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| Project's Area |
1.
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| Madhya Pradesh |
| 1 Vidisha, 2.Sagar, 3.Chattarpur, 4.Betul, 5.Raisen, 6.Guna, 7.Mandla, 8.Chindbada, 9.Balaghat, 10.Jabalpur |
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| 2. |
| Rajasthan |
| 1.Bundi, 2.Bharatpur, 3.Alwar, 4.Bikaner |
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| 3. |
Delhi |
| 4. |
Chattisgarh |
| 5. |
| Uttar Pradesh |
| 1.Bijnor, 2.Etawa, 3.Unnav, 4.Banda |
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| 6. |
Kerala |
| 7. |
Gujarat |
| Income Generation & Enhancement |
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In India, three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas. Chronic unemployment and under-employment are endemic to their lives, and even those who are employed earn barely enough to meet their basic needs. This situation is worsened by poor access to finance. Often the villagers have no choice but to borrow from local moneylenders at exploitative rates of interest, and soon find themselves heavily indebted. Through its income enhancement program the Foundation attempts to build the villagers’ knowledge and skills, thus enabling them to increase productivity and pursue new commercial opportunities, and ultimately to move above the poverty line.
The program focuses on increasing agricultural productivity, promoting entrepreneurship, developing common lands and creating off-farm opportunities |
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Livelihood Advancement
Agriculture continues to be the mainstay of the Indian economy, with one third of the population depending on the sector directly or indirectly. However, the challenges that the agricultural sector is facing today are quite different from those in the earlier decades. The number of people engaged in agriculture is decreasing due to a decline in profitability, therefore there is an urgent need to create mass employment in the rural non-farm sector by introducing education and new skill sets.
The Livelihood Advancement program focuses on providing market oriented, demand driven livelihood skills training to the youth and women.
Vocational Training
The Foundation's goal is to set up a state-of-the-art vocational training center in Basoda Madhya pradesh. Computer literacy and spoken English are key requirements for good jobs and therefore, the Foundation has started computer and spoken English centers in the villages.
Micro enterprise Development
Self Help Groups of women are formed to inculcate the practice of saving and help them set up micro enterprises. Producer groups of women are trained and formed to make embroidered garments and bags. Market linkages are being established with financial institutions to access loans to start or expand micro enterprises
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In a country where close to a third of the population is under the age of fifteen, the potential for social change clearly rests with the youth. In rural Gurgaon, however, low literacy, gender inequality and limited awareness of reproductive health and family planning severely restricts the options available to village youth. The average age of marriage is fourteen years for girls and seventeen years for boys, and on average, each family has six children. The status of women is very low; a local saying defines a good daughter-in-law as “one who finishes the day’s work, feeds the family, and goes to sleep on an empty stomach without a whimper."
The Foundation’s Life Skill Education (LSE) program aims to empower youth with knowledge and skills, so as to enable them to make well-informed life decisions. It provides informal education to adolescents – primarily girls – and supports schools
School-going girls attend a sixteen-day camp, where they learn about life skills (CEDPA curriculum) for four hours a day. |
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Mobilizing young men
Youth clubs are set up to bring young men together, to provide a platform for recreation, and to involve them in the development activities of the village. For instance, the village youth have revived natural water springs, planted trees around schools and tutored school children. Life skills camps are also conducted to enable them to socialize and to address issues such as reproductive health, family planning and personal goal setting.
Involving parents
Workshops and focused group discussions are held with parents to promote understanding between generations, and to discuss issues such as the age of marriage and the need for educating the girl child.
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Supporting schools
- Infrastructure development
- Capacity building of Village Education Committees (VEC)
- Improving the quality of education (provision of temporary teachers and teacher training)
- Setting up libraries
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Rural Health Programme |
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If health is wealth, then the villagers of rural part of Madhya pradesh are doubly poor. Eighty-five infants out of every 1000 live births die before reaching their first birthday, and maternal mortality stands at an alarming rate of 470 per 100,000 live births. Diarrhea, malaria and acute respiratory problems are the main causes of illness and mortality among children and infants. Access to healthcare is limited; it is often restricted to curative care and dispensed by untrained practitioners. However, much of the demand for healthcare can be addressed by raising the community’s health awareness, and by making simple improvements to living conditions in the village, in particular with regard to water supply and and sanitation.
The main objectives of the rural health program is to raise awareness of women’s and children’s health requirements, to control preventable diseases including sexually transmitted ones, to combat ill -informed practices, and to promote smaller and healthier families. |
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Activities in progress |
Building village health capacity
- Training midwives (dais)
Local midwives undergo annual refresher courses
Training community health volunteers
Community health volunteers are trained in identifying and preventing common diseases and referring patients to competent healthcare providers
Raising health awareness
- Sanitation
The Foundation promotes low-cost latrines, soak pits, street sweeping and garbage disposal to reduce the occurrence of water and sanitation related diseases.
- Reproductive and child health
Villagers are educated about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and reproductive tract infections, as well as the importance of personal hygiene, family planning and pregnancy healthcare. Families are taught about caring for newborns, immunization, and other child health issues. Common myths are dispelled – for instance, the often-fatal belief that children suffering from diarrhea should not be given fluids.
- Communicable disease
Villagers are informed about the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as gastrointestinal disorders, acute respiratory tract infections, vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, etc.
- Communicable disease
Villagers are informed about the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as gastrointestinal disorders, acute respiratory tract infections, vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, etc.
Providing comprehensive information about the availability of health services
In order to provide the villagers access to better healthcare, the Foundation forms linkages with curative health institutions, such as:
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- Government Primary Health Care System
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for eye care
- Delhi Council for Child Welfare (DCCW) for disability rehabilitation
School Health Annual Report Program (SHARP) for school health |
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