"Chennai Cares" a joint endeavour of the CIOSA network and Samanvaya. Growth and changes in urban India bring forth set of issues that need to be addressed by civil society initiatives. With the ever increasing city boundaries and increasing stress on resources, the concentration of the government is restricted to creating and maintaining the infrastructure. While the commercial possibilities in infrastructure management bring in private players, the welfare aspects hold forth no such allurements. Hence it is left to a few committed individuals and groups to take the lead and attend to them. Chennai has many such committed individuals and fortunately these people and their initiatives are able to attend to the myriad social issues of the city. Old Age Homes, Children Homes, Care for the Mentally Challenged, Physically Challenged, and may other sections of society that have special care needs and require unique qualifications are attended to by civil society initiatives in Chennai.
However, the ordinary citizen of Chennai who wants to understand these issues, perhaps wants to contribute or even volunteer doesn’t have a guide to provide a bird’s eye view of these initiatives; as to what is happening through these initiatives, what is the magnitude of their work, what are their priorities, how can one best contribute, etc. The series of publications under Chennai Cares are to provide thematic information on such civil society initiatives. The results of one such study of the free and charitable old age homes in the city have been published as a booklet, "Where the Gray Head os Held High." Please contact us for a copy or download it from the CIOSA website.