group living arrangements left the group and started staying independently or in working women hostel to avoid financial contribution for non-working peers. In Kolkata, to avoid conflicts on financial contributions, girls who are studying are encouraged for taking academic tuition classes and dance classes to get their pocket money or contribute towards the rent and other living costs.