PRADAN is a voluntary organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act of India.

Established in Delhi in 1983, PRADAN was pioneered by a group of young professionals, all of whom were inspired by the conviction that individuals with knowledge resources and empathy for the marginalised must work with communities at the grassroots in order to help them overcome poverty.

PRADAN believes that the path towards conquering economic poverty is through enhancing the livelihood capabilities of the poor and giving them access to sustainable income earning opportunities. In the process, the poor must be enabled to break free from their past, develop an alternative vision of their future and set achievable goals. They must be equipped with the technical, organisational, negotiating, and networking skills that will facilitate the fulfillment of their goals.

Today, some 268 highly motivated and skilled professionals under PRADAN’s fold are working in the remote villages of India, immersing themselves directly with target communities. These young professionals are recruited from universities and hold specialised degrees in subjects like management, engineering, agriculture, and the social sciences.

PRADAN professionals, divided into 27 teams, work with over 112,900 families in 3,044 villages across seven of the poorest states in the country. A majority of the families that PRADAN works with belong to the Schedule Tribes and Schedule Castes.

PRADAN follows a four-pronged approach to achieve its goals:

Promoting and nurturing Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of poor women and strengthening them as organisations to leverage institutional finances for members’ livelihoods.

Developing and introducing locally suitable economic activities to increase productivity and incomes among SHG members; building synergic collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders.

Mobilising finances for livelihood assets and infrastructure from government bodies, donors, banks, and other financial institutions.

Setting up mechanisms to sustain the livelihood gains made by the poor communities.

Challenged by the abysmal poverty of millions of people across India, PRADAN has resolved to reach out to 1.5 million poor people in the next 10 years as a part of its vision, PRADAN 2017.

Vision

PRADAN seeks to enable poor rural families to live a life of dignity.

Mission

Impacting Livelihoods to Enable Rural Communities

PRADAN’s mission is rooted in a clear understanding of the societal contexts that make poverty in India complex, a phenomenon which thrives in various interrelated factors including:

• The rural poor’s view of themselves;

• Their understanding and skills to deal with outside systems;

• Their access to resources;

• Their technical knowledge to use the resources that they have;

• The existence of feudal or semi-feudal agents which deprive the poor of their surpluses; and,

• Other causes that are rooted beyond the local context.

Over the many years that it has worked with India’s rural poor, PRADAN has learned valuable lessons that serve as a guide to fulfilling the organisation’s mission. Among those learnings are the following:

• Alleviating rural poverty is an extremely challenging task. Development efforts must be conducted with the collaboration of different and equally interested actors in order to make an impact.

• Rural communities are fragmented along caste and class lines. These tend to restrict the effectiveness of joint action for development.

• Among the rural poor, women are generally marginalised, yet they prove to be more effective agents of social change. Sadly, however, such potential is not well-recognised.

• There are plenty of resources in the rural areas – including human resources – which remain largely untapped.

• There is need for innovation in the social and technical spheres for generating ideas that can affect the rural poor on a large scale.

• The government remains the biggest and most dominant actor in development, but its efforts have had a limited effect on alleviating rural poverty. This could be due to various factors, including:

- lack of access of people to government;
- government programmes that have little relevance to rural communities;
- inappropriate design of some government programmes and schemes;
- low quality of human resources at the implementation levels of government; and,
- lack of recognition among government personnel that they have a stake in the poor’s development.

• While there are a large number of NGOs that implement government programmes across India, there are not enough of them who collaborate with the government and other mainstream institutions in a manner that is equal enough for them to be able to integrate in their development efforts relevant feedback from the grassroots.

• The context in which PRADAN operates is changing fast.

With all this in perspective, PRADAN seeks out to define the space in which it can be most effective, as well as the approaches that can best help the rural poor enrich their lives.

PRADAN’s core competency is in the area of sustainable livelihoods. By addressing issues of livelihood, PRADAN is able to immediately affect the lives of poor communities. Having access to sustainable livelihood opportunities, the poor become less vulnerable to adverse natural and man-made forces. Such is a powerful intervention to break the cycle of poverty. Control over their source of livelihood improves the poor’s image of themselves. Livelihood is a tangible instrument around which poor people could be organised, opportunities to deal with outside systems are created, and a greater impact on the fight against poverty is attained.

In this light, PRADAN is guided by the principle that for the rural poor communities to be able to access opportunities for sustainable livelihoods, they must first be enabled. This concept of “enabling communities” implies that PRADAN adopts participatory processes in its work with the people, making available ideas and technologies in a manner that enhances the poor’s access to and control over their resources. These resources, in turn, aid in the improvement of their lives, in organising them into appropriate peoples’ institutions at various levels to improve their bargaining power, and in enhancing their ability to deal with mainstream systems and provide sustainability to interventions.

PRADAN looks for concrete livelihood interventions in the local context after a scientific evaluation of the specific environments. We constantly seek to extend intervention that is sharper and more relevant, aided in the process by a thorough process of action, reflection, and learning.

But PRADAN does not pretend to be the sole actor in rural development work. As rural poverty is so widespread and multifaceted, it is not possible for any single actor to make a significant dent on the problem merely on its own. Efforts will be sustainable only when made at multiple levels and in a scale that is significant. Therefore, PRADAN also collaborates with, educates, and influences mainstream actors in development. A gap exists between the mainstream and the grassroots, and PRADAN is competent in expertly filling such void. Moreover, PRADAN strives to share its experiences to other development workers, recognising the unfortunate fact that knowledge about processes in addressing rural poverty is severely limited.

PRADAN carries out all of these programmes with the collective hard work of its highly skilled and dedicated workforce. The organisation recruits and deploys high-quality human resources at the grassroots, inducting, nurturing, and developing professional development workers who are able to operate in a wide spectrum, are able to reverse roles, are self-regulating, and continually seek excellence in their tasks.

Our Organisation

The governance of PRADAN is vested in a Board of Honorary Members who are persons with a distinguished record of public service as NGO leaders, academicians, business leaders and civil servants, and two nominated staff members.

Field-based teams, each led by a mid-career executive designated as Team Leader carry out operations and implement livelihood promotion programmes.

Human Resource Development, Finance and other departments assist the Executive Director in policy and institutional development, while other staff provide office and logistical support.

Our Board
Affiliated Organisation     Name     Board Position
Deepalaya Education Society, Secretary     Mr. T. K. Mathew     Chairperson
Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Principal     Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath     Vice-Chairperson
Peoples’ Science Institute, Director     Dr. Ravi Chopra     Member
Pricewaterhouse Coopers Pvt. Ltd., Executive Director     Dr. Bharti Gupta Ramola     Member
Bharatiya Samrudhi Investment & Consulting Services, Managing Director     Mr. Vijay Mahajan     Member
National Foundation for India, Executive Director     Mr. Ajay S. Mehta     Member
State Bank of India, Retired Chief General Manager     Mr. M. A. Krishnan     Member
Government of India, Media Adviser to the Prime Minister     Dr. Sanjaya Baru     Member
Government of India, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce     Mrs. Asha Swarup     Member
PRADAN, Programme Director     Ms. Nivedita Narain     Member
PRADAN, Programme Director     Mr. Soumen Biswas     Member
Executive Director PRADAN     Mr. Deep Joshi     Ex- Officio Secretary

The Governing Board comprises of 12 members.

Nine are invited Honorary Members with a distinguished record of public service in different arenas.

The Honorary Members nominate two senior staff persons to the Board.

The Board appoints the Executive Director.

The Executive Director is the ex-officio Secretary of the Board and by convention, serves a five-year term.

The Honorary Members are the independent directors with no material interest in PRADAN.

The Board renews itself periodically as members can serve no more than two consecutive three-year terms. All current Honorary Members are also members of the General Body besides others who joined the Society earlier.

PRADAN Programmes

1) Promotiion of SHG’s
PRADAN is one of the pioneers in the promotion of Self-Help Groups (SHG) in India, having formed its first SHG in Alwar, Rajasthan, in 1987. A savings and credit SHG is a simple yet effective way of reaching out and connecting with rural poor women.

A Self-Help Group is an informal association of 10 to 20 poor women belonging to the same village and sharing a common socio-economic background. The group enables its members to gain their identity as individuals, while realising – and utilising – the immense power of mutual aid. It provides them with a platform from where they can access banks and public services, and spearhead changes that affect them as poor women.

Nurturing Self-Help Groups for poor rural women is PRADAN’s key tool in fulfilling its mission and goals. The Self-Help Groups work for the women in a number of ways: they provide guidance; they give support and assistance to women; and they identify and promote home-based enterprises among its members. These home-based enterprises, called “honeybee activities”, involve a myriad of ventures. The SHG members take loans from the SHGs and set out to begin their enterprise on their own.

As a result of PRADAN’s intervention efforts, an increasing number of rural families – especially women – are engaging in independent livelihood activities. These activities serve as opportunities for diversifying and enhancing their incomes.

PRADAN gives particular attention to women because even as they comprise half of the country’s population, they remain the most disadvantaged sector among the poor. Yet it is the women who prove to be most effective in fostering change in their families and communities. They have demonstrated skills in resource management and they will, for instance, choose to save on scarce resources so they can be channeled to the family’s needs rather than throw them away for personal use.

With PRADAN’s guidance and the members’ own experiences, SHGs can potentially play four key roles through the different stages of evolution: mutual help, financial intermediation, livelihood planning, and social empowerment.

As of March 2007, PRADAN has worked with some 7,512 SHGs across seven states, representing a total membership of 106,090 rural poor women. These SHGs have mobilised a total savings of 225 million Rupees.

Also significantly, the financial accounting and Management Information System (MIS) of PRADAN’ SHG program have been streamlined through the innovative system of community-based accounting based on The Computer Munshi System.

FOREST-BASED LIVELIHOOD

PRADAN works mostly with adivasis and poor people who live near forests for whom forests and trees have, traditionally, been an important source of livelihood. Over the years, dwindling forests and the implementation of protection-oriented public policies have made serious inroads to these livelihood activities, resulting in decreased incomes for the local communities.

PRADAN’s forest- and tree-based livelihood interventions in Jharkhand and Orissa comprise of Tasar cocoon production, Lac cultivation and production, and trading of Siali leaf plates. Farm forestry has also been taken up as part of a programme on integrated natural resource management. In all, there are some 7,792 families who are involved in these various activities.

In its activities, PRADAN is supported by, and works in close association with various government departments such as the Ministry of Rural Development, the Agriculture Department and the Ministry of Textiles, and a number of resource institutions such as the Central Silk Board and the Indian Lac Research Institute.

Lac Cultivation

The insect Laccifer Lacca, living off the sap of certain trees, secretes lac resin. The processed resin is called Shellac and has numerous industrial applications including in the food and drug industries. India is a major producer of Shellac.

Among the Adivasis, Lac rearing and cultivation is a traditional occupation, and has proved to be an important source of income for thousands of poor families. However, the full potential of lac rearing and cultivation has yet to be tapped; the activity can generate higher incomes for the poor of the East Indian plateau region.

Despite its importance, lac cultivation is beset with numerous risks and uncertainties. For one, technological advances have not filtered down to the rearers, and they are unable to access adequate working capital to buy brood lac (mother insects). Furthermore, the availability and quality of the brood lac is highly uncertain. The lac insect itself is highly vulnerable to predators, diseases and natural elements, and no insurance mechanism exists to mitigate such risks.

PRADAN works to revive a dying traditional livelihood by helping to enhance incomes of lac rearers. In collaboration with the Jharkhand Government and the Indian Lac Research Institute (ILRI), PRADAN provides technical trainings on modern rearing techniques to local Adivasi youth and promotes technologies developed by ILRI.

Already, methods for rearing on alternative host trees such as palash and kusumi have been successfully initiated.

PRADAN’s intervention in Lac cultivation programmes has reached 2,107 families.

Siali Leaf Plate

PRADAN began its Siali leaf plate-making livelihood intervention in April 2002. Making leaf plates is a source of supplementary income for poor people living near forests in South and West Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. Virtually every household in those areas depends on this activity. Their annual incomes vary from anywhere between Rs 1,500 and 2,500.

This livelihood activity uses the leaf of the Siali creeper, abundant and available throughout the year, and which is widely used in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. PRADAN works in the Balliguda and Kandhamal districts where over 70 per cent of tribal women are engaged in making loose leaf and rough stitched leaf plates. The producers are trained to stitch plates of finer quality and produce a wider range of products either manually or with the aid of machinery.

PRADAN’s strategy is to help producers – mainly women – to increase incomes; organise them into SHGs to pave the way for access to credit; create storage facilities and upgrade products to close-stitched and machine-stitched plates. The returns are expected to be around Rs 6,000 per year for every family.

Tasar Cocoon Production

Sericulture – or the production of silk – involves the rearing of silkworms to produce cocoons, and then processing those cocoons to make yarn and fabric. Tasar is a variety of wild silk (Vanya silk) produced by the tasar silkworm, Antheraea Mylitta. This worm, unlike the mulberry silk worm, is only partly domesticated. Tasar is, therefore, reared in forest areas. The process requires round-the-clock vigil and, overall, dedicated husbandry for six to ten weeks.

Tribal, backward and disadvantaged communities living in remote forested areas are usually engaged in Tasar cocoon production. The activity is a source of supplementary income for the poor families who are otherwise engaged in small and marginal farming or are migrating to other places in search of livelihoods. Since cocoon production involves family labour, yields quick returns and requires simple technologies, it is ideally suited for these families. The activity requires very low initial investment, and the key requirements are labour which is readily available, and flora which is plentiful in these fringe forest areas.

The growth potential for this economic activity is simply enormous. There is constant demand for tasar silk, estimated – both for domestic consumption and the international market – at 1,500 metric tonnes (MT) per annum of raw silk fibre.

PRADAN works with Tasar rearers – about 4,436 families so far, almost all of whom are tribals – at various intervention levels. The rearers have been provided with trainings in improved rearing techniques developed by the Central Silk Board (CSB). Those techniques have reduced the risks and increased overall productivity.

PRADAN’s intervention in Tasar rearing comprises of 4 elements. They are:
Improving supply of Disease Free Eggs or Laying of the Tasar insect (DFLs);

Trainings on improved practices for silkworm rearing and maintenance of forest stock

Raising plantations of tasar host trees in privately owned lands; and,

Creating a pool of service providers.

2) Natural Resource Management

A vast majority of the rural poor continue to be dependent on land and water resources for their meager livelihoods. Sadly, however, various phenomena including deforestation, drought and soil erosion have resulted in decreased incomes for these families. Chronic poverty persists.

Thus PRADAN devotes a significant part of its intervention efforts on developing land and water resources. The aim is to enhance productivity, incomes and sustainable livelihoods.

Towards this objective, PRADAN promotes the Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM) of land, water, forest and biological resources to achieve and sustain potential agricultural productivity. INRM combines managing the use of natural resources along with their conservation and sustenance.

Programmes comprise of enhancing productivity in agriculture; diversifying into new crops; setting up irrigation systems; and instituting entirely new ways of managing the natural resource base.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood in the regions where PRADAN works. With current low levels of productivity in agriculture, PRADAN extends assistance in finding opportunities to enhance livelihoods. Over half of PRADAN’s livelihood programmes are focused on agriculture, its improvement – and the overall management of natural resources – remains key in the battle against endemic poverty in the rural areas.

Enhancing productivity and diversification are the core strategies of PRADAN’s agriculture programmes. Specific activities are increasing the productivity of the main cereal crops to improve food security, and diversification into cash crops such as pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables.

Whichever programme is undertaken, PRADAN seeks to ensure its sustainability. In order to achieve this, the organisation trains and deploys a large number of agriculture extension entrepreneurs to the field. Producers’ institutions around agriculture are formed and strengthened as well.

Horticulture

Horticulture is gradually emerging as a significant livelihood programme in the high-rainfall regions where PRADAN is engaged. Diversification has become an essential component of sustainable strategies, given the dwindling productivity of agriculture. Critical to the success of PRADAN’s horticulture programmes is the enhancement and management of natural resources, particularly in the hilly regions with limited potential for reliable irrigation.

PRADAN teams, fielded in the undulating and hilly terrains, are working to encourage farmers to take up vegetable cultivation on their small-scale homesteads and near dug wells. These activities provide the poor families with a dependable source of income.

PRADAN has taken up fruit tree plantation programmes on private lands. Over 6,000 families are currently involved in PRADAN’s horticulture programme.

Land & Water Resources

At the heart of PRADAN’s strategy has always been to work directly with the rural poor, build their capabilities, and introduce and develop new livelihood opportunities. While the organisation’s strategies, programmes, and methodologies have evolved over time, developing land and water resources has been a fixture in PRADAN’s work.

PRADAN takes the integrated approach to resource management and has demonstrated ways to promote the development of natural resources. This approach leads to an equitable and sustainable economic growth, ensures household food security, and helps minimise mass poverty.

An integrated approach to land and water resources management requires participatory planning with the people, to develop systems and treatment measures that are most suitable to the resources available. The technologies that PRADAN has developed are simple and labour intensive and best suited to the people they are designed to serve.

Water Harvesting Tank
PRADAN’s integrated approach to natural resource management (INRM) calls for the efficient management of soil, water and vegetation resources, yet maintaining a livelihood focus. INRM recognises that uncontrolled, unplanned and unscientific use of natural resources results in their decline. Therefore, managing natural resources calls for proper land use while protecting it from erosion; enhanced productivity while maintaining soil fertility; and water harvesting and conservation.

INRM not only optimises the productivity of land and water resources, but also helps fight mass poverty. In other-words, sustainable development efforts must take into account the relationship between the needs and priorities of the people, and natural resources.

3) Livestock Development

PRADAN works with rural families in the promotion of dairy and goat rearing activities in the project areas of Jharkhand, Orissa, and Rajasthan. While livestock populations in these areas are higher than the national average, productivity is low, rearing practices remain poor, breeds are non-descript, veterinary services are non-existent, and market infrastructure is often absent.

Yet dairy and goat rearing possess tremendous promise as livelihood supplements for the rural poor in these areas. Thus PRADAN seeks to help bring in better-quality breeds, veterinary care, while at the same time developing a reliable cadre of village-based service providers and marketing systems. Specifically in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, PRADAN is expanding its outreach programmes with support from various quarters like the government, financial institutions, and various resource institutions such as the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI).

Dairy

PRADAN’s interventions on Dairy programmes are being extended through the induction of better quality of breeds, the training of women in feeding and husbandry practices, veterinary care, the development of a cadre of village-based service providers, and the creation of systems for effective marketing.

Though holding potential, Dairying remains poorly developed in PRADAN’s project areas. In these areas, the populations of domestic animals are higher than the national average. Yet milk productivity is low, rearing practices are poor, breeds are non-descript, veterinary services are non-existent, and market linkages do not exist.

To fulfill the potential of Dairying in its project areas, PRADAN provides assistance for the induction of new animals, while giving attention as well to better housing and veterinary care, especially the provision of immunisation against diseases. In this light, systems have been set up to for the procurement and distribution of important vaccines.

PRADAN also assists participants in accessing funds from various sources such as centrally sponsored schemes, donor-aided programmes, and state governments.

In Jharkhand, PRADAN is promoting a women’s dairy co-operative. An additional two are in the pipeline, the setting up of which is being conducted with assistance from banks and the State Government. Meanwhile, in Rajasthan, PRADAN has set up a women’s Producer Company in collaboration with the Mother Dairy and the World Bank-funded District Poverty Initiatives Project (DPIP). The Producer Company will procure milk for bulk markets and provide technical assistance to the producers, too.

At present, the Dairy programmes reach out to nearly 3,858 families.

Goat Rearing

PRADAN is promoting goat-rearing programmes in Rajasthan and Orissa. As with other PRADAN initiatives, the focus is on assisting women in optimising their livestock resources. This becomes necessary given that in these project areas, goat rearing is characterised by the use of poor breeds and unscientific husbandry practices that result in low incomes and high morbidity and mortality risks.

PRADAN focuses on the induction of new animals, better housing and veterinary care, especially immunisation against certain well-known killer diseases like PPR (Peste des petits ruminants). Systems have been set up to procure and administer necessary vaccines in collaboration with government agencies.

PRADAN assists poor women in goat rearing as a potential livelihood supplement. The programme enables women to obtain credit to buy goats and provide improved shelter and veterinary support. Training a cadre of para-vets to provide animal health care on a routine basis is also an important intervention.

The programmes are implemented in clusters so that capacity building, veterinary support, and marketing can be taken up in a more systematic manner.

PRADAN’s goat-rearing programmes currently reach out to some 2,331 families.

4) Microenterprise Promotion

In PRADAN’s project areas, land, water, livestock, and forests remain the main sources of livelihood that are available to the rural poor. Most families depend on agriculture for their meager incomes.

But with continually diminishing outputs and declining farm sizes, it has become more urgent for the rural population to diversify their avenues of income. This necessarily involves introducing them to emerging home-based micro-enterprises. The aim is to take advantage of the rising demand for newer goods and services, which provide livelihood opportunities outside traditional farming.

PRADAN is promoting home-based micro-enterprises such as poultry rearing, Tasar yarn production, vermi-composting, mulberry sericulture, and cultivation of oyster mushrooms.

Tasar Yarn Production

PRADAN has identified the production of Tasar silk yarn as an activity that has the potential to generate a large number of livelihoods among the rural poor in the eastern and central Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. PRADAN has sought to separate Tasar yarn production from weaving, promoting it as an independent and viable enterprise for women.

Tasar yarn production has traditionally been a low-paying activity carried out by poor rural women in their spare time. Yet it plays a critical role in the Tasar fabric industry by supplying the raw material. Despite this key role and its income-generating potential, Tasar yarn production has not flourished independently, always being seen as a mere component of the entire weaving enterprise, to be done solely by the women in the weaver families.

PRADAN’s intervention in Tasar yarn production equips poor rural women with skills and provides them with infrastructure, inputs, and marketing support for yarn production as an independent enterprise. This helps ensure for them a steady and sustainable income.

The basic strategy has been to organise the rural women into ‘reeler’ or ‘spinner’ groups. These groups are then encouraged to establish links with other organisations and institutions to expand and improve the Tasar yarn production business.

The Central Silk Board (CSB) has developed technology and machinery to produce reeled (fine) and spun (coarse) yarn. It also provides trainings. PRADAN helps to market the yarn both as an intermediate product as well as the final woven products.

In 2006 alone, PRADAN’s Tasar yarn production activities impacted on 1,894 families.

Broiler Poultry Rearing

PRADAN has developed a model of decentralised smallholder poultry rearing which has emerged as a powerful tool for the livelihood promotion of poor rural women. Women from tribal and other poor families are organised into co-operatives to serve the growing needs of small town and urban markets.

PRADAN provides poor women – through the co-operatives – hands-on training and assistance in securing finances from either the banks or government programmes. These women rear a batch of 300 to 400 birds in rearing sheds built on their homesteads. In around 32 days the birds are ready for sale.

The women’s co-operatives, organised by PRADAN, also provide inputs like feeds, chicks, and medicines. At the same time, the co-operatives make arrangements to market the birds. Some of the producers are trained to provide veterinary care and manage linkages on behalf of the co-operative. By working together the women realise the importance of scale economies to the poultry business.

The poultry cooperatives suffered a depression brought about by the recent bird flu scare. Many units across the country were wiped out. Still, the co-operatives stayed afloat, taking on measures to mitigate the ill effects of the bird flu scare. As market prices crashed, they reduced production and offered members a minimum support price. They are now rapidly picking up from the depression, with most of them having recovered a significant proportion of their losses.

At present, PRADAN works with 2,809 families organised into 15 co-operatives, the largest conglomeration of smallholder poultry in India.

How We Do

Strategy

PRADAN’S strategies, programmes, activities and methodologies have evolved over the last twenty years. PRADAN’s institutional development processes have been guided by two themes right from the initial days: expanding livelihood opportunities for poor people and getting capable and caring people. PRADAN takes up and works only through grassroots projects.

PRADAN’s interventions generally begin with the promotion of women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs). Initial contact is usually with the women of the household. PRADAN focuses on women because they are half of the population and yet the most disadvantaged among the poor. They are vital in fostering change in their families and communities.

PRADAN personnel promote livelihoods on an ever-expanding scale in diverse sectoral activities ranging from agriculture and natural resource management to rural enterprises. PRADAN assists the SHG member families to choose one or several livelihood options based on their resources, skills and risk perception.

PRADAN supports and assists SHGs to leverage finances to create and sustain livelihood programmes, to enhance the productivity and carrying capacity of resources and to build people’s skills and capabilities.

PRADAN’s field staff are development professionals who are, working directly with the rural poor, building their capabilities, and developing and introducing new ideas to expand and strengthen their livelihoods.

PRADAN has a human resource development programme that focuses on systematic recruitment, training and deployment of some three score university educated people as grassroots development trainees every year. Once trained these professionals take responsibility for further enhancing and facilitating growth of PRADAN initiatives in the different locations.

In order to address the colossal poverty in the villages PRADAN seeks to expand its operations multi fold in the coming decade and reach out to 1.5 million families by 2017. To reach such scales of operation PRADAN realises that it is not enough to continue doing more of the same, but there is a need to do things differently. This requires a radical shift in stance, to be more outward focused, be more proactive in collaborations, and build synergies with external stakeholders

PRADAN is actively seeking to influence decision makers, mobilise development funds and support for programmes from the government and financial institutions. Advocacy is key factor in PRADAN’s strategy to expanding sustainable livelihoods for poor rural people.

PRADAN’s evolved and clearly focused methodologies to promote livelihoods are outlined in the following sections:

Promoting & Nurturing SHGs
Livelihood Planning
Sectoral Interventions
Human Resources at the Grassroots
Leveraging Development Finances

Human Resource Development

PRADAN owes its genesis to a strong belief in a simple idea: Caring and capable people – rather than material resources – are crucial in accelerating the process of social development in our country. PRADAN’s Human Resource Development Unit was set up with the core agenda of ensuring that young and educated people with empathy and the desire to effect positive changes in the lives of others are recruited, nurtured, and placed in grassroots projects.

PRADAN’s internal HRD processes and programmes were developed gradually and systematically. The initial focus was on recruitment, induction, and early training of new entrants. Eventually it also focused on the task of developing mechanisms to systematically build competencies among professional staff.

PRADAN has a Development Apprenticeship Programme that recruits fresh university graduates from over 60 campuses across India. Apprenticeship covers a period of 12 months. An apprentice is assigned to a PRADAN project under the guidance of a trained Field Guide as a “learner member.” During the first seven days, the apprentice conducts a reality check, while getting oriented in the team. If she is then interested in carrying on, the apprentice goes through a systematic learning process that includes two fieldwork segments, two foundation courses, and a visit home, to another team and another NGO. All these put together helps the apprentice to explore her preparedness – intellectual, physical, emotional, and social – in taking up a career in grassroots development. She learns the nitty-gritty required for being a development professional.

Apprentices who graduate to become Executives spend the first three to five years as task performers in specific projects. Executives with five to seven years of experience and significant achievements on the ground are later called upon to play project management roles. From about the tenth year, a professional would be expected to lead either a function, theme or operational region.

PRADAN’s structure, internal systems, and processes have been designed to provide space for self-expression to each professional staff’s desire to work for a super-ordinate goal. Self-regulation and autonomy are, thus, consciously fostered. At all levels, strong integration is ensured with processes of mentorship, peer review, and collective leadership. While these are facilitating factors, continued effectiveness of the development professional also depends on the ability of the human resources strategy to equip individuals to respond to changing field problems and role demands. This requires a combination of structured training inputs and systems.

In the last few years the central HRD unit has developed a broad framework to provide development professionals with necessary inputs to gear up for life and role transitions. The in–career programme focuses on enhancing human, technical and conceptual capabilities required by each role in the four broad arenas of work, viz. personal application and growth, grassroots transformation, organization roles, and building strategic alliances. Programmes are designed to help professional staff acquire the necessary capabilities to play their roles more effectively as well as to create systematic opportunities, exposure, and training for executives to make the transition to become Team Leaders, or for a Team Leader to make the transition to being a Programme Director.

With a combination of structured training inputs and mechanisms, PRADAN would continually develop effective on-going professional, structured Human Resources Development programmes.

Careers
Pradan Experience

PRADAN owes its genesis to a strong belief in a simple idea – that caring and capable people rather than material resources are crucial to accelerate the process of social development in our country.

Rural community development is a complex process involving the interplay of social, political and economic forces. Everyone is not cut out to be a “helping person”, which is at the heart of grassroots community work. It also requires youngsters to bear with unfamiliar and difficult conditions, of work and life, by choice.

Through a carefully designed multi-tier selection process PRADAN takes on board young people with varied educational backgrounds and prepares them to use their knowledge and skills to remove poverty and work for the benefit of the rural poor.

PRADAN has evolved a year-long apprenticeship programme, which provides an opportunity to assess a life in grassroots work. It allows one to experience the living conditions and broad content and pace of work in villages. The apprenticeship programme is a structured, learning-through-guided-practice to groom the new entrants and to help them to make an informed choice about this vocation.

They learn about the contexts in which poor people live, experience the conditions in which they would work and experience the kind of impact they would have. Above all they would learn the practical skills of grassroots development work. Apprentices also explore while they learn, about the changes they would have to make in their own lives.

Funding Agency Partnerships

PRADAN received financial support from several Indian and foreign organisations. We gratefully acknowledge the support of all our donors. Among Indian agencies, we received assistance during the year from several DRDAs across the country, the GOI Ministry of Rural Development, the Central Silk Board of the Government of India, CAPART, NABARD, the Convergent Community Services programme administered by UNICEF, the UNDP, Forest Departments in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa administering WFP supported programmes, Government of Madhya Pradesh’s District Poverty Initiatives Project (DPIP), Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

Our donors from overseas during the year included the Ford Foundation, ICCO of the Netherlands, the India Canada Cooperation Organisation, OXFAM (India) Trust, AusAid, the Embassy of Japan and Care India. We also gratefully acknowledge contributions to our Corpus Fund made in the past by the Ford Foundation, the Industrial Development Bank of India, the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, the Industrial Finance Corporation of India, ICCO of the Netherlands, Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. PRADAN has research partnerships with IMP-ACT and the IWMI-Tata programme.

Contact Us

PRADAN

New Delhi
Post Box No. 3827
3 Community Shopping Centre
Niti Bagh
New Delhi 110 049
Tel: 011 2651 8619, 51640611
Tel/fax: 011 2651 4682
E-mail: pradanho@vsnl.com

Rajasthan
Alwar Road
Ramgarh – 301 026
Rajasthan
Tel: 01468 232119

Somnath Nagar, Agra Road
Dausa – 303 303
Rajasthan
Tel: 01427 221915
E-mail: alwar@pradan.net

2/371, Housing Board Colony
Dholpur – 328 001
Rajasthan
Tel: 05642 223671

J 2/11 L.I.C. Flats
Sector – 2
Vidyadhar Nagar
Jaipur – 302 023
Tel: 0141 233834
E-mail: jaipur@pradan.net

West Bengal
Lal Mohan Trivedi Lane
Nilkuthi Danga
Purulia – 723 101
West Bengal
Tel: 03252 223144
E-mail: purulia@pradan.net

Opp. Saraf Dharamsala
P.O. Rangadih
Balarampur – 723 143
District Purulia
West Bengal
Tel: 03252 80312
E-mail: bku_pradanbl@sancharnet.in

Madhya Pradesh
P.O. Sukhtawa – 461 553
District Hoshangabad
Madhya Pradesh
Tel: 07572 271338, 271339
E-mail: kesla@pradan.net

C/o Shri Vinod Bansal
Bansal Bhawan
Bhuteswar Path
At & P.O. Sironj
District Vidisha
Madhya Pradesh
Tel: 07591 253963

Chattisgarh
Vinobha Nagar
Boirdadar Chowk
P.O. Boirdadar
Raigarh – 496 001
Chattisgarh
Tel: 07762 225887
Email: raigarh@sancharnet.in

Orissa
Gourtota Sahi
Near Telephone Exchange
Keonjhar – 758 001
Orissa
Tel: 06766 2253066
E-mail: keonjhar@pradan.net

Patra Street
Balliguda
District Kandhamal
Orissa- 762 103
Tel: 06846 243119
E-mail: balliguda@pradan.net

NICA Computer Building,
College Road,
Karanjia – 757 037
Mayurbhanj,
Orissa

Jharkhand
Near Veena Cinema Hall
Chettar Road
Gumla – 835 207
Tel: 06524 223807
E-mail: gumla@pradan.net

Near Check Post
Torpa Road
Khunti – 835 210
District – Ranchi
Jharkhand
Tel: 06528 220164
E-mail: khunti@pradan.net

512, G- Road,
West Layout, Sonari
Jamshedpur – 831 011
Jharkhand
Tel: 0657 2303 134
E-mail: eastsinghbhum@pradan.net

C/o Mrs. Urmila Mishra
Devi Mandap Road
Jhumri Telaiya
District Koderma
Jharkhand – 825 409
Tel: 06534 24427

Behind Block Quarters
Gandhi Nagar
Godda – 814 133
Jharkhand
Telefax: 06422 22503
E-mail: godda@pradan.net

C/o K.K. Rajhans
Ground Floor
Radha Rani Sinha Road
(Behind Dr.Sarlaram’s Nursing Home)

Adampur,Bhagalpur – 812 001
Tel: 0641 2404694
bhagalpur@pradan.net

Flat No. 1,
Chetna Apartments
Opposite DC’s Residence
P.O. & District B. Deoghar
Jharkhand – 814 112
Tel: 06432 231355

60 Circular Road
K.P. Dutta Compound
Ranchi – 834 001
Jharkhand
Tel: 0651- 2561 552
Fax: 0651 2560615,3092870
E-mail: pradanranchi@pradan.net

Opp. Anand Vihar Lodge
Toklo Road
At & P.O. Chakradharpur – 833 102
District – West Singbhum
Jharkhand
Tel: 06587 238535

House of Mr. Mahesh Saw
Near New Bus Stand
Petarbar – 829 121
District Bokaro
Jharkhand
Tel: 06542 265757
E-mail: petarbar@pradan.net

Madhav Market
Dhanbad Road
Barhi – 825 405
District Hazirabagh
Jharkhand
Tel: 06543 266284

Sarai Road
District Dumka – 814 101
Jharkhand
Tel: 06434 224194
E-mail: dumka@pradan.net

Raghutoli
Lohardaga – 835 302
Jharkhand
Tel: 06526 224358
E-mail: lohardaga@pradan.net

About Azim Premji Foundation

Azim Premji Foundation is a not-for-profit organization with a vision to “Significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education to facilitate a just, equitable and humane society”. Operational since 2001, over 250 professionals and 1100 paid volunteers are engaged in realizing this vision in elementary education in India. The Foundation is currently engaged with over 14,000 schools (2.5 Mln children and 35000 teachers) in partnership with 13 Indian States.

Azim Premji Foundation has a three pronged strategy viz:
• Intervention: To engage with schools & other bodies to understand and impact elementary-level systemic change.
• Network: To build an eco-system of those who desire change, to work together.
• Advocacy: To provide a radical stimulus to influence the education system.

Approach

• Focus on “quality of education in rural government schools”
• In-depth research and impact assessment
• Develop “Proof of concept”, integrate in larger system and withdraw after quality sustenance
• Use experiences for effective advocacy to influence key systems and policies
• An implementing agency – not a project funding organization

When over 90% of elementary education in the country happens in government schools (especially in the 600,000 villages across the country) there is no way anyone can impact education without actively and constructively working with the Government

Learning Guarantee Programme
Over 70 percent of Government Primary/ Higher Primary schools out of the 9500 schools in the 7 districts of North East Karnataka have applied to participate in this programme. The Learning Guarantee Programme was launched on 23rd November by Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman Wipro Corporation at a public function in Gulbarga The Learning Guarantee Programme is designed to identify schools that demonstrate “Guarantee of Learning”, analyze the success factors and communicate these to other schools.

Technology Initiatives
Computer Assisted Learning
The pilot project with 34 Computer assisted learning centres (CALCs) was set-up in Bangalore and surrounding rural areas. It aimed at measuring the impact of computers in attracting out-of-school children to school, and the improvement in learning levels among children in their regular academic work.

Educational Software
There have been numerous efforts to universalise elementary education in the country over the past several years. In the recent past, Governments have been investing pubic funds into use of computers as part of their efforts to universalise elementary education. These are largely seen as initiatives focused on improving quality of learning in schools. Some of these initiatives involving computers have also focused on IT education to help children to build IT skills as part of their overall skill sets.

eMIS
Education Departments across various states in India have an MIS system. Azim Premji Foundation efforts are towards strengthening the MIS and making it user friendly.

Policy Planning Unit
The Government of Karnataka and Azim Premji Foundation have set up a Policy Planning Unit (PPU), as a joint initiative, as a part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of Karnataka and Azim Premji Foundation

Community Learning Centre
The Community Learning Centre idea was born in response to the felt-need of the people in rural Karnataka. The pilot project was aimed at measuring the impact of computers in attracting out-of-school children to school, and the improvement in learning levels among children in their regular academic work.

Partnerships
It has also chosen to partner with some of the organisations that have a similar passion and dedication. While choosing to partner with any organisation or institution, the criteria given below are followed:
• Formal involvement of the Government
• Free from any religious, communal and political overtones
• Focus on improving learning levels while working within the school
• Transparency, sincerity, passion and sharing of information
• High quality processes related to deciding objectives / outcomes, establishing base lines, openness to external evaluation, making a tangible impact on the education in the given area
• Strategy of withdrawing within a reasonable time frame after achieving sustenance for integration into the larger system
• In all the above villages / schools, enabling the schools to guarantee learning will be the focus of the Foundation.

MOU
MOU between Govt. of Andhra Pradesh and Azim Premji Foundation
MOU between Govt. of Karnataka and Azim Premji Foundation

Wipro Applying Thought in Schools
This is Wipro Corporation’s initiative to contribute towards improving Indian education. We work with a network of over 25 social organisations across the country, and offer long-term developmental programs to teachers, principals and schools. Till date, we have engaged deeply with over 8,000 educators and 900 schools across 17 states of India.

Summary of Key Initiatives:

1. Learning Guarantee Program
The aim is to transform classroom practices from current rote learning to facilitate learning that promotes comprehension and application by appropriate assessment of children in Government schools. The program is expected to:
1. build accountability among schools and education functionaries
2. assist state Governments to address the issue of examination reform
The assessment methodology of the program has been adopted by the Government of Karnataka to be upscaled in over 45,000 government schools across the state. The program is also being piloted across 4 other states.

2. Technology Initiatives
Leverage technology for various stakeholders to facilitate quality universal education. Current focus is in three areas:
1. Multi media pedagogical learning supplement for Computer Aided Learning that is child centric, interactive, self paced and in local language.
2. Education management information system (EMIS) to build, access and use accurate data for superior education management.
3. Local content development by children to nurture creativity and learning using technology

3. Child Friendly School
This initiative is an experiment to demonstrate comprehensive and sustainable quality of education in all schools across identified geography. The initiative is in partnership with State Governments and UNICEF and will be implemented by the schools, communities, and Government functionaries facilitated by the Foundation team. The experiment aims at creating physically safe, hygienically clean and emotionally secure learning environment in identified schools.

4. Education Management
Partner with the Government in improving the education delivery system and building capacity across the Government organisation through structuring & training.

Contact Us

Azim Premji Foundation
Head – Advocacy and Communication
Azim Premji Foundation
134 Doddakannelli
Next to Wipro Corporate Office
Sarjapur Road
Bangalore – 560035
Phone : 80 – 55144900/01/02
Fax : 80 – 55144903

VARHAD – Vision
VARHAD prevent further criminalization of prisoners in the Criminal Justice System and work to make them constructive members in the society after their release. We also work with families of prisoners, specially the children to reduce their vulnerability to crime as victim or offender.

VARHAD – In Brief
Voluntary Action for Rehabilitation and Development (VARHAD) Amravati is a Non-Governmental Organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860. We are working for reformation and rehabilitation of prisoner and their families. VARHAD is presently based in Amravati Central Prison. In western vidharbha we are working across five district namely Amravati, Yeotmal, Akola, Buldhana and Washim with families of prisoner who are serving sentence in the Amravati Central Prison. We are also working in urban and rural communities in Amravati district for crime prevention.

VARHAD – Board
President : Mr.Ravindra Vaidya
Vice-President : Mr. Lalit Khandare
Secretary : Mr.Dhananand Nagdive
Joint-Secretary : Dr.(Ms) V.T.Tantarpade
Treasurer : Mr.Pravin Khandpasole
Exe. Member : Ms.Pushpa Rangari
Exe. Member : Mr.Ajay Sawai

VARHAD : Legal Status
Registered in :
Registered as : Non-Governmental Organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860
President : Mr.Ravindra Vaidya

Activities

Education

Social worker and trainers establish contact with under trial and convict prisoner, with view to provide social services and motivate them toward reformation and rehabilitation. The social workers interact with prisoner and collect information about the case and family status. We pay home visit to mobilize resources for welfare of the prisoner. Social worker does liaison work between the prisoner and his family & the other component of the Criminal Justice System. Emergency assistance is provided to the families of prisoner particularly to the children and women.

Balwadi (For children of prisoners in the prison)

Before our intervention there were 12 children (age around 6 months to 5 yrs) in female section. The psycho-social development of the children was totally jeopardized in the prison. The standard of living, behavoiur, and language were totally affected by the negative environment of the prison life. Their access & exposure was limited to the female section. The result of that, these children were even unable to differentiate between two different genders. Our constitution assures right to education, healthy & favourable environment for the growth & development as the basic right of every child. Contrary to this, from years after years these children were deprived of their basic right to education. Through Survey we observed that the basic right of education of children has been violated in the prison setting from ages.

Therefore In the year 2001, VARHAD started Balwadi in female section in Amravati Central Prison. Initially there were only 12 children; at present this is the 5th year of the Balwadi. We provide dresses and additional nutritional diet like biscuit and fruits to the children. We are providing them the quality education & preparing them to join mainstream education once they are out of the prison. The Balwadi has brought considerable changes among the children. Near about 107 children who complete the prescribed age limit in prison & whose mothers were released from the prison were benefited.

Education To Children of Prisoners

Varhad renders maximum services to the children of prisoners for education. We also focus on education of children of prisoners left outside. These children are from five districts in western Vidharbha whose parents are imprisoned. There are children whose either or both the parents are imprisoned. Also there are children whose one parent convicted for life and other parent is dead. These children stay with their relatives because of imprisonment of their parents. We found that in most of the cases education of children of prisoners suffers. They are forced by the guardian either to work or to neglect education for payable jobs. This can make them vulnerable to exploitation and to indulge in criminal behaviour.

First of all our Social Worker interacts with prisoners inside the prison then according to the request given, we pay home visit.

The second thing is the information about the socio- economic status of the family & resources allotted for the child from the family.

Our social workers analyze the situation & then decide whether child needs monetary support or the supervision of the elderly or both. In maximum cases we try to keep children in the family. Residential institute is the last option we access in the best interest of the child.

In this whole process social worker gives psycho-social support to the child as well as try to prepare the guardians to continue the education of the children at any cost.
If they are unable to bear the expenses for the child then with the due permission of the parents & guardians we adopt them for education and admit them in residential school.

We have sponsorship programme for education of children who live either with single parent or with relative.

We provide school uniform, stationary, material for their daily requirements. The most important thing is our social worker keep regular contact with the residential school where these children are admitted. For the balance growth & development of the individual, childhood needs care, protection, guidance & supervision of a caring adult.

Because of imprisonment their parents are unable to perform this responsibility. Our social worker plays that role in the growth & development of the child.

Our social worker keeps regular contact with the children as well as with the prisoner & their guardians. Their contact is maintained with imprisoned parents through regular visit to prison in open environment without any barricade. Our workers keep regular follow up with the children, prisoners, relatives, school and various government institutions.

Education of the children in difficult situation is the State’s responsibility & they are entitle for the assistance from the government for education. Therefore to avail the resources for the education & to strengthen the NGO – government relationship for this cause, we built up network with Women & Child Welfare Department & various other departments related to the children issues. With the joint partnership we have admitted 80 children in various residential school.

Literacy Class For The Women Prisoners

As per Prison Manual, there should be arrangement for the literacy class for the illiterate population. We had observed that majority of the women prisoners were illiterates. Imprisonment leads communication gap between women prisoners & family members.
They were depending on literate prisoners to communicate with their own families & the outside world. They were unable to understand their communication with court, advocates and sometimes pay heavy prize for that. Therefore the literacy class was started for the women prisoners. The Balwadi teacher also conducts literacy classes for the women prisoners. For the literacy classes, provision of slates, pencils, books, etc. have been provided by the VARHAD inside the prison. We have conducted 4th standard examination in collaboration with Amravati Municipal Corporation. All candidates whom attempted were passed. Now they are preparing for 7th standard examination from prison. Two totally illiterate women aged about 60-65 years have got well trained and have become capable of appearing for the 4th standard examination. The women prisoners have shown considerable improvement. The literacy class plays supportive role to the vocational training provided to them because some training requires minimum literacy level. This activity enables them to maintain communication with their family & to build their capacity to participate in various training.

Training Center For Women Prisoners

VARHAD is running training center for women prisoners in the female section of Amravati Central Prison. As per the Prison Manual there should be arrangement for the education & vocational training for inmates inside the prison. There are various trade and factories for convicted male prisoners. The women prisoners did not had any training facilities or factory in the prison. In comparison with male section, strength of female section is very less. It is difficult to invest resources to build separate factories for female prisoners. Usually they spend most of their time in discussion about negative experience they had in their life. This would lead them to various psychological disorders & negative attitude towards whole society. The ultimate objective of the imprisonment is reformation & development through constructive activities. Therefore we started a Vocational Training Center for the women prisoners in the prison. The training center provides long-term training like tailoring and various short-term training like Embroidery, Ceramic Painting, Mehandi Application, Bharatkam etc. The training keeps the prisoners engage in constructive activity while in the prison and the same training would help them after their release to earn at least a part of their livelihood. Imprisonment has stigma attached to it. For a release prisoner it is very difficult to earn his livelihood. After release from prison, prisoners face economically dependent & stigmatized life. Through training we are building their capacity to earn their livelihood as well as to lead a normal life in the society.

Legal Guidance And Legal Aid

One of the basic problems faced by Prison Administration is ‘Overcrowding’. Though it is said in one of the Supreme Court Judgment that bail is right of accused, still there is the constant increase in prison population. This constant increase in the number of prison population is leading towards various administration level problem as well as other social problems. In some of the cases prisoners are serving more time behind the bars than they should serve as their punishment. Most of the prison population is from lower social-economical strata. Their imprisonment disturbs the entire economy of the family. The prisoner is the sole earning members of the family. Therefore they cannot afford to engage competent advocates. There is a large section of the prison population whose cases are pending in courts and they are imprisoned waiting for trial. Many of them are booked for less serious or petty offences. VARHAD provides legal aid & guidance to under trial as well as convicted prisoners. When social worker receive request from the prisoner, first we pay home visit to access following information.

1. If the family is capable of engaging a lawyer or not.
2. Whether the family has engaged any lawyer & taking regular follow up
3. Whether family has already engaged a lawyer but incapable to keep a regular follow up with the lawyer

In above-mentioned cases VARHAD provides legal guidance and legal aid to prisoners. If the family is not capable to engage lawyer we guide them either to apply for government legal aid committee or we engage lawyer from our network. If the family has already engaged lawyer but incapable to keep follow up in such cases our social worker keep regular contact with lawyer & inform the family as well as the prisoner about the present status of the cases. The convicted prisoners are provided help for appeal in high court, application for bail, trial, parole and furlough petition. The social workers act as a liaison between the prisoners, his family and the lawyer. We provide legal guidance and legal aid to the prisoners through a network of advocates from lower courts, sessions court to High Courts. We identified lawyers who are ready to give legal aid to the needy and poor prisoners. We have formed a network of lawyers in lower court, session court and high court that took up the cases, which referred by us. They are paid minimum honorarium for the cases. Due to this activity we are able to access the present status of the cases right from lower court to High court. At least Reporting of present status of cases would give some relief to prisoners who are rotting behind the bars.

Parole & Furlough

Imprisonment means cutting down the person from his liberty, from his social bonding & separation from his family. Imprisonment is the period given for the reformation of his legally unacceptable behaviour. But in the reformative prison system we cannot deny the importance of the family bonding in the reformation process. After imprisonment the prisoners are going to be release in the society. Therefore their contact with the family & with the society needs to be maintained. So that he can finally rehabilitate in the society. Therefore convict prisoners are given the parole & furlough facilities just to test their behaviour in open environment & their adjustment with the society. Parole & Furlough enable the prisoners to obtain his release & to return to the outside world for a short prescribed period. These facilities enable inmate to maintain continuity with his family life & deal with family matter. It also saves them from the evil effect of the continuous prison life. It helps to maintain constructive hope & active interest in the life. As per prison manual, there is provision to release prisoners for specific period who are serving sentence inside the prison. The Deputy Inspector General of Prison & Revenue Commissioner is the sanctioning authorities to release prisoner on furlough & parole respectively. To release a prisoner on leave, surety is required. The sanctioning authority also considers a report from the police about the surety, chances of the prisoner absconding and probability to commit any offence.

There is lack of knowledge & misconception about the legal procedures required for the parole & furlough leave among the family members of the prisoners. We assist inmates & their family members to complete various procedures required to avail parole & furlough facilities. Social worker interacts with families of prisoners & sensitizes them to sand surety for parole & furlough. We also interact with revenue, police, and prison officials for speedy disposal of parole & furlough cases. Even social worker give counseling of concern prisoner before release form the prison, which reduces the chances of absconding after release on parole & furlough.

Many family members are not aware about the parole & furlough facilities available for the prisoner. Even in the case of death of his any family member, prisoner comes to know after some days. Therefore, we have adopted a strategy that whenever home visits are paid to relatives of prisoners for any reason then we make them aware of various facilities available to prisoners like furlough, parole, and death parole. This assists them in taking appropriate action in time in case of an emergency. There have been cases where prisoners were able to perform the last rites of their near and dear ones in time because of our timely intervention and support.

Savitribai Phule Rehabilitation Center

Imprisonment has stigma attached to it. For the release women prisoner it is very difficult to earn her livelihood & adjust herself in the society. After release from prison, prisoners face economically dependent & stigmatized life. In the year 2003 the Collector Mrs. Manisha Varma inaugurated rehabilitation Center. The objective behind starting this Center was to provide immediate temporary shelter for women released from prison. This also caters as emergency shelter for family of prisoners coming from far places for visit to prisoners in the prison. Provision for emergency lodging and boarding is made available to extremely deserving cases.

The center provides vocational training to released prisoners as well as the adjoining community women. The Center is situated in an area where the majority of domestic violence cases are registered. So along with the vocational training, awareness Programme are also conducted in the Center especially in regard to family laws, rights of women, procedures to be followed in regard to cases of domestic violence. The focus in this regard is more on approaching an NGO for counseling before lodging a complaint in the police station, or filing a case in the court. Thus, we have handled many cases, which are either referred or approached directly, through counseling and such women come to the Center for vocational training. This also helps the women released from prison to integrate themselves positively with the women coming from the community. Further developing confidence and molding the personality of the women, various Programme are organized like debates, dances, competitions of Rangoli, Drawing, Recipes, etc.

After Care Services

Our aftercare services are aimed towards reintegration of the prisoner into society and to prevent his future involvement in crime or anti-social activities. In this regard, our social workers do regular counseling of the prisoner and his family. Regular contact and follow-up with them is maintained through home-visits. Individual plans are finalized for both our male and female prisoners in regard to their future economical development.

The first strategy used is improvement of the skills already possessed by him. VARHAD helps to strengthen his earning capacity by legal means. If the client has had a regular job or work before his arrest then we try to reinstate him in his earlier job, for which our workers interact with the previous employer if any and counsel him for the same.

The youth group is interested in learning new skills. They have not had any fixed & legally accepted source of earning before their arrest. Some are referred for vocational training to other organizations or training institutes. There are also cases where the prisoner has learnt some vocational skill already earlier or while in prison. A few male prisoner have been sent for the driving course, and after some monetary help and guidance they have been able to acquire driving license for 4-wheelers. For clients aspiring to set up some business of their own on a small scale, help is extended through provision of hand-carts for selling vegetables, fruits or setting up of a stall for the same. Some prisoners have been given a stipend so as to help them initially gain some experience in managing or handling of such small-scale business and later assisted in setting up the same. Our aftercare services have benefited many released prisoners in gaining a source of income and restoring stability in their lives.

There are prisoners coming from other States in search of employment, and are arrested for petty offences or as preventive action. They do not have any relatives or local contacts in Amravati. After there release, there are high chances of re-arrest since they don’t have any financial resources. Thus, we intervene in such cases and make arrangements to send back these clients to their respective States. Temporary shelter is provided until arrangements are made for their travel back home.

After care services provided by us function as crime prevention activity at one level. It reduces the chances of prisoner being victim & again adopts the anti social activities for his survival in the society.

Family support & Family Contact of Prisoners maintained by VARHAD

The objective of the imprisonment is to cut down the liberty of the person & give him the time to reform himself. Any change or reform needs support & appreciation from his beloved persons. But because of poverty, lack of knowledge about procedures or because of stigma this imprisoned population has totally cut down form their families, relatives, & in general rest of the society.

As part of our activity we pay home visits to families of prisoners. During our home visits we have observed that there are prisoners whose relatives do not come to visit them in prison. In Amravati prison, prisoners are kept from five districts from the region. Because of poverty and illiteracy family members do not pay visits to the prisoners. We have even found that there is cases where the family did not paid a single visit to the prisoners once he or she is transferred to the central prison. We also observed that in some cases family do not maintain any contact with prisoners even through letters. There are other reason also like fear of police, disputes within family, and misunderstanding about the prisoners.

Therefore we also work to improve relationship of the prisoner in the family and improve family contacts with the prisoners. After home visits of our workers family contact of many prisoners has been established, which was not there after their conviction. They also come up to give surety for parole and furlough after our home visits and counseling
As earlier mentioned, poverty and the distance involved is one of the main reasons for poor family contact with prisoners. The workers sensitize the family during home visits and through letters. Therefore we started giving financial support to the families of poor and needy prisoners to visits the prison to visit prisoners. Whenever worker pays visits to family and feel that there is need to give financial assistance for visit then he give the support. And also guide the family about traveling and procedure for interview. We pay rupees 50 to 250 per person for a visit depending upon the distance involve. Longest distance from Amravati to their family is 350 kilometer. This practice has improved family contacts of many prisoners. The practice helped to improve emotional attachment of the prisoners with the family member & positive attitude towards the society.

Educational, recreational, & cultural services to prisoners

VARHAD is also working for promoting healthy and positive environment in the prison. We undertake some activities to achieve this objective. In the year 2003, about 10 of the male convicts had appeared for the examination conducted by the Akhil Bhartiya Gandharva Mahavidyapeeth, Sangli for singing and playing of tabla and harmonium. This examination was conducted inside the prison premises only. One examiner was present for the examination, which consisted a written exam of three hours and a practical exam of three hours. To help the convicts in their preparation for this examination, we appointed a music teacher who would visit the prison twice a week to train them. Nine of the convicts were able to pass through the examination except for one. Now in 2005, another 15 convicts have filled in their applications for the same examination.
Besides, another three of the convicts are preparing themselves to appear for graduate and post-graduate level examinations. One is appearing for M.A. (Marathi Literature), another for 2nd year B.A., and the third convict for 2nd year B.Sc. These convicts have been provided with the respective study material. Their forms have been filled up and directly sent to the University.

We conduct other cultural activities as per the various days of celebration such Labor’s Day, World Women’s Day, etc. The prisoners are motivated to participate in the program giving them an opportunity to display their individual talent. They are provided with all the necessary clothes, music equipment, etc. for the presentation of the same. Sports activities and competitions are also conducted for the recreation of the prisoner.

Assistance to avail Government schemes

Most of the prison population is from socially & economically disadvanted group. Some of them are behind the bars just because of their vulnerable situation. Upliftment of the socially & economically disadvanted group is the responsibility of the state. The state government has various welfare schemes, specifically prisoners comes under schemes like “Indira Gandhi Niradhar Mahila Anudan Yojana”, “Indira Awas Yojana”, “Shravanbal Seva Yojana” for the development & rehabilitation. State has some sanction resources for this disadvanted group. VARHAD is providing assistance to the prisoner to avail this government schemes for their rehabilitation. We are sensitizing the prisoners as well as the family members to avail the schemes for which they are entitling to. Our social Worker sensitizes family members about the purpose of the Scheme, age group, beneficiaries, process, benefits of the schemes, related information, documents required & the contact person for respective scheme. The family members of the prisoners are illiterate & not aware about the various government schemes they are entitle for or even if they are aware, they do not have knowledge about the contact person for that particular scheme or whom to approach, the pattern to write application. We are playing the mediators or facilitator role in this activity. Government departments are the service giving authority & the families of the prisoner are the beneficiaries. We are linking the beneficiaries to the service giving authorities. We are trying not only to mobilize private resources but also the government resources, which are available for this deprived group. With the active participation of the beneficiaries & supportive role of government we are trying to render maximum services to this socially, economically & psychologically deprived group.

Medical facilities

We provide medical facilities to the children of prisoners or the family member of the prisoner. Specifically we gave assistance to avail medical facilities to the children of prisoners admitted to the residential school. Due the imprisonment of their parents these children, socially, psychologically, physically get exposed to various ill practices regarding hygiene & sanitation, which may lead to the health related problems. The children admitted to residential school are far away from the family. With the help of the respective residential school we tried to give better medical facilities to these children. Even in the health issues we try to give medical facilities in the best interest of the child.

Work with Police

Aftercare services to the release prisoner demonstrate need of fulltime work with or in police station. Previous criminal record is one of the main obstacles in reformation of release prisoner. Social workers counsel prisoner since his first interaction in prison. We engage financial and other resources for release and aftercare services. Sudden action from police only based on his previous criminal record washed out all our efforts. Therefore we interact with concern police for reformation & rehabilitation of release prisoners. It is strongly required in the cases of habitual offenders & history sheeters. Police Department has prejudice about the reformation & rehabilitation of the persons punished for offences like theft or robbery.

Some individual officers are found to be more cooperative, & open for the reformation on case-by-case basis. De-addiction from alcohol, restriction on bad company, & legal means of income generation are the remedies we have observed while working with habitual offenders. There are cases, which are recognized by police as reformed individuals.

There is need of detailed work with police on issue related to release prisoners, particularly habitual offenders. In future we will strengthen our work with release prisoners in regards to police. One reason for our considerable less interaction with police could be less numbers of habitual offenders in our aftercare program.

Work for Prisoners under Chapter Cases

A large number of under-trials are arrested under chapter cases. They are booked under various sections of Criminal Procedure Code as preventive action. Some are arrested under sections of the Bombay Police Act on the grounds of law and order. Some of them are arrested because of their previous criminal background. And some are first timers who are arrested loitering around at night or found at the bus stands, railway station etc. The second group is not involved in any criminal activity, but has been arrested due to addiction to alcohol or bad company. Many are arrested due to disputes in the family. These are mostly young boys aged between 21-25 years who have a disturbed family background due to which they get into bad company through their long hours of absence from home. These are boys addicted to alcohol or drugs and are habitual of constantly being arrested under the same sections. This is similar with the group of youth aged 25-35 years who have been arrested under ‘chapter cases’ for domestic violence or other family disturbance cases.

Social workers do regular counseling of the prisoners during their stay in the prison. Home-visits are made to find out details about the case and opinion of people about the prisoner. If there is any chance of reformation then the workers mobilize resources through the family for his release. There are cases who are seem to be innocent and to prevent further criminalization of such first-time offenders while in prison, we try to get him out as early as possible. After paying visits the workers interact with the Special Executive Magistrate (ACP) or Executive Magistrate and presents the case and requests before the concerned court for release of the prisoner on personal bond. Power of the court is vested with Assistant Commissioner of Police in jurisdiction of the Police Commissionerate. The same power is vested with Executive Magistrate (Tehsildar) at the taluka of the rural division. We also provide aftercare services to the released undertrials in terms of counseling, training and guidance. This activity provides them the opportunity to reform themselves & reintegrate in the society.

Volunteer

Contact Us

VARHAD
Voluntary Action For Rehabilitation And Development
Teachers Colony, Ram Nagar,
Post Rukhmini Nagar
Amravati – 444 606
Maharashtra
Phone : 0721-2567851
Fax No. 0721-3293069

UHRC – Vision
Our goal is to bring about sustainable improvement in maternal and child health among the urban poor through a consultative and knowledge sharing approach in partnership with the government and civil society.

UHRC – Mission
Develop innovative urban health programs in cities of different states which can be adapted by the government and non-government agencies.
Improve urban health programming approaches and capacity of government and non-government partners.
Increase availability of urban poor specific health information and program experiences among various stakeholders through research, documentation and dissemination.
Advocate enhanced attention on health, targeted policies and increased allocation of resources for urban slum dwellers.
Advocating effective involvement of slum communities and building their capacity for effective health care delivery.

Agra
One of the key components of UHRC (formerly EHP) activities is to develop city-based programs that bring about sustained improvements in the health of urban poor children in selected cities of India. Agra has been identified for supporting the development and implementation of demonstration activities. In 2004, UHRC was designated by the Government of India as the coordinating agency for developing a sample health proposal for Agra.
Read More

Indore
Indore is the largest city of Madhya Pradesh in terms of population and also the economic capital of the State. The decadal population growth (1991 -2001) was 47% with a burgeoning slum population. UHRC (formerly EHP India) started urban health program activities in 75 slums of Indore through five Non Government Organizations-Community Based Organizations (NGO-CBO) consortia, in April 2003.
Read More

Meerut
Urban health Resource Center (UHRC), formerly known as the Environmental Health Project (EHP) has recently entered into a partnership with John Hopkins School of Public Health (JHU), Baltimore, USA, to develop and test a sustainable, cost-effective and replicable health delivery approaches for the urban slums of Meerut city, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Read More

New Report- Nov 22, 07
State of Urban Health in Delhi
About the Report
This report is an attempt to bridge the information gap on health of the urban poor in Delhi. The Urban Health Resource Centre has been designated as the nodal technical agency for urban health program by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. Based on request of the MoHFW to develop reports reflecting health scenario of urban poor in select Indian states, UHRC analysed the National Family Health Survey (NFHS- 2) data to arrive at health estimates of the urban poor and additionally undertook analyses of policies and programs aimed at improving health of urban poor in the state. This report is part of a series of state Urban Health Reports for better informing the urban health programming efforts in the respective states.

Download

http://www.uhrc.in/name-CmodsDownload-index-req-viewsingledownload-lid-63.html

New Report- Nov 22, 07
Maternal and Newborn Care Practices Among the Urban Poor in Indore, India
Description:
This report describes maternal-newborn care practices and care of infants aged 2-4 months (feeding practices, morbidity status, immunization status and nutritional status) in urban slum dwellings of Indore city, Madya Pradesh (India). The findings presented in this report are from a study carried out by UHRC between Dec’04-Feb’06 in 11 out of 79 slums where it’s Indore Urban Health Program is operational since April, 2003. Also discussed in this report, are reasons for following these practices, what facilitates and what hinders following optimal practices and potential program options for their improvement.

http://www.uhrc.in/name-CmodsDownload-index-req-viewsingledownload-lid-62.html

UHRC – Team
Read More

UHRC partners include:
United States Agency for International Development
World Learning

About UHRC

Knowledge Management
Articles
Reports
Presentation
Library

Technical Assistance
Government of India
Government of Delhi
Government of Uttar Pradesh

Contact Us
New Delhi
Urban Health Resource Centre
F-9/4, Poorvi Marg
Vasant Vihar
New Delhi-57
Phone: +91-11-41010920, 26149771/81
Fax: +91-11-41669281
Email: info@uhrc.in

Agra
Urban Health Resource Centre – Agra
73-B, Surya Nagar (1st floor)
Civil Lines, Khandari Road
Agra – 282 002
Phone: +91-562-3954921
Fax : +91-562-2522038
Contact Person: Dr. Rajesh Dubey
Email: agra@uhrc.in

Indore
Urban Health Resource Centre-Indore
204, Maurya Palace
5/1, Diamond Colony
Indore-452 001
Phone: +91-731-4066563
Fax: +91-731-4066825
Contact Person: Mr. Prabhat Kumar Jha.
Email: indore@uhrc.in

Meerut
Urban Health Resource Centre-Meerut
F-124, Shastri Nagar,
Meerut-250 002
Contact Person: Dr. Sainath Banerjee
Email: meerut@uhrc.in

The Society has mobilized resources from the Indian public since 1996 in a unique attempt at partnering with the common people for bringing about social change and development. Over the last nine years, our partner base has expanded to over 7,000 individuals who have supported us in our mission towards an equitable and just society free from hunger, exploitation and poverty.

Donation Options
Education
Promoting community self-responsibility and citizenship through social and civic education, organization, and action

Fellowship programme
to build leadership skills of individual from the poor community  committed to social justice for all

Support and effective management of community based programmes
to ensure accountability and deliverables for the beneficiaries’ intervention include construction of rain water harvesting structures, rejuvenation of traditional water bodies; capacity building of self help groups;

Action Research
Improved farming practices and market solution; Research studies on causes of soil and environment damage in India. Action research farm laboratory to learn and practice in situ.

Communication – Publications and dissemination
documenting experiential learning, research findings and case studies;

Seminars and workshops
to provide forum to discuss approaches to and unresolved issues arising from practice and research on social, economic and environmental justice and understand the viable local alternative and solutions.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history-
- M.K. Gandhi
Take a moment to feel…..
for the mother who sees their children go hungry day after day..
for women who walk miles to get a pot of water..
for the young ones who work for a living instead of enjoying childhood..
for those who are stricken  with illnesses that can be cured if only they had the means
for the farmer whose despair drives them to suicide..

Yes, it touches our heart and makes us grateful for what we have. And we want to do something to make a difference to those less fortunate.  Now you can.

What you do matters. If every one of us decides to do a little bit, you would be surprised at the difference we can make to thousands of lives.

Svaraj is working with countless communities to ensure food and livelihood security for all and challenges the causes of poverty in India.  The basis for our hope and optimism is the continued and regular support from individuals like you.

We need your support. Open your heart and just give. That is all it takes to put a smile in some one’s face.

DONATION BOXES

SVARAJ believes that engaging the public in its fundraising efforts not only increases the fund base and therefore the work base, it also engages attention and creates awareness about issues that may need public support.

SVARAJ donation boxes are placed in prominent places around the cities through which funds are collected. Nearly 100 donation boxes have been placed across Bangalore (Commercial Street, White Field, Dispensary Road, MG Road, etc.), Chennai (Nungambakkam, T. Nagar, Mount Road, Adyar, Vadapalani, Anna Nagar, etc.) and Delhi (Rajouri Garden, Connaught Place, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Janak Puri District Centre, Noida, Karol Bagh and Okhla). We have had the cooperation of many corporates and entrepreneurs in this endeavour.

APPEALS

We are fortunate to have a broad based support. We are grateful to all our donors including the Swedish International Development Agency, large and small corporates – WIPRO, IBM and HP, IFF, General Mills, individuals from India as well as abroad, who continue to extend their support to us in our mission towards an equitable and just society free from hunger, exploitation and poverty.

The Public Campaign Unit continues its efforts to sensitise the public to support the process of sustainable development through initiatives such as :
- Fundraising Events
- Old Newspaper Campaigns
- Donation Boxes

In the year 2005, three appeals were mailed to existing donors (10,000 members):

SVARAJ – The People of Coastal India need your Help.

The Light of Darkness can Wipe out the Darkness of Devastation.

Four Years Later People Still Feel the Pain.

The response was good and helped raise Rs.37 lakh with a pledge of another 54 lakh.

Appeals during 2006

SVARAJ Appeal – July 2006 Rejuvination of River Arkavathi – October 2006

Appeals during 2007

Rotary-Scope Wheel chair Olympics-2007 – A little from you will go along way!

Every Drop Counts – Help us protect our precious resource – Water

You can a make a donation by sending us a cheque favoring Oxfam India (until the name change to SVARAJ) and post it to us at the address given below.

You can also fill the printable form and email it to us at svaraj.blr@svaraj.in

SVARAJ
95/2, 6th Main Road,  15th Cross
Malleswaram, Bangalore 560 003, India
Ph : +91-80-23347491, 41281664 / 665,  Fax: 23347504
Email:   svaraj.blr@svaraj.in
Website: http://www.svaraj.in/
Read More

Volunteering Options

* Administration
* PR/ Branding
* Resource Mobilization
* Research Support
* Programme Support
* Event Management Support
* Expertise in all the above fields

Want to be a Volunteer ?

Looking for a Volunteer ?

SVARAJ aims to revive the spirit of voluntarism among people, by providing challenging volunteer opportunities where people can contribute their time, energy and talent to causes they feel strongly about. We provide opportunities for volunteers and interns from diverse professions and institutions from India as well as across the globe – (Sweden, UK, Canada and interns from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Delhi School of Social Science, Commits, Action Aid) to actively participate in our programmes, gaining valuable hands-on experience among the communities and enhancing their knowledge on development-related issues. Volunteers and interns bring great economic, social and diverse cultural values to the organisation and communities they interact with.

Programmes / Interventions

1. Integrated water resource management and right to water
To demonstrate integrated water management in micro water sheds in sub basins contributing to the evolution of appropriate action, legal and policy framework ensuring  improvement and equity in access and availability to safe water for drinking and livelihood.  Interventions include:

Water Budgeting

Watershed management and ground water recharge

Participatory rejuvenation of water bodies, tanks and channels

Rain water harvesting

Water literacy

Assessment of water quality in coastal area

Appraisal of Wetland ecosystems

2. Strengthening food security and securing livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable groups
To ensure equitable access to and distribution of natural resources for food security to women and men of poor and  tribal community in the sub basins by restoring rights, ownership and management of water and land use and agriculture practices to communities.  To include

Capacity Building of Community Based Organizations including self help groups

Support and promote sustainable and natural farming practices enhancing the capacity to produce for family needs and sale

Soil and water conservation through ploy-cropping, mulching and use of vermi- compost

3. Environment Protection-
To promote Multi stakeholder dialogue forums for environmental protection, raising awareness on the causes of environmental degradation and to seek collaboration with community; public and private sectors in actions to eradicate discharge of hazardous industrial and agricultural effluent as well as raw sewage from entering our water bodies; and to seek appropriate technology to treat waste. To include:

Communities’ active participation in Environment Impact Assessment initiatives

Communities’ participation in health impact on women and children living in polluted environment

People’s vigilance against the polluters

4. Disaster response
To enhance people’s coping capacity through the focus on individual development and collective understanding of the long term impact on poor communities subjected to natural and manmade disasters.

SVARAJ’s  intervention following the  Gujarat earth quake includes a rehabilitation centre paraplegics and for people with other disability -  Nav Jeevan Kendra which provides Physiotherapy care; Information centre to raise awareness  on government rehabilitation and welfare  programmes as well as building capacity to increase their opportunities to secure livelihoods.

Svaraj programme in the Tsunami effected communities included setting up village information centers; Training women in IT; Facilitating SHG activities and Providing psycho social support

Gujarat violence ; a study on the Socio-economic situation of people living in relief colonies who were internally displaced by the mass violence

Year of Establishment : 1978

Registered in :
Societies Act XXI of 1860, No. S/9644 in 1978 and  under Foreign contribution Act of 1976 with the registration No. 231660203

Registered as : Oxfam India Society

Founders
A group of passionate social change agents including Sri. Kishore Saint,
Dr. Parusuram, Sri. Rama Murthy, Sri. T. Pradeep and Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan

Present Leader
Bharati Patel

Tax Exemptions
80G of the Income Tax Act

FCRA : No.231660203

Svaraj – Vision
A just society in a  just environment

Svaraj – Mission
To enable communities to take control of their destiny in the spirit of voluntarism, to organise and mobilize for collective action in the revitalization, protection and equitable distribution of natural resources.

About us

SVARAJ- Society for Voluntary Action Revitalization and Justice (changing its name from Oxfam India) is a registered, national, voluntary organization set up in 1978 with the aim of fighting poverty and working towards a just society.  Svaraj is secular organization with a distinct Indian identity and a global vision. Working in partnership with community based organizations across India on action research, interventions and implementation to bring about long term benefits to the poor and vulnerable communities.

How we work

* Mobilizing and Promoting collaborative action on protection,  equitable and sustainable sharing of natural resources
* Supporting effective management of community based programmes
* Experiential learning, bridging technology, science and indigenous knowledge and advocating for systemic changes
* Promoting community self-responsibility and citizenship through social and civic education, organization, and action
* Ensuring transparency and accountability to funders

Annual Budget
Over 100 Lakhs

Svaraj – Beliefs

* Institutional and normative conditions for the realization of economic, political, social and cultural development is to be realized through decentralized planning and implementation embedded in local governing structure.
* The institutional conditions are to be shaped by the principles of self-determination and permanent sovereignty over natural resources and local development
* The normative conditions are to be shaped by the respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms
* Our work in the protection of the environment is a key condition for sustainable development strategy ensuring the wellbeing of people in the basins. The basins are currently facing a range of environmental problems some of which are trans-boundary in nature including such problems as water pollution, waste, (including dangerous and highly toxic), land degradation and desertification and fragile ecosystems.

Svaraj – Board

Ms. Vasanthi Srinivasan
Professor, IIMB – President

Mr. Rajendra Singh
Social Activist, India – Vice President

Ms. Bharti Patel
Director ,SVARAJ-Secretary

Mr. D. K. Mishra
Social Activist, India- Treasurer

Dr. S. Parasuraman
Director, TISS, Mumbai

Mr. Chand Kishore Saint
Social Activist, India – Member

Prof. Hasan Mansur
Social Activist, India – Member

Mr. N. Ramamurthy
Social Activist ,UK – Member

Mr. Amir Bhatia
Business Leader, UK– Member

Future Plans

Bring in scientific, social, economic and political integrated solution to protection of environment

Facilitate and support and strengthening South India people’s movement for water and development

Encourage multi -sectoral /multi-stakeholder dialogues to address water conflicts

Mobilize resources for supporting and effective management of community initiatives

Mobilize volunteers for social justice

Advocate for state and national level policy on community centric and environment sustainable development programmes

Svaraj
About Svaraj
Careers
Press Releases
Archieves
Case Studies

Partnership
Programmes
- Karnataka
- Andhra Pradesh
- Tamilnadu
- Kerala
- Rajasthan
- Uttar Pradesh
- Gujrat

Networks

Newsroom
Svaraj in News
Press & Media
Letters to Press
The View

Contact Us
Svaraj : Society for Voluntary Action Revitalisation and Justice
Svaraj
No.95/2, 6th Main
15th Cross
Malleshwaram
Bangalore 560 003
Karnataka
Phone : 080 2334 7491 / 4128 1664 / 665
Fax: 080 – 2334 7504

ORGANISATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Locating the developmental anomaly in structural causes such as control/ownership of and access to resources; economic, political and social structures; ideological factors (habits, beliefs, cultural preferences); and insufficient awareness and knowledge; SSVK stands committed to the effective empowerment of the marginalised people. It lays a strategic focus on the element of local action, treating it as an essential part of the development process involving changes, most important of which is, in the attitude and action of the marginalised who become participants in the process itself. Rural development is viewed as a complex process involving continuous reorientation and adaptation of traditional values , practices and institutions in order to facilitate appropriate interventions/technologies to enhance quality of life and welfare, and the consequent bargaining /negotiating powers, of the disenfranchised and the disempowered.

VISION

The organisation envisions the establishment of an egalitarian society devoid of any kind of discrimination and exploitation based on caste, class, gender, race or religion: a society that would permit the collective flowering of human potential for humane ends.

MISSION

The organisation’s mission is to work for the effective empowerment of the socially, economically and politically marginalised people through their conscientisation, mobilisation and organisation around issues impinging on their development to ensure their equitable participation in the societal mainstream.

STRATEGY

The methodology adopted by the organisation for the attainment of its goal is one of a harmonious blend of the twin approaches of activism/struggle and development. The way to effective empowerment is one hinging on and oriented towards evolving autonomous community based organisations endowed with capabilities required for the actualisation of a spirit of self-determination and self-reliance. Further community based organisations have strategic networking relationships in all the target areas under the banner of Lok Shakti Sangathan, a frontal organisation with an avowed aim to facilitate issue based interventions from time to time. Strategies deployed for mobilisation involve intensive animation inputs at the village level, periodic larger meets on entitlements related issues and mass contact programmes through `Padyatras”. Protest strategies involve petitioning, demonstrations, sit ins and legal redressal.

OBJECTIVES

Within its developmental perspective, the organisation is committed to the following objectives:

1. Facilitate the social and economic development of the deprived sections in rural areas with special emphasis on the dalits, the scheduled tribes, women, minorities and the depressed backward classes
2. Create amidst them an awareness of their physical, social, economic, legal and political environment to induce an attitude of meaningful and constructive action on their part
3. Enable the empowerment of its target population through organizing them as self-defining groups with a strong sense of self-identity and with capacities to act as a pressure group.
4. Promote gender equity
5. Fostering conditions for enhanced access of target group to services and entitlements from the governments
6. Utilise all the project based interventions as an opportunity for affecting policy level choices at the government level
7. Network with all like minded groups committed to the cause of empowerment of the poor through people’s action
8. To ensure human rights of its target group
9. To promote pro-poor governance.
10. To strengthen the disaster coping mechanisms of the targeted communities

PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES

Dr. P. N. Labh conducting training for health volunteers at SSVK training centre, Jhanjharpur

Beneficiaries of Navhatta (Saharsa) carrying their goats provided by SSVK under income generation programme

Beneficiaries of Navhatta (Saharsa) with their goats provided by SSVK under IGP

Health worker of SSVK at village health camp

1. The programmes and activities being run in the intervention villages include:

2. Health Education and promotion of primary health care with an emphasis on reproductive and child health, Water, Sanitation and hygiene.

3. Non Formal Education and Adult Education with a focus on socially relevant education and an equal opportunity of participation for the girl child.

4. Income Generation with emphasis on facilitating control over and access to land and water based productive resources, ensuring just wages, enabling access to the governmental employment generation programmes. Additionally promote complementary income generating initiatives through thrift and credit initiatives

5. Legal Assistance and Education

6. Environmental Awareness and mobilisation on the ecologically sensitive issues of the project area

7. Capacity Building of Organisational Staff

8. Training of social animators and community level leaders

9. Training in Panchayti Raj

10. Rehabilitation of child labour

11. Consciousness raising on relief and rehabilitation related issues coupled with carrying out relief and rehabilitative interventions and running pilots on disaster preparedness.

12. Publication of newsletter and information dissemination through thematic publications on issues of relevance to the development of the marginalized

13. Community Organisation is the key activity in the organisation’s scheme of development. Apart from being the organising and integrating basis of the externally aided concrete constructive interventions in project based villages, the social mobilisation initiatives have extended their outreach to 1399 other villages intensively spread out over Madhubani, Saharsa, Supaul and Darbhanga. All villages have an active community organisation, their functionality highlighted by the existence of a vibrant Gram Kosh (internally generated financial resource pool through community contribution) into which contributions are regularly made. Mobilisational initiative has been launched to extend coverage to 310 villages spread over 14 other districts of Bihar.

Winner of Bal Mela organized by SSVK in Navhatta (Saharsa)

Children performing group song in Bal Mela

Procession organized by SSVK demanding work for every hands

A women collecting water from hand pump drilled by SSVK in Lalapatti village of Darbhanga.
1) Handpump platform and drain constructed by SSVK to install in flood
affected areas of Darbhanga district

HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS

Water, sanitation and hygiene
Read More

Other Links
- Our Team
- Target Group
- R T I Campaign
- Our Publications

Contact us

Samajik Shaikshanik Vikas Kendra (SSVK)
Head Office:
J.P. Gram, Balbhadrapur,
Jhanjharpur (R.S.),District – Madhubani
BIHAR, PIN – 847403 INDIA
Telephone No. + 91 – 6273 – 222242
Mobile: + 91 – 99731 61483

State Co-ordination cum Correspondence Office:

Lok Shakti Bhawan,
Opp:Ajay Nilayan Apartment,
Nageshwar Colony, Boring Road
Patna – 800001
Tele / FAX No. + 91 – 612 – 2522077
Mobile: + 91 – 94310 25801
E-mail : info @ ssvk.org
ssvkindia @ gmail.com
ngossvky86 @ yahoo.com
deepakbharti @ ssvk.org

Website : http://www.ssvk.org

Registration No : 291/85
Registered in: 9th May 1985
Registered under: Indian Trust Act of 1882
Founder: Dr. N. Sethuraman
Present Leader: Dr. N. Sethuraman, Founder President
Tax Exemptions: 80G
FCRA No: 0 7 5 9 4 0 2 3 8
Vision

No man is too poor to afford first grade medical treatment
Mission

Worldclass treatment within everybody’s reach
Values     Care, Compassion, Commitment, Charity, Empathy, Quality Service
Management Board     Dr. N. Sethuraman – Founder President
Dr. Mrs. Rajam Sethuraman – Executive Director
Dr. S.Gurushankar – Vice Chairman Arch.
Ramesh Sethuraman – Vice President
Dr. V.N. Rajasekaran – Medical Director

Trustees
Mr. S. Parthasarathy
Mr. S. Manavalan
Mrs. N. Chinnammal
Mr. P. Dhandapani
Mr. A. Shanmugasundaram
Mr. S. Regunathan
Focus     Health
Credibility

Our hospital has been awarded for its “social responsibility initiative of the year 2007” from GE Modern Medical Award.

Meritorious Awards
Programmes

Quality Service Department     ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems
The guiding principles of ISO carries the department through its activities with the laid down quality policy. Customer satisfaction and continual improvement are given priority with ISO 9001:2000 set objectives. 115 departments are being audited once in 4 months.
Promotional Initiatives      Medical Tourism : Special innovative scheme has been through which PACKAGE SYSTEM has been launched which includes the Treatment, Medicine and sight seeing charges. The Food,Accommodation and travel are taken care by the hospital and the increasing response from the patients end encourages the Hospital to expand the programme widely.

Disaster Relief Services : Our Tsunami Relief Team has been continuously conducting Free Mobile Health Camps at various spots along the Coast of Tamil Nadu to relieve the victims from the dirty clutches of serious infections and other diseases. The team has done wonderful job at Kumbakonam School Fire Accident. First aid Camps are regularly conducted during festival times like Sabarimalai Festival, Alagar Festival, Palani Festival etc.

Health Centres-Sub Centres at Remote Areas
Five Peripheral Health Centres are maintained by MMHRC in collaboration with the village improvement committee, instituted with the help of social and health workers. Community health services are offered by these centers and the village people are highly benefited.

Government Programmes and Camps
MMHRC is fully conscious and committed to support and carryout Government Programmes like Blindness Control Society, Family planning, HIV / AIDS Control, Polio Eradication and women’s development. Many Rural Health Services are organized through Women’s SHGs. Cataract Operations & Family Planning surgeries are done Free of Cost. MMHRC is the only Hospital which treats the full-blown AIDS patients totally Free of Cost in a Special Mother Teresa Ward.

Referral Doctors Division
The people living in Interior Rural areas are deprived of modern medical facilities. We have a team of 15 executives, periodically meet the doctors and highlight the facilities, infrastructure and the latest equipment available with us, so that they can refer the cases anytime to MMHRC.

Continuing Medical Education (CME)
In order to update the knowledge CME programmes are regularly conducted in every districts of Tamil Nadu with the mission of honouring the doctors for their innumerable services to the patients. Through CME programmes 10,000 patients are referred to our hospital every year.

Special Concession & Camp Division
On an average, 30 camps are conducted at distant places where the public can directly consult the doctors. Free consultation and medicines are given, About 40,000 patients are benefited annually, and when the patient comes to the hospital referred in a camp, they are eligible for 10 percent discount on the value of the bill.

Corporate Division
Many corporates have Employees Health Scheme and tied up with our hospital for the treatment of employees. On getting the referral from these corporates, the patients will be admitted and cashless treatment will be given on discharge and the bills will be forwarded to the respective corporates for payments. About 60 companies are in corporate tie ups with MMHRC and since highly satisfactory services are provided. 8000 corporate patients are benefited every year.

Indian Airlines, Ramalinga Mills, Tamil Nadu Cement Corporation are the new corporates with us. BNSL is yet another major Corporate for us where, more than 3000 patients have been benefited.

Ex Service Men Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS)
MMHRC is the only approved hospital for treating Ex-Servicemen under this scheme in Southern Tamil Nadu and 2000 Ex-Servicemen have been benefited by this scheme.

Insurance Division
The Awareness about Health Insurance has increased among the public and the people in Towns and Cities avail Mediclaim Policies. When the patient gets admitted they have to make the payment to the Hospital and get the money reimbursed from the Insurance Companies and cashless treatment are done by us with the Insurance Companies for payment, which relieves the patient from great mental agony. About 800 Inpatients were treated every year.

Media Activities
Press meets are conducted at regular intervals and our Consultants brief the rare procedures and surgeries performed with latest techniques using modern state of the art equipment. They answer all the Doubts and quires rose on behalf of the public and clarify. About 2 informative news are published in the Daily newspapers every week. We also telecast live doctors interviews wherein; the public can get their doubts clarified over telephones. Advertisement on Special Camps and Special Concessions on specific treatment and investigations are released in Daily News Papers and Televisions, write-ups on seasonal diseases and rare epidemics are published.

Public Programmes
We make the public to gather in an auditorium or any common place and our Doctors will explain them how to prevent specific diseases and how to live happily with diseases. The public shows great interest in these programmes and thousands of public have been benefited. These Awareness programme are conducted at Schools and Colleges on Socio Medical issues like AIDS CONTROL.

North East & Andaman Marketing
Thousands of people from Calcutta and surrounding areas come to Tamil Nadu for the treatment of Major illnesses like Heart Diseases, Kidney problems and Neuro disorders and Ortho disabilities. We also conduct speciality camps at various locations in Calcutta at regular intervals. Speciality camps are being conducted at Andaman & Nicobar Islands and we maintain an Information Centre at Port Blair. Treatment for State & Central Government Employees
Government Health Fund Scheme under which an elaborate list of diseases of various specialities is mentioned covers both State & Central Government Employees. MMHRC is recognized for the treatment of these patients and many people have been benefited out of the schemes.
Accident & Emergency Department

The Accident & Emergency Department at MMHRC is a tertiary referral center and level 1 trauma center, which provides extensive and comprehensive emergency care to the sick and injured. Our Accident & Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and treats approximately 30 to 35 patients per day for a variety of medical & surgical conditions.
Read More
Mother Teresa Special Ward      The service to HIV/AIDS, a most devastating disease in the world, started in the year 1998. With the assistance of Tamilnadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), guided under the eminent leaders Dr.V.N.Rajasekaran and Dr.S.Senthil Prabahar, provides excellent services to People Living With HIV/AIDS. Comprehensive service for PLWHAs involves medical care, counseling, home care, nutritional training, hotline service, networking, recreation facilities, medication, referral services and integration with other NGOs. Read More
Regional – Smile Train Center     The Congenital Lip and Palate anomaly has a very important place in Health care due to Epidemiology, Etiology, Surgery, Orthodontic, Speech Pathology and Prosthetic Rehabilitation. These children are handicapped right from birth for breast feeding, deglutition, recurrent naso-bronchial infection, defective speech, deafness, improper growth and development of maxillary arch and face, affecting the total personality of the individual. Read More
Health Care Packages       Our present day life style makes it mandatory for everyone to undergo complete health checkup at least once in a year. The people are also more Health conscious today and the increasing stress and strain demand every person in Urban areas to undergo Health checkup. Infact it is surprising information to note that, in Western Countries, more than 50% of patients inflow to a hospital is for Preventive Health Check up rather than for the treatment.In response to every persons need for comprehensive health care, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC), offers different kinds of Preventive Health Checkup packages. Read More
Training     Indiana University U.S. certification course in “Principles and Techniques of fundraising” at Madurai.
For more details Click here
Address

Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre
Lake Area, melur Road, Madurai,
Tamil Nadu, India – 625 107.
Phone: 91-452-2588741(10 Lines). 91-452-4263000
Fax: 91-452-2586353
Website   http://www.meenakshimission.org

Unified Response Strategy (URS)
An inter-agency effort aiming to provide a prompt and effective response to humanitarian emergencies by ensuring comprehensive assessment, timely provision and equitable distribution of necessary relief items to the most affected and vulnerable populati

Collective and collaborated work in response
Humanitarian agencies have a desire and a mandate to help the affected populations suffering from the natural or man-made disasters; however there are often many gaps in emergency response, lack of cohesive coordination is one of such major factors.

During major humanitarian emergencies Sphere member organizations and other NGO’s formed interagency groups (IAG) and worked in close coordination. The positive impact of such coordinated work was widely appreciated that a need was felt to formalize such groups and work on improving humanitarian concerns across sectors at the state level even during the non-disaster period of the year.

Sphere India
The Sphere Project which resulted in the development of Sphere Standards was initiated after the humanitarian crisis in Rwanda in 1994. The refugee crisis in Rwanda, which was followed by unprecedented international humanitarian response, under the spotlight of the international media, publicly magnified the fault lines within the humanitarian system to an extraordinary degree. These were major factors creating the momentum for change particularly amongst NGOs, and their increasing openness to radical change. In 1997 a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement launched the Sphere Project. Sphere is based on two core beliefs: first, that all possible steps should be taken to alleviate human suffering arising out of calamity and conflict, and second, that those affected by disaster have a right to life with dignity and therefore a right to assistance

Values and principles that guided the development of Sphere Standards
• International Humanitarian, Human Rights, and Refugee law
• The Code of Conduct: Principles of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmers.

Components of Sphere:
A Hand Book (Minimum Standards in Disaster response).
Conducting trainings and TOT’s.
Expression of commitment to quality and accountability in humanitarian response taking forms of various initiatives across the globe.

The Sphere Hand Book
Sphere Hand Book is the most essential tool produced under the initiative. The hand book which was first launched in 1999 and then revised in 2004 was a result of multi-layer, multi-sectoral and cross-continent consultations among about 4000 development/relief professionals from 400 odd organizations across 80 countries.

Sphere Hand Book is the most essential tool produced under the initiative. The hand book which was first launched in 1999 and then revised in 2004 was a result of multi-layer, multi-sectoral and cross-continent consultations among about 4000 development/relief professionals from 400 odd organizations across 80 countries.
The hand book has a separate chapter dedicated on each of the following sectors
• Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene promotion
• Food Security, Nutrition and Food Aid
• Shelter, Settlement and Non-Food items
• Health Services
Each of the chapter includes minimum standards, key indicators and guidance notes which clearly underline the qualitative and quantitative criteria to be factored while designing and implemented emergency responses.

Sphere India
Sphere India is a coalition and collaborative partnership, between government and non-governmental agencies involved in humanitarian initiatives in India. Launched in 2002, Sphere India aims at contributing towards the quality of humanitarian response by ensuring improved coordination among various stakeholders in humanitarian work, while promoting the spirit and commitment embodied in the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. Sphere Hand Book has been translated into many Indian languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Oriya, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu and Urdu.

Programme & Research Focus
Unified Response Strategy (URS)
A Hand Book (Minimum Standards in Disaster response)
Conducting trainings and TOT’s.
Expression of commitment to quality and accountability in humanitarian response taking forms of various initiatives across the globe.
Visit DevelopedNation.org for programme details

Year of Establishment
2006

Contact Us
Sphere India -URS( Unified Response Strategy)
C/0 SEEDS
D-11, Panchsheel Enclave
New Delhi , 110 071
Ph: 011 26498371
Fax: 011 26498372
Mob: 091- 9350953643

www.smilefoundationindia.org

Our Model: Social Venture Philanthropy

Every successful venture needs a ‘delivery model’.

Smile Foundation introduced an innovative delivery model probably for the first time in the development sector and named it ‘Social Venture Philanthropy’ (SVP). The model is inspired from a successful business concept widely known as ‘Venture Capital.’

Similar models are always followed in the business world, that too successfully. SMILE thought, then, why can’t it be followed in the development sector?

This delivery model of Smile Foundation has a multiplier effect, particularly in the optimum distribution of resources. In other terms, the strategy involves providing seed money for the project, expansion, professional guidance, training support, capacity building and even counselling on productivity and efficiency enhancement.

The focus has been on four key aspects: scalability, sustainability, accountability and leadership.

The SVP model seeks consciously to broad-base investment in the belief that this will maximise reach and optimise returns. Instead of confining attention to a single project and a limited number of beneficiaries, the model helps reach out to and strengthen a large number of like minded individuals and organisations countrywide.

The delivery model named SVP has helped Smile Foundation reach out to an exceptionally large number of beneficiaries, primarily children, than it would have done with any conventional model prevalent in the sector so far.
The most important gain of SMILE’s delivery model is reaching to the un-reached without wasting a fraction of the resources.
Success of Smile Foundation is not bound to any particular region or territory as SMILE has been experiencing the same results on national level.
In nutshell, Smile Foundation has been successfully replicating its model in a decentralized and vast scale.

http://smilefoundationindia.org/our%20soul.htm

Focus : Education

Smile believes that whether you are addressing healthcare, poverty, population control, unemployment or human rights, there’s no better place to start than in the corridors of Education.

Because education is both the means as well as the end to a better life: means, because it empowers an individual to earn his/her livelihood and the end because it increases one’s awareness on a range of issues – from healthcare to appropriate social behaviour to understanding one’s rights – and in the process evolve as a better citizen.

Smile Foundation’s educational initiatives include Crèche [0-3 yrs], Pre-school [3-6 yrs], Non Formal Education [6-14 yrs non-school going], Remedial Education [6-14 yrs school going], Bridge Course [14-18 yrs drop-outs], Employment Oriented Skills Education [adolescent and youth], Functional Literacy [18-45 yrs women] and Family Life Education for adolescent girls.

SMILE works with under-privileged children under difficult circumstances such as child labour, children of poorest of the parents, children inflicted and affected with HIV/AIDS, street and runaway children, children with rare disability [Autism, Deaf & Dumb, Blind, and Spastic etc.], disaster struck children and slum children etc.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/ourchildren.htm

About Us

GENESIS

“Sustainability, social equality and the environment are now business problems. And corporate leaders can’t depend on governments to solve them.” – Peter Senge, founder of the Society for Organisational Learning (SOL). Senge’s principles find an echo in the ideologies behind Smile Foundation formed in 2002 by two investment bankers who, along with 8-10 like-minded corporate professionals and technocrats, decided to finance, handhold and support genuine grassroots’ initiatives targeted at providing education and health to underprivileged children. In the process, becoming the first ever grantmaker and changing the face of thousands of lives.

VISION & MISSION

As a Social Venture Philanthropist, Smile Foundation promotes and catalyses universal education among underprivileged children, create the process to embrace these children into mainstream in a sustained manner, facilitate them to emerge as productive assets, and set the foundation for nation building.

PEOPLE BEHIND SMILE

Smile Foundation is managed by a Board of Advisors which comprises of individuals from diverse backgrounds and expertise. The body is formed for a period of one year and a few independent members with eminence and reputation are nominated each year. Members of this board meet once every quarter.

The Board of Advisors advises the Trustees of Smile Foundation, taking inputs from the Executive Committee

http://smilefoundationindia.org/aboutus.htm

Good Governance

Smile promotes and encourages good governance to achieve credibility and accountability in the development sector. Smile endorses Credibility Alliances norms and ensures that its NGO partners follow the same.

Smile has comprehensive organisational management system, besides an established MIS and auditing system.

Our people are our assets. Smile works in a delegated work environment and each person is involved in the process of decision making through a scientifically designed system.

Various departments and divisions conduct monthly review meeting and report to the Executive Committee whose members meet every quarter. The Executive Committee reports to the Advisory Body which meets every quarter too. The Advisory Body gives inputs to the Board of Trustees which sets the broad vision and guidelines for the organisation.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/governance.htm

CSR & Alliances

Smile Foundation has the privilege of getting support from more than 70 corporate institutions besides about 20 national and international institutions in course of its journey so far.

A few leading corporate partners under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) include Microsoft Corporation, UPS Inc. USA, HDFC, Lifeline Hospitals, Suzlon Energy, Sandwood Infratech, Aditya Birla Group, CVENT, RocSearch, Canara Bank etc.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/csr.htm

Alliances have been formed with national and international institutions like Wilde Geese, KidsRights and Net4Kids consortium – Government of the Netherlands, Child Reach International, Population Foundation of India (PFI), NCWCDO – Canada, Resource Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS (RCSHA), International Management Institute (IMI), Times Foundation, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Asset Foundation USA etc.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/alliances.htm

Our Programmes

Smile has five major programmes namely, Mission Education, Smile Twin e-Learning Projects [STeP], Smile on Wheels, Swabhiman and Action for Children [AFC].

www.smilefoundationindia.org/our_programmes.htm

I. Mission Education

Under Mission Education programme, Smile has supported more than 150 basic child education & healthcare initiatives till date. Beneficiaries covered: 30,000

www.smilefoundationindia.org/education.htm

II. Smile Twin e-Learning Projects [STeP]

This is an innovative employability programme focusing on underprivileged youth. They get trainings in skills like English proficiency, computer operations and personality development etc. which are in tandem with job market requirement mainly in retail and service industries.

At present, 38 centres are operational in 16 Indian states. Smile plans to cover 50,000 youth in next 5 years across India.

Students from Smile Twin e-Learning Projects have already been employed with companies like Café Coffee Day, Westside Stores, NOKIA, HDFC Bank and Chroma. Present Beneficiaries: 1527 [Beginning of 2008-09]

www.smilefoundationindia.org/e_learning.htm

III. Smile on Wheels

Smile on Wheels is a mobile health care programme which aims to take comprehensive health care services (preventive, promotive and curative) for the most underprivileged population in remote rural areas and urban slums who are either out of reach from health care facilities or are too poor to afford it.

At present, the programme is reaching out to 1.5 lakh needy people directly from 249 villages, with a total population of 7.5 lakh, across 5 states of India namely, Orissa, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The programme is going to be launched for the slums population for Delhi and Chennai very soon. Smile is planning to add another 20 Smile on Wheels projects in coming year.
Present Beneficiaries: 1, 50, 000
No. of Villages/Slums: 249
Total Population Area: 7.5 Lakh

www.smilefoundationindia.org/smile_on_wheels.htm

IV. Swabhiman: for Health & Empowerment of the Girl Child

Swabhiman, meaning self respect in Hindi, is a health and empowerment programme for the girl child.

Swabhiman, launched in 2005, has taken its first step towards becoming a national phenomenon. After its successful implementation in Delhi, where it is reaching out to around 80,000 populations, the intervention has been launched in Haryana state – a State at the bottom of the ladder in terms of sex ratio consequent to incidence of female feticide. Swabhiman aims to cover a population of 60,000 in Haryana.

Population Foundation of India has been supporting Swabhiman in Delhi.

India is a land having distinction of boasting the world’s largest number of professionally qualified women. Yet, our girl children and women are discriminated right from womb to the tomb – be it female foeticide, gender discrimination at home outside, access to healthcare or simply living a life with dignity.

Swabhiman is an intervention to realise the full potential of the girl child.

Present Beneficiaries: 1, 40, 000

www.smilefoundationindia.org/swabhiman.htm

V. Action for Children (AFC)

Action for Children (AFC) is an innovative programme supported by a consortium of three leading Dutch organisations namely, Wild Geese, KidsRights and Net4kids, with funding support from Dutch International Development Ministry of Government of the Netherlands.

As the sole Indian partner under Action for Children initiative, Smile will build capacities of genuine grassroots NGOs across India in fund raising and communications with the sole objective of making these initiatives self-reliant. The modus operandi to achieve the objectives of the joint venture is aligned with social venture philanthropy model of Smile.

AFC will also sensitize privileged citizens and involve them in development of underprivileged children across India.

http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/afc.htm

Special Interventions

Smile Foundation, apart from its regular programmes, has been taking up four special interventions for reaching out to the most deserving children in difficult circumstances. It include Disaster Management, Individual Support Programme [ISP], Health with Smile, and You Can Make A Difference [YCMD].

www.smilefoundationindia.org/spl_programmes.htm

i. Child for Child Programme

Child for Child is sensitization programme for privileged children through schools across India about the plight of the underprivileged. More than a hundred public and government schools are part of this initiative.

Beneficiaries in year 2007-08:
No. of Children Directly Reached: 6, 71, 945
No. of Teachers: 18, 500
No. of Schools: 566

http://smilefoundationindia.org/childforchild.htm

ii. Individual Support Programme [ISP]

ISP addresses special need of children in extremely difficult circumstances. Smile has been supporting individual children under four categories of critical health cases, rehabilitation programme, role models and education excellence. Present Beneficiaries: 69

www.smilefoundationindia.org/ISP.htm

iii. Health with Smile

Health with Smile is an innovative programme for underprivileged children wherein intensive health camps are organised across India, covering preventive, curative and referral services; besides providing health awareness. Present Beneficiaries: 25, 000

www.smilefoundationindia.org/health_with_smile.htm

iv. You Can Make A Difference [YCMD]

You can Make a Difference is Sensitizing privileged masses, across age groups, directly on children issues through various events and workshops. Present Beneficiaries: 30, 000

http://smilefoundationindia.org/you_can_make_difference.htm

v. Disaster Management

In the time of disasters and natural calamities, Smile has always come forward with relief and rehabilitation interventions with special focus on children and women, who are the most vulnerable during such tying time. Be it Tsunami, Kashmir Earthquake, Mumbai Floods, Mumbai Blast – Smile has been involved passionately. Present Beneficiaries: 6, 000

www.smilefoundationindia.org/disaster_management.htm

Reach & Presence

Smile’s welfare projects are spread across 21 states of India, with Head Office in New Delhi; and major offices in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/Our_Presence.htm

Innovation and Technology

Smile encourages use of relevant technology to achieve optimum results, accountability and cost effectiveness.

Smile Foundation website registers annual hits of nearly 8 million from across the globe.

Modern technology is being introduced in project management, MIS analysis and accounting systems. Future technologies like video conferencing connecting all offices and project sites, advanced intranet and interactive systems are gradually being brought into the organisation.

Very soon, Smile will be able to keep track of every single beneficiary from all its welfare projects through right use of technology.

Advocacy

Smile believes in dissemination of knowledge and sharing learning with others. Various mass media namely, newspapers, magazines, television channels, outdoor publicity and online publications etc. have come forward in the endeavour of Smile.

During last year alone, more than 10 leading television channels and almost all mainline newspapers have helped Smile achieve this objective leading to nearly 500 articles being published.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/press.htm

Infrastructure

Smile Foundation has its head office in New Delhi, besides regional offices in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai. The Foundation has also project presence in more than 70 locations through more than 100 NGO partners, which have been selected after scrutinising more than 1000 NGOs.

www.smilefoundationindia.org/Our_Presence.htm

Our Outlook

Smile Foundation strives to reach out to 1.5 million children per annum directly, over a span of five years, through sustainable and accountable development initiatives; and thus emerge as a development organisation of international repute.
www.smilefoundationindia.org/our_outlook.htm

Career Option

http://smilefoundationindia.org/career.htm

Donation Option

http://smilefoundationindia.org/donation.htm

Contact Us
Smile Foundation

Head Office

V-11, Level – 1,
Green Park Extension,
New Delhi – 110 016
Phone: +91-11-41354565, 41354566
Fax: +91-11-41354454

Regional Offices

Mumbai :
102, ‘Shereton Classic’,
Ram Mandir Road,
Vile Parle (East),
Mumbai – 400 057.
Phone: +91-22-26104106

Hyderabad:
G-9, 1st floor,
Bharani Residency Complex,
Minister Road,
Secunderabad – 500 003.
Ph. 040 – 40200894, 27847081

Bangalore:
71, Dickenson Road,
Bangalore – 560 042

Kolkata:
53/1, Central Road,
Jadavpur, Kolkata – 700 032

Chennai:
3/109 E, Shivan Koil Street,
Neelangarai Chennai – 600 041

http://smilefoundationindia.org/ourchildren.htm

Mission

Seva Mandir’s mission is to make real the idea of society consisting of free and equal citizens who are able to come together and solve the problems that affect them in their particular contexts. The commitment is to work for a paradigm of development and governance that is democratic and polyarchic.

Seva Mandir seeks to institutionalise the idea that development and governance is not only to be left to the State and its formal bodies like the legislature and the bureaucracy, but that citizens and their associations should engage separately and jointly with the State. The mission briefly, is to construct the conditions in which citizens of plural backgrounds and perspectives can come together and deliberate on how they can work to benefit and empower the least advantaged in society.

Dr Mohan Singh Mehta a social worker and an educationalist, founded Seva Mandir.
Read

Moving beyond education
From its inception, Seva Mandir has sought to help the poor change their circumstances of deprivation. In the early phase of Seva Mandir’s work, the focus was on promoting adult literacy among poor peasants. It was believed that with literacy, the poor would become more aware of their rights and entitlements. It was not long before Seva Mandir was made to realise that this single-minded stress on literacy was not enough. The organisation, therefore, extended the scope of its work to include developmental programmes that would benefit people in economic terms.

Giving impetus to local governance
By the late seventies, people associated with Seva Mandir’s programmes had become popular and well respected within their communities. Some of them successfully competed for elected office in the village council and other tiers of local self-government. Seva Mandir at that time felt that these developments would lead to improvements in the functioning of the village councils and also in the government agencies responsible for delivering development services. The experience subsequent to their gaining office however belied expectations. Most of the elected representatives, albeit sponsored by the community of poor peasants, could not bring any meaningful change in the institutions responsible for development. Their inability to change these structures of governance was a consequence of the fact that their substantive authority, control and negotiating power over resources was dependent on getting along with authorities in the higher echelons of the political and administrative structures. By not conforming with those in the power structure they ran the risk of losing what little support and patronage was available for development from the State, and if they conformed they became indistinguishable from the people they replaced on grounds of their being corrupt and neglectful of the poor.

Building village level groups
Looking to these structural problems and to the fact that the nature of people’s participation (in Seva Mandir’s programmes) had a patron client dimension to it, Seva Mandir tried to redress these imbalances by building village groups in the early eighties. The intention behind this was to enable villagers to demand accountability from their representatives in the village councils and to pressurise the government to expand the actual scope of people’s entitlements. These groups were also encouraged to solve their (community) problems by co-operating among themselves. However, except for a few exceptions, most of these groups were not able to generate sufficient pressure to make a significant difference to their situation. Apart from the fact of acute poverty, the villages in this region are small and dispersed, which made co-ordinated action extremely difficult. Thus while people lacked the institutions and resources to bring about their own development, the hierarchical systems of the government, even with the best intentions, were inherently incapable of responding to the localised needs of the village groups.

Building a village cadre of paraworkers
In the late eighties, Seva Mandir undertook to create additional capacity at the level of the people. The key idea was that rather than the poor having to depend only on the State to promote their development and provide services, there should be alternative institutional support for the poor to service their development needs. Village Committees were set up to manage and monitor these programmes and Seva Mandir systems geared up to respond to village plans for development.
A cadre of village based professionals called paraworkers was slowly built up in the fields of health, education, forestry, childcare, community organisation, etc. They were provided training in the requisite skills by Seva Mandir, and were given a small stipend. Over time, many paraworkers have moved into formal leadership positions through the Panchayats. Strong paraworkers have also increased the community’s ability to hold outside interveners (such as Seva Mandir) more accountable.

Board of Trustees

Ajay S. Mehta, President, Board of Trustees
Mr Mehta is at present the Executive Director of National Foundation of India, New Delhi. He was the chief executive of Seva Mandir from April 1990 to March 1999 and the general secretary from 1986 to 1990. Mr Mehta has also been a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme to evaluate poverty alleviation programmes in the Middle East and Africa. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Yale University, and a Master of Philosophy degree in economics, from Jawaharlal Nehru University. VB Eswaran, Member , Board of Trustees VB Eswaran is a retired IAS officer. He has served in Gujarat government as secretary in the public works and finance departments; in the central government as director in the prime minister’s secretariat as adviser (energy), planning commission, finance commission, and as adviser to the governor of Gujarat.

He has been associated with non-government and voluntary agencies in the fields of natural resources management, rural and community development and is also associated to many educational institutions in India. He has chaired central government committees in the power, petroleum, urban development and finance ministry.

Jagat S Mehta, Member, Board of Trustees

Jagat S Mehta was the president of Seva Mandir from 1985 to 1994. He was also the former foreign secretary of the government of India. In addition to this, he has been a part of special negotiating assignments and special missions on behalf of the government. He has participated in commonwealth conferences, Afro-Asian conferences and been a member of state and governmental delegations. On 26 January, 2002, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the president of India.

Dr Prabhu Lal Agarwal, Member, Board of Trustees

Dr Prabhu Lal Agarwal is a consultant on steel plant operation and management, and director of three diversified companies. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield and a B.Sc. in metallurgy. He has held various positions such as technical adviser, Krakatau Steel, government of Indonesia, chairman, SAIL, GM and CEO, Rourkela Steel Plant. He was assistant professor and reader at the Banaras Hindu University.

Dr Agarwal has won a number of awards. These include the Cross of the Order of Merit – First Class. This was given to him by the President of Federal Republic of Germany for turning around the Rourkela Steel Plant. He has received the Platinum Medal and Tata Gold Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals, and, finally, the National Metallurgists Award of the government of India.

Mohan Singh Kothari, Member, Board of Trustees

Mohan Singh Kothari has a Masters in Engineering and Business Law from Louisiana State University, USA. He has been a scientist and head of engineering & design in CSIR National Institutions, adviser to the government of Sikkim for development, director for industrial and technical development, government of Sikkim, chief consultant for industrial development in Punjab and founder GM of soyabean project in Rajasthan.

He was the President of Seva Mandir from 1994 to 1997. He has participated in the management of Ramakrishna Mission and is presently the Chairman, Udaipur division for WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature – India). He has notable publications in the fields of culture, religion, history and public administration to his name.

Indu Kapoor, Member, Board of Trustees

Ms. Indu Kapoor is the Director for CHETNA Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, Ahemdabad. She has recently joined as a member of Board of trustees in 2003. Kanchan Chopra , Member, Board of Trustees Ms. Kanchan Chopra is also a new member of our Board of Trustees. She is Professor and Head of Department of the Environmental and Resources Economics Unit of the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.

Staff at Seva Mandir
Read

Where We Work

Seva Mandir operates in the southern part of Rajasthan. Seva Mandir’s work area encompasses 626 villages and 56 Urban Settlements. Majority of these villages are located in Udaipur District. In total the organisation reaches out to around 70,000 households, influencing the lives of approximately 360,000 persons. The region is characterized by rocky and hilly terrain of the Aravalli hill ranges, moderate to low rainfall (400-600mm/year), and large temperature variations (4-48 degree C).

The rural population in this area consists primarily of tribal (68%) and other disadvantaged communities, whose resource base is severely depleted. People are dependent upon subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, and wage labour for their livelihoods. The absence of genuinely empowering institutions through which citizens can come together on an equal basis—particularly women, youths, children, and lower-caste groups—presents a major impediment to the development process. Without appropriate structures in place at the village level, norms relating to the management of common resources are abandoned, resulting in the degradation of the natural resource base on which the people depend, and communities remain too unorganized to work together for their common development. Coupled with inadequate service delivery from the government and the private sector, which almost systematically fails to respond to local realities, this results in widespread deprivation in terms of various factors critical to human well-being, particularly in the areas of health and education.

Udaipur’s literacy rate, as of the 2001 National Census, was 59.26%. However, for the rural areas, the rate is much lower. The health parameters for the women and children of Rajasthan rank amongst the worst in the country, with extremely high levels of malnutrition, infant mortality rate (IMR), and maternal mortality rate (MMR). The IMR for South Rajasthan stands at 86.3 per 1000 live births. MMR for Rajasthan stands at 670 cases per 100,000 live births. The region is plagued by high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, at 420 cases per 100,000 of rural population and 4,458 cases per 100,000 of rural population respectively. Complete immunization rates for children in our area stands at a dismally low figure of 5%. 90% of children under 3 years are malnourished.

What we do

Seva Mandir seeks to institutionalise the idea that development and governance is not only to be left to the State and its formal bodies like the legislature and the bureaucracy, but that citizens and their associations should engage separately and jointly with the State.

This is achieved through the following overlapping strategic objectives:

- To create and strengthen institutions for development (at the village, organization and society levels)

- To enhance people’s capabilities for self-development (both at individual and community level); and

- To create sustainable improvements in the livelihoods base;

These three objectives form the basis for Seva Mandir’s three program sectors. Each of these programs, in achieving its respective goals, is also designed to build values and social capacities needed to achieve development and democracy for the poor.

Programme

Education

Health

Women’s Empowernment

Village Institution Building

Natural Resources Regeneration

Sadhna – Patchwork Programme

Delwara Urban Project

Kaya rural training centre

Delwara urban governance project

Child representative program

Capart

Project

The Delwara Urban Governance Project

In 2003, Seva Mandir and the National Foundation for India (NFI) embarked on a new initiative in Delwara, a small town situated some 28km to the north of Udaipur. Seva Mandir has had a long association with Delwara through the activities of Sadhna. Sadhna has enabled many women…… read more……

Youth Resource Centre Programme

The work with youth in Delwara, seeks to engage the youth in both their own individual development and the development of Delwara through a variety of interventions that will be outlined in this paper. In the context of the work in Delwara, youth have been perceived as a critical stakeholder group. They represent the citizens and leaders of the future. By engaging the youth in a process that help……
read more……

Patchwork Programme – Sadhna

Nirmala lives in village Sisvi. She is in her early thirties and has three children. Her husband works in an electronic shop in Udaipur. He would spend all his money in liquor and would beat his wife. The fodder and grain production from their agriculture land was also not adequate. Nirmala therefore wanted to earn some money on her own. She got to know……
read more……

Our Supporters

Our Support Chapter in UK

Our Support Chapter in USA

Rafe Bullick Memorial Foundation

Give Foundation

Others

How Can I Help

We look forward to your support
Seva Mandir seeks to build on the strong foundations it has created in over 600 villages. Seva Mandir believes that the complex problems facing the disadvantaged communities require complex and integrated solutions. Seva Mandir works on almost all aspects of development (education, health, environment, livelihoods, institutions, advocacy etc)- and looks forward for partnerships in all or any of these areas. You can support us both financially and through volunteering.
Read More

Publications

List of Publications

Annual Report 2006 – 2007

This last year has been marked by many transitions. As India prospers in the eyes of the world, international willingness to extend development aid to development institutions in India is beginning to wane. This is cause for concern for many institutions such as ours. Seva Mandir, in this last one year, has had to curtail its field programmes and adjust to the reduced availability of funds.

Another consequence of the booming economy is the attrition of staff due to rising salaries in the country. More and more people working for organizations such as Seva Mandir are finding it difficult to resist the temptation of taking up jobs that effectively triple their salaries. Adjusting to the pressures of declining funding and staff attrition poses a serious challenge. In response, Seva Mandir has started making concerted efforts to adjust to these new realities. Fund-raising has been started in the United States along the lines of the efforts made by the Friends of Seva Mandir…..

Click here to download the entire report

Newsletter (July 2007 – September 2007)
Read More

Contact us

Seva Mandir
Old Fatehpura, Udaipur – 313004,
Rajasthan, India
Phone: +91 294 2451041/2450960
Fax: +91 294 2450947
Email : info@sevamandir.org