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June 03, 2005
NGOs, Market Forces and Foreign Funding - Part I
The first of this three part series places the NGO in the landscape of development politics and demands rethinking of roles and responsibilities. NGOs and the Development Landscape In the current landscape of “development”, the Non Government Organization is a dominant feature. One almost cannot envisage processes of development without seeing a role for NGOs. Every policy, every program and every review almost always includes the NGO. Within this context, it is important to analyze the role of the NGO, its influence on the direction of “development”, its dynamics with power structures and with the communities it influences, and its interests. It is important to answer why NGOs were (are) needed in the first place? In the last 100 years – and increasingly true today – our world has seen rapid change; changes in technology along with rapid changes in economic structures, in laws, policies and protocols . However, cultural norms, behavior patterns and social structures have not been able to keep up with these changes. Traditional community structures have broken down and people are at a loss as to what structures would take its place. And how do these new structures fulfill the needs of these people? Technology and modern economies have changed how communities have been structured. Old structures have broken down. But people have not understood how the new structures – modern cities, bureaucracies, and modern economies – will fulfill their needs (and if they ever will). Similarly, old technics have been have become defunct. High yield, water and chemical intensive agriculture have made traditional ways of agriculture unfeasible. Water tables have fallen to levels where bore wells run dry. Chemical intensive agriculture forces increasingly greater use of chemicals. And yet, the impact of new technologies is still not well understood. Numerous traditional plants used as medicines have become extinct or their knowledge base has been eroded and large communities have become dependent on drugs they cannot afford. The same is true in the shift from home made cereals and grains to packaged foods. And yet, despite a rapidly changing world, large sections of our communities often find themselves trapped within tradition hierarchies that are oppressive and exploitative. Alternatively, communities have also found themselves oppressed and exploited by modern institutions such as the bureaucracy of the state, market based labor institutions, or even development projects like dams or mines. It is within such circumstances that NGOs have provided leadership, and taken the initiative to provide solutions. They have done this through a plethora of roles: NGOs have thus taken up a central position in the development map. They are often more connected to communities than the state machinery. They also have greater access to government institutions that most communities do. Initially, there were conflicts between government agencies and NGOs in their development agenda. Over time, however, government agencies have come to see NGOs as partners or collaborators in the development effort. In fact, numerous critiques have pointed that the state has been often happy to pull back from fulfilling its responsibilities by passing them off to the NGOs. Often, then, NGOs are seen by government agencies as the grassroots executioner of policies of change. The, NGOs have placed themselves so as to take up people’s issues with government. Thus, literacy movements and health movements are often planned in collaborative efforts between the government and NGOs (with the NGO often being seen to understand the situation on the ground better and to represent the people’s interests) and with the NGOs implementing these programs with help from the state machinery. Even international funding agencies and charitable organizations, which once worked through the government, are increasingly working directly with NGOs. Thus, the NGO finds itself in a position where it has direct contact with large sections of communities that are otherwise disenfranchised or marginalized, have access to national and international power structures and can direct significant change. It is a position of potentially great power and responsibility. It is from this context that the role of the NGO must be analyzed. In the last two decades there has been a humungous mushrooming of NGOs. One reason has been connected to expatriate Indians that are influenced by the west, are eager to influence changes in India and donate to or volunteer time and other resources with NGOs of various kinds. The economic growth within India along with increased media exposure to the west has meant that Indians living in India are also eager to aid such change. Another reason has been that NGOs have themselves become a large employment sector employing large numbers of people at a variety of wage levels. This has also been aided with increased funding from World Bank as well as from foundations and charitable organizations from mainly the USA and Europe. Self-Images of NGOs The NGO movement came out from two distinct philosophies – one of charity, the other of service . Organizations driven by the understanding of charity were focused on the community as an object that would have to be changed. They saw themselves having reached a certain level of ‘humanness’ or enlightenment and they were working to lead other communities to enlightenment. Organizations driven by understanding of service saw themselves in relation to communities that were disempowered. They saw these communities having a different paradigm of life – not inferior. They saw themselves as participants in a process within a larger global framework that led to marginalization of these communities. And having seen themselves and these communities from such a perspective, they felt that they could facilitate these communities to empower themselves through service . Within today’s environment, access to financial resources defines the sustenance – or even the success – of an organization . After all, NGOs will tell you, it is unjustified idealism where one imagines oneself unbound by financial considerations. Without access to finances, you cannot run literacy programs, health camps, or even organize a rally. Finances, many groups argue, are necessary to run a campaign or envision change. Since donor agencies provide finances – a critical component of the social change, within this framework – their requirements must be met. If they have certain clauses or policies that must be implemented within these programs, then financial requirements demand that they are. To the extent that the NGO sees itself as an organization attempting to do charity, to provide enlightenment to a ‘backward community’, it sees itself as having greater understanding of the solutions than this community. This limits the extent to which this community could influence the programs that the NGO attempts to implement in this community. To the extent that it understands progress as a process of attainment of enlightenment – a singular understanding – it sees communities that have higher ‘standard of life’ with greater resource utilizations as having greater enlightenment. In other words, Western society is seen as having achieved greater enlightenment and thus having greater right to provide direction of programs of social change. While every NGO that is dependent on western donor agencies does not subscribe to such a perspective of donor leadership, this understanding of an enlightened west does add to mechanisms of dependence on these agencies. In the attempt to achieve their goals of empowerment of communities they have strengthened and institutionalized themselves. While this has helped their ability to continue to implement short term and longer term programs, it has also created empires. Almost all ‘important’ regions in India have the presence of large NGOs that have very high levels of influence – or even control – over social programs, and developmental activities for that region. The power and financial strength of these NGOs are often manifested in the size of their facilities – often located in high value areas of Delhi, Mumbai or elsewhere or in large estates in rural or tribal areas. They are often manifested in those who come to visit them – powerful bureaucrats and elected officials – and the influence these organizations have on program direction and funding. These organizations often corner a significant bulk of grants and funds available. As with other institutions, it finds it necessary to strengthen itself so that it can empower the communities it works with. When such an institution is also based on an understanding that it must provide enlightenment to these communities who are ‘backward’, its strategies and programs for empowerment themselves become violent to these communities. There has also been a change in the image of the individuals involved in such activities. From a scenario where individuals involved in NGOs were largely volunteers, to one where they were paid employees (but the payments were often minimal, even for the leadership of these groups), the management of many NGOs today is compensated at levels comparable to MNCs and private corporations. This has implications to the work they do. For one, the management will make decisions to ensure that the strength of the NGO itself grows as well as their own emoluments stay high; or at least, these indices do not become decrease. Given that most funding comes from donors in the west, and that the health of the institution is often tied to financial capabilities, decisions will be made to ensure continuous influx of funds. This self-image of NGOs is another reason why decisions will be made to satisfy clauses and policies of donor agencies rather than the needs of communities, especially when these are in conflict. Related Articles: Comments
we have to apply for an funding .we are in leading ngo which is working for the welfare of the society,in chennai-tamilnadu-india.kindly do the needfull. Posted by: kennedy on August 17, 2005 05:25 AMPROFILE OF THE NGO We are women group of government registerd organisation,Working Name of the NGO :SOCIETY FOR COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK(NGO) Nature of the NGO : Nonprofit - registred under indian societies registration act NGO RESOURCE CENTRE,LATUR Foreign Funding Opportunity To Dear Sir / Madam Subject:- Information on Foundations, Funds & Granting Agencies. We rejoice with you at what your organization is doing assist the poor and the needy people of your area. We take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as NGO consultant. We are dedicated to the success of NGOs financial, technical & material appeals. Our mission is to strengthen the resources of NGOs. For the past five years, we have been conducting workshops & trainings in resource mobilization for the NGOs. As a result, hundreds of NGOs have benefited through our consultancy services. A world wide information available on International Development organizations, foundations, funds, granting agencies, trusts, non-profit organizations, charities & institutions in Social welfare, education, health, human rights, charitable hospital, poverty elimination, reproductive and sexual health, HIV/AIDS, cancer prevention, women’s empowerment, watershed development, disability rehabilitation, youth educational program, vocational program, etc. Latest international (Foreign) funding information available with grant application forms , guidelines, details address, phone, fax, e-mail, www, etc. And documentation services available for NGOs, various Project Proposal for foreign funding. Welcome to NGO Resource Center Imagine the time you will save by having, in a single convenient source, a list of hundreds of U.S.A., U.K., Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, and other countries foundations, corporate direct givers, and public charities that award millions of dollars to nonprofit institutions and projects in the abroad. These grant makers support a wide range of needs: international relief, education, health, HIV/AIDS prevention & care, income generation, women’s empowerment, environment, poverty elimination, watershed development, disability rehabilitation, conferences, disaster assistance, human rights, civil liberties, community development, and more. Get all the facts you need to bolster your target list of funding prospects: and Central Government Schemes from India. Take advantage of this collection of resources designed to help you secure funding for national and international programs. This collection is now available on CD-ROM at a special price of one CD-ROM Rs.1000/- (Rupees One Thousand only.) Project Proposal Documentation Charges: For further information send your organization details with Project Proposal for which donor agency/funding information/consultancy service you require. Thanking You Yours Sincerely Part – A Organisaational Profile
10.Aim of the organization The stated objectives of Shramika Vikasa Kendram are to: Eradicate child labour and universalise elementary education. History of the Organisation: Set up in April 1992 with the aim of effecting community development through collective action by the rural poor, Shramika Vikasa Kendram visualises a society free of discrimination and inequalities and seeks to give its members equal opportunities for self-development. The organisation took off by mobilising local resources to promote education among marginalised groups such as the dalits and tribals. A few years later, the UNDP recognised the commitment of the organisation and its close rapport with community and invited it to implement its women’s programmes in Pedda Kothapally mandal of Mahabubnagar district. Shramika Vikasa Kendram was instrumental in forming 300 women’s self-help groups as part of the intervention. Thrift and credit activities were initiated with the objective of enhancing social capital. 31 village level networks of these groups and their federation at the mandal level under the style of the Mandala Mahila Samakhya were other major achievements of the organisation in this context. CRY came forward to support the organisation’s efforts in the direction of elimination of child labour in the year 1997. This milestone in the history of the organisation enabled the mainstreaming of more than 6000 child labourers in the mandal to school later on and in improved access to health care and education for marginalised groups. The ILO also joined hands with Shramika Vikasa Kendram in 2002 to work for the elimination of child labour in Thadoor mandal of the same district. Due to their joint efforts, 1657 child labourers of the 2000-odd child labourers in the mandal were mainstreamed to formal educational institutions. In addition to these, Shramika Vikasa Kendram has also run schools for child labourers under the NCLP and has conducted bridge courses for girl child labourers under the DPEP. More than 1500 girls have been rehabilitated thus. In addition, the organisation has been conducting health programmes for adolescent girls, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and infants for the last 3 years under the RCH scheme. .
Impact Status
2 Running Motivate centres for child labourers Child labourers 35 villages 2000 CRY Bangalore Mainstreaming of 1906 child labourers Discontinued
Shramika Vikasa Kendram, an organisation working for holistic rural development in the areas of child labour elimination, economic empowerment of women, and health, was driven by the vision of its Secretary, Y. Laxman Rao, and a group of socially conscious youth from Kollapur mandal of Mahabubnagar, the most backward district of Andhra Pradesh, to improve the lot of their fellow citizens. Laxman Rao spent a brief year at M.V. Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the cause of elimination of child labour, as an activist before he decided to shift his focus to his hometown, where the incidence of child labour and migration was very high. His leftist ideology and his close relations with community groups, especially youth, prompted him to form a labour contract cooperative society as a first step. He got it registered formally and linked it to existing state and other development programmes. He solicited the support of a few likeminded youth in this effort of his. A group of 6 youth joined him and Shramika Vikasa Kendram was registered on 9-4-1992. A year after Shramika Vikasa Kendram was registered, Laxman Rao accepted the post of project coordinator in Her Self Society, an Indo-Dutch project operating in Mantralayam mandal of adjoining Kurnool district, also notorious for its high incidence of child labour. He made use of this opportunity to gain valuable insight into various aspects of project management such as planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, budgeting, and MIS, reporting, documentation, and large-scale community mobilisation. After spending a year there, he grew confident of his abilities to run his society on professional lines and returned home. Back in Kollapur, he held discussions with the governing committee to decide upon a specific agenda and plan of action. In view of his experiences and the immediate needs of the mandal, they resolved to address the issue of child labour. Vast numbers of children from the mandal either did not attend school or had dropped out, accompanying their parents who had migrated outside home in search of work forced by extended periods of drought and famine. The committee members participated actively in state initiated enrolment drives and education campaigns and involved 50 active youth in the enterprise. This was the first major instance of community involvement in the project. The committee members gradually withdrew their political affiliations and began taking more interest in development activities. They conducted orientation workshops on education and child rights for community groups and organised workers in the stonecutting industry in Kollapur into cooperative societies to improve their bargaining power. This had a twofold effect – the workers earned the same incomes without leaving home and their children also attended school regularly. The orientation workshops had their own benefits as well. A number of parents realised the importance of education and its role in eliminating child labour. THE CHILD LABOUR INTERVENTION Shramika Vikasa Kendram had its first opportunity to work formally on the issue of child labour in 1992 through a monthly fellowship received from M. V. Foundation for a period of 2 years. Shramika Vidya Kendram’s child labour programme, which forms the core of its activity, was modeled on the lines of the Foundation’s strategy. Frequent visits, orientation and technical support by M.V. Foundation volunteers, and exposure visits to the project area of the Foundation and to camps run by it helped carry forward the programme. M. V. Foundation thus inspired Shramika Vikasa Kendram’s child labour intervention to a large extent. The project, which was initially launched in 5 villages of Kollapur, viz., Tellabalugu Thanda, Mukkidigundam, Narlapuram, Thaala Narsimhapuram, and Chowtabatla expanded rapidly and covered 20 villages in lesser than a decade, a fourfold growth. Shramika Vikasa Kendram had a strong support base in its project area in the form of active youth groups and they were the mainstay of the programme. The expansion of the project area can be attributed greatly to the support received from them. Though unfamiliar with the concept of child labour, they quickly comprehended the problem and owned up the child labour campaign. They accompanied the volunteers on motivation drives and lobbied with the government for hostel seats for mainstreamed children. Attacking baseless superstitions that abetted class distinction, they prevented many children, especially girls, from dropping out of school. They strongly opposed the existence of separate classrooms for privileged and underprivileged castes in schools. Their ideological orientation consolidated their belief in a classless society and added to their moral strength. They were formally oriented on child labour, child rights, and community mobilisation. Following these orientation sessions, they began monitoring the presence of children in school in close coordination with the volunteers.
Joint meetings were held with parents of children working in cottonseed farms and their employers to discuss the issue of freeing the children. Both of them cast the blame on each other. Farmers harassed the Shramika Vikasa Kendram volunteers in Mushtipally and Vennacherla. When the latter informed the organiser, he went to the Task Force and spoke to them. They jointly went to the village with the volunteer and spoke to the farmer and the employer strongly. 20 children were freed that day. Motivation centres were set up in 10 villages of the project area in October 1997 to encourage working children to study. 200 children attended two hours of classes a day at these centres that not only introduced the concept of education to them but also gave them some respite from arduous work schedules. Most of them worked outdoors for nearly 10 hours a day regardless of the weather conditions and had none to care for them. Most of them were bonded child labourers, whose services were pledged to their employers against a pittance of money that their parents had borrowed unwittingly at exploitative terms and rates of interest. The volunteers also took up special enrolment drives aimed at propagating the concept of education among children. They employed a wide range of strategies as part of this endeavour to reach out to parents and children in the project area, some of which included: Composing and singing songs in public denouncing the exploitation of children. While the first two activities directly aimed at motivating children and their parents, the latter activities targeted the economic status of the workers’ families and indirectly impacted the presence of children in schools through reducing migration, a major deterrent to education in the district. Potential migrants were also linked to the “Food for Work” programme so that they were motivated to stay back in their villages. Youth groups were oriented on various issues pertaining to child labour with the support of M.V. Foundation. Rallies to publicise the need to free all working children and to educate them featured in most villages of the project area. Teachers and community groups were taken on exposure visits to the M.V. Foundation project area, which helped build perspective among them on child labour, child rights, and education. Shramika Vikasa Kendram conducted Non-Formal Education centres for 300 working children in 1997 with support from CRY. These centres operated on similar lines as the motivation centres with the difference that they functioned in the evenings. As an initial step, the volunteers surveyed villages in Kollapur and Pedda Kothapally mandals to identify children due to be admitted in the centres. The choice of centres was based on the incidence of child labour in the villages. After were equipped with basic academic skills at the centres, the children would be mainstreamed to formal day schools. Meetings were held with parents of these children regularly to prevent dropout and they were told to send their children to the centres without fail. Though reluctant initially, they agreed later on because of two reasons. Firstly, the local youth assured them that their children would gain from joining the centres and secondly, the duration of their stay at the centres was a mere 2 hours a day. Within a few days of their enrolment in the centres, the children picked up pretty fast and as many as 150 of them grew interested in joining formal school. They were subsequently mainstreamed to NCLP, DPEP, and UNDP camps run by Shramika Vikasa Kendram in Pedda Kothapally and Kollapur mandals. By 2000, the level of awareness among parents as to the need for education was quite high and it was decided to close down the NFE centres. Once parents were willing to send their children to full time schools, an intensive drive was taken up to strengthen the school system through community intervention to prepare it to accept the children. The emergence of campaign committees such as the BKVC, CRPC, GRPC, BKVV, SEC, etc. in 2001 at the village level was a significant landmark in the project and stood testimony to the success of efforts to mobilise community. These committees were set up with the specific aim of streamlining the education machinery in the project area and to strengthen the child rights campaign. The members constantly monitored the attendance of children in schools and hostels and also addressed the key issues of child marriage and dropout. Follow up volunteers in nearby Wanaparthy and Nagarkurnool mandals followed up children mainstreamed to hostels to ensure that they did not drop out. Tuition was arranged for girl students twice a day outside school hours to enable them to keep pace with the other children.
CRY extended extensive support to Shramika Vikasa Kendram’s community mobilisation efforts in Pedda Kothapally mandal beginning 1997. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the National Child Labour Elimination Programme (NCLP) also supported the RBCs in Chinna Karpamula village of Pedda Kothapally mandal (initially supported by Catholic Relief Services for 1 year) and Ankiraopally village of Kollapur mandal, Yadireddipally village of Thadoor mandal, and Ankiraopally mandal at various stages of the project. These camps were not merely instruments of education. Overall development of children was facilitated in the camps through involving them in various kinds of sport and cultural activities, apart from which they were also imparted livelihood skills such as tailoring and embroidery, preparation of chalk pieces, etc. A number of girls came forward to offer their services as teachers in the camps where they had once studied. Regular orientation programmes were conducted for camp teachers in the areas of pedagogy, community mobilization, maintenance of children’s health, and camp management. Child marriage was recognised as one of the major hindrances to education of the girl child in the project area and both the volunteers and youth gave special emphasis to this problem. They used the Kalajatha as a potent means of highlighting the losses due to child marriage. In a novel approach, the volunteers convened a meeting with priests and other middlemen involved in mediating marriages in the villages to apprise them of the legal provisions pertaining to the minimum age for marriage. They were asked to verify the age of the bride and bridegroom whenever consulted and to ascertain if both bride and the bridegroom had attained the age of 18 and 21 respectively, before fixing the dates for marriage. If either of the parties were not of marriageable age, the mediator was expected to postpone or lay off the marriage under some pretext or the other. This strategy worked well because these mediators were highly respected within the community and the number of child marriages went down significantly. CHILD RIGHTS Once the child labour elimination programme made sufficient progress and significant numbers of children were enrolled in school, the volunteers began focusing on the agenda of child rights from a broader perspective encompassing Survival, Protection, Development, and Participation, with active support from CRY. The primary aim of this intervention was to prepare parents to take full responsibility of protecting their wards’ lives until the age of 18 years. While survival related primarily to the health aspect and was to be treated as a health related right, the other components were development oriented. Major programmes undertaken under the Right to Protection included working with employers of children to free the latter from work, passing on information on government development schemes to parents and community based organisations (CBOs), campaigning actively against the custom of child marriage and preparing community to question this practice, sensitising parents and Gram Panchayats towards child labour, mainstreaming former child labourers to formal schools via Bridge Camps, facilitating skill development and loans for income generation activities to SHGs, orienting CBOs on the legal aspects of child right violation, and forming pressure groups. Specific activities taken up towards this end included the conduct of discussions and face-to-face meetings with children’s employers, forming employers’ pressure groups to free child labour from cottonseed farms, setting up a mandal level Enforcement team with community members and state representatives to uphold child rights, meetings with priests, opinion leaders and others who negotiate and mediate marriages, performing kalajathas and devising propaganda material to campaign against child marriage, sensitising youth to gender issues and preparing them to act as motivators, raising the consciousness of the media to the issue of child marriage, raising the issue of child labour in public meetings at the village level, encouraging Gram Panchayats to pass resolutions against child labour and motivating Sarpanches to take part in the campaign, to link SHGs to banks and other financial institutions, bringing success stories of women into the limelight, involving successful women in peer group motivation, conducting mandal level skill development programmes, advocating the concept of minimum wages at all levels, and forming organised groups for lobbying and better bargaining power. Community Contributes CRS sponsored food for children studying in two of the camps from 2002 to 2004. To combat the problem of drought and famine, Ambali Kendras were set up in Peddakarpam to provide food facilities for 80 senior citizens aged 70 and above. Leftist parties and youth federations sponsored the food. The Indian Red Cross Society has been supplying food for 60-70 women upon the request of Shramika Vikasa Kendram. The Mandal Parishad President (MPP), the Mandal Education Officer (MEO), Sarpanches, the Mandal Parishad Territorial Committee chairman (MPTC), and Headmasters gave away prizes that they had sponsored towards sport competitions held for children at the village level. WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT In 1995, M.V. Foundation fellowship to the project ceased and it became a non-funded programme. There was an acute shortage of funds that threatened to cut short the project. At this juncture, UNDP entered the mandal with a proposal to promote women’s SHGs and held discussions with the mandal administration and local NGOs to arrive at an appropriate plan of action. Capacity building sessions were conducted for NGO functionaries in all aspects of SHG formation and they were taken on exposure visits to enable firsthand understanding of the processes involved. This event fostered intense competition among the NGOs, who vied for funds through trying to attract the maximum number of women. Shramika Vikasa Kendram realised that this could prove to be the solution to their difficulties and availed themselves of this opportunity to add women’s empowerment to their agenda. This had dual implications – not only would the lot of women be improved but they could also be made active partners in the child rights campaign. They took up an intensive SHG formation drive and achieved a daunting landmark of 300 groups in merely 6 months. They took up Kalajathas in all villages with youth groups towards this end. Peer group motivation played a central role in this drive. In a major setback to the efforts of local NGOs, UNDP declared in 1996 that the coverage of the project was limited to 20 mandals in 3 districts of the state, including 9 in Mahabubnagar. They identified 9 NGOs as their partners. The criteria were the level to which the partner NGO was proactive, the level of backwardness of the geographical area chosen, and its accessibility. The going was not easy for Shramika Vikasa Kendram and there was a lot of political opposition to its selection. Nevertheless, they overcame all criticism and Shramika Vikasa Kendram took up the intervention in Pedda Kothapally mandal on a pilot basis for one year. Child labour was a major point on the agenda of the women’s programme. SHG members were oriented on the importance of their own education and their children’s. Group leaders were especially counseled on how their efficiency could be enhanced through education. The members were also cautioned against marrying off their daughters early. They were warned on the adverse effects of child marriage and the manner in which it affected the life and the well being of the girl concerned. The CRC (Child Rights Convention) week was celebrated with fervour and all through the 7 days, a number of activities were taken up to raise public consciousness on the issues of education and elimination of child labour. EXAMPLES IN SELF RELIANCE In Bacharam and Pedda Kothapally, SHG members raised Rs. 3 lakhs to purchase 150 sheep and appointed a person to look after them. 15 women from Chennarapparaopally affiliated to Brahmarambika group bought some land from the money that they had saved and cultivated it. They planted flowers, paddy, etc. and sent their children to the local school. Notably, all of them used to migrate out of the village every year in search of work and used to take their children along. Now that they had an income source within the village, they quit migrating.
WOMEN WHO TRIUMPHED 35-year old Nimmala Lakshmi Devamma, a members of the SC Madiga caste would wake up at 4.30 a.m., clean the house, cook the meal and leave for work to return home late in the night. She was stricken with ill health but could not do much because if she took some rest the family could no be supported and she also did not have the means to get herself treated. This was life for her for until one day eight years ago, when a Kalajatha on the importance of small savings was performed in Bacharam, where she lived. The audience were given a message that if they saved just one rupee a day instead of giving it to their children, their lives could be transformed. Inspired, Lakshmi Devamma and 14 more women formed a SHG. A few days after they got the group registered, they were taken to Chevella on an exposure visit. They observed that women there were saving Rs. 10 a week and were maintaining books of account with the help of a bookkeeper. They also had a collection box. They attended weekly meetings on Thursdays from 8 to 9 p.m. without fail to update their books and to discuss who would be benefited from loans to be given to the members and other money matters. The following are some excerpts from an interview with her: Shramika Vikasa Kendram has given us strength. Earlier, when people like you used to pass by, I would go with head bent and my footwear in hand. Now, the situation has changed. When there is any issue to be taken up, all women are involved. My life will progress if Shramika Vikasa Kendram takes up more assignments. I have saved an amount of Rs. 5,000 so far. I took a loan of Rs. 10,000 to get a bore well dug and to purchase a buffalo. I have repaid it. After joining the group, I grew more intelligent and realised the importance of cleanliness and of my children’s education. I have learnt how to give respect to and receive respect from officials. We resolved that there should be no child marriage and stopped some of them ... Shramika Vikasa Kendram trained me on health and a number of issues on child labour were brought out. I have also gained interaction skills. We’re training other SHGs now. Now, people believe that we are educated. On her children’s education, she says “We (I and my husband) will work to any extent but will see to it that our children are well educated. I’ll educate my children a lot and I don’t bother even if they do not get employed. I want them to become more intelligent and aware. We have two sons and a daughter. My husband also wants them to study. He is an agricultural labourer. He didn’t eat any food for 2 days when our son’s exam results were due, as he was worried about whether he would clear them or not. He cleared the exams. WOMAN POWER In an incident in Sathapur, a man killed his wife in a fit of rage. Though most of the women did not let the issue out in the open for long, they discussed the case in a Panchayat meeting and also registered it with the police, soon after a SHG was formed in the village. In another instance, a boy from Molachintalapally, Kollapur mandal, molested one Rajeswari from the same village. Members of the MMS met the District Collector and took up the issue with him. He declared some economic benefit for the girl’s family. She was admitted to the Bacharam camp and stayed there for some time. Manjula, belonging to a migrant family from Yapatla, Pedda Kothapally, fell in love with a boy belonging to a different caste and was keen on building a relationship with him. However, her parents were against her choice and wanted to marry a boy of their choice. One day, they locked her in a room with a boy belonging to the Lambada caste but he fell asleep after having too much liquor. Manjula’s parents got her tonsured and forced her to walk on thorns believing that she had been bewitched. The girl approached the camp volunteers and told them with her story. They spoke to her parents and counseled them but they were adamant. She was not less adamant and told them strongly that she was bent on studying and that she would not listen to them. The Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), who was present on the occasion, warned them against doing anything unwarranted. They left and the girl did not want to study there because she feared that they would come back and take her home later on. Manjula was admitted to the State Home in Mahabubnagar, where she is being trained to be an Auxiliary Midwife Nurse (ANM). The boy that she loved has also acknowledged his liking for her and has pledged to marry only her. Lakshmi, the daughter of Chennaiah, belonged to a poor family of an SC fishing community engaged in daily wage labour. The income of the family hardly sufficed to provide them a single meal. The girl struggled during the initial years but managed to get through the class 7 exams from the Bacharam camp in 1999. She joined the SC hostel in Nagar Kurnool, from where she cleared the class 10 exams. Though she was keen on studying further, her parents could not afford this and declined to let her continue her education. She approached the volunteers and they counseled her parents, informing them that she would be paid a scholarship if she joined college. They agreed and the volunteers arranged for the girl’s books to be sponsored. As of now, Lakshmi’s parents are bearing the cost of her books. Their daughter was successful in the Intermediate examinations and was interested in pursuing higher education but her parents again opposed her decision, pleading poverty. The volunteers contacted media representatives, who have promised to get her a hostel seat. Uma, a native of Jonnalabaguda, also cleared the Intermediate exams and is preparing for undergraduate education. Originally a migrant, she got admitted to an AP Residential School after passing out of camp. THE HEALTH PROGRAMME Mahila Aarogya Sanghams (MAS) formed in the first stage of the programme with pregnant women and lactating mothers identified community health workers. The DMHO trained these workers on safe delivery methods, immunization, IMR prevention, mother & child welfare, child marriage, and adolescent girls’ issues. After a month, they went into the villages and addressed the villagers on family spacing, childcare, diarrhoea, AIDS. More people were now covered by family planning, and Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates went down significantly. The number of child marriages reported went down and more girls began attending school. Monthly meetings were held for the workers and the MAS members and the SVK volunteers, who also reviewed their work monthly, trained them in the areas mentioned above. A basic component of the health programme was the right to survival. This involved people’s campaigns on the issues of health and survival, monitoring activities taken up by public health institutions, facilitating birth and death registration, and establishing an interface between community and state run institutions. Activities under the first head included reduction of Infant and Maternal Mortality Rates through monitoring issuance of immunisation cards, generating awareness among all groups of community on the issues of child marriage and birth spacing – especially among eligible couples, orienting community health workers on Antenatal and Postnatal Care, establishing linkages between the MAS and public health institutions, and advocating birth control methods, addressing the needs of pregnant women through women’s self-help groups in coordination with ANMs, demonstrating the preparation of low cost nutritious food, promoting safe and institutional childbirth, and training midwives through PHCs. Volunteers followed up the status of immunisation through personal visits with the active involvement of the MAS and also formed Mothers’ Committees in the ICDS centres, strengthening existing committees at the same time. The importance of immunisation was taken up for discussion during mothers’ meetings and optimal utilisation of immunisation cards was ensured. Health camps were also conducted and the MAS continually tracked the coverage of children and pregnant women. The volunteers also brought pressure upon respective authorities such as the MRO and Village Secretaries to see to it that the necessary Birth Certificates were issued to the targeted individuals without fail. Kalajathas were taken up to advocate the importance of birth registration and to raise a voice against violation of child rights. Focus was placed, as part of the effort, on motivating Gram Panchayat representatives to take up the issue seriously. In addition to the above, the volunteers also devoted considerable efforts to ensuring that community members availed themselves of benefits due to them under the Public Distribution Scheme. Lobbying at the Panchayat and mandal level was taken up to see to it that the scheme was implemented effectively. Equal emphasis was given to streamlining the functioning of PHCs. The MAS was encouraged to submit petitions in cases where the quality of health service was below par and there was shortage of health staff and facilities, infrastructure and medical supplies. Lobbying efforts were also taken up in this direction. The health programme also targeted immunisation, nutrition, prevention of maternal mortality and infant mortality (MMR and IMR) through regular counseling by the ANM, antenatal and postnatal care, registration of births, proper diet for pregnant women and monitoring weight changes among them, taking up Kalajathas to demystify superstitions about food intake by them and to campaign against child marriage. Adolescent girls and women were also advised on issues pertaining to the IMR cycle – problems associated with early pregnancy, childbirth, and IMR, immunisation at birth, campaigning against small pox and chicken pox, etc. Meetings were held with doctors and health camps were conducted. Institutional delivery was prescribed to all pregnant women and information was provided on various government schemes. The importance of registration of births and deaths was also publicised. Kalajathas and door-to-door motivation drives were also taken up to this effect. Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and Anganwadi Workers (AWW) played a catalytic role in this process. Another important area focused upon was that of provision of supplementary food to pregnant women, lactating mothers, children aged below 6 years, and adolescent girls under the ICDS programme. In many villages, it was decided that ration cards would the selection of beneficiaries was to be based on need and not through political favoritism. Families falling within the poverty line were distributed the cards in public during Grama Sabhas. Meetings were held with Mahila Aarogya Sanghams (MAS) and mothers’ committees to discuss issues pertaining to women, immunisation of pregnant women, nutrition, and health of mother and child. Door-to-door campaigns were taken up and people were asked to contact the ANM to avail themselves of the benefits of immunisation. The status of immunisation cards was also followed up regularly. The volunteers took active part in immunisation, pulse polio and other national programmes. On one occasion, the mandal officials did not have the necessary number of certificates. The volunteers got the certificates printed and requested all applicants to deposit a token amount of Rs. 2/- per form at the Panchayat office so that the next set of certificates could be printed. The volunteers also collected the lists of children aged 0-2 years from village secretaries and filled the forms on behalf of the applicants. The GRPC, the AWW, the Gram Panchayat, and the Secretary oriented the villagers on the need for registering births and deaths. Resolutions were passed in the Gram Panchayat for setting up more AWCs in the project area. Plans of action were drawn to ensure that children were mainstreamed from these centres to school as soon as they came to be of school-going age and to follow up on their presence in school. Requests were also made to the District Collector, the Department of Medical Health (DMHO), and the government doctor at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) to open more health sub-centres. MAS members organised special drives and convened regular awareness meetings to promote the concept of family planning. They highlighted the ill effects of overpopulation and also facilitated the provision of various schemes available under the ICDS and the DMHO. Institutional delivery retained focus. SHG members built individual latrines using indigenous material and the importance of cleaning sewers was publicised. The use of smokeless chulhas was also promoted. People began demanding provision for treatment of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases in the Gram Panchayat funds. Common toilets were also constructed in the villages. Youth took up a “clean and green” programme and planted saplings in all villages. One girl returned home from Enkiraopally after appearing for the class 7exams and clearing them. Immediately after she came home, she lost a lot of blood due to an inexplicable reason. She was wrongly diagnosed for jaundice in place of anaemia. When this issue came to the notice of the volunteers, they contacted the DMHO and got the doctor to handle the case. He observed that the girl’s haemoglobin level was abysmally low at 4%. He immediately took the necessary steps and the girl is gradually recuperating. Family planning was focused upon in 16 villages as part of the health programme. Local volunteers were identified for the purpose. Activities taken up under the programme included monitoring the weight of children and pregnant women, distribution of all kinds of tablets, orientation on safe and healthy living, the importance of using clean water and maintaining a clean environment, and the importance of hygiene and sanitation. The local volunteers implemented these objectives and also motivated eligible couples to undertake family planning operations. Special health camps were organised for children in camp under the supervision of the PHC doctor. The volunteers collected medicines from the PHC and distributed them among the people in accordance with their needs. Where required, patients were referred to the district hospital in Mahabubnagar. Awareness meetings on the issue of family planning were conducted for all eligible couples in the project area. Adolescent girls were counseled on grooming and personal hygiene, the menstrual cycle, child marriage, and sex education. They were oriented on health issues and trained to groom themselves. Members of the GRPC were trained to counsel the girls on these issues with assistance from the MAS. They also addressed the issue of dowry, focusing largely on the evils associated with it.
7 MPTCs and 5 Sarpanches began to take part actively in the campaign after attending an awareness meeting on the role of politicians held in February 2001. Sarpanches, MPTCs, and other important villagers agreed to sponsor prizes for children during essay writing and debate competitions held for them during Bala Melas. The CRPC identified potential cases of child marriage in Nakkalapally, Sathapur, and Gantraopally and met the parents of the children concerned to counsel them on the issue. The parents did not agree to lay off the marriages initially but later on, when the CRPC included the Task Force and other groups from the village, the parents agreed to postpone the marriages. * Prem Raja Rao, the Sarpanch of Jupally, got a bus shelter constructed in his village in memory of his father, Narayana Rao. The son of one Venkat Reddy from Kalwakol gave away 250 plates and glasses to children in the Shramika Vikasa Kendram camp. 50-60 senior citizens were also given away clothes. The functionaries of Arya Vysya Sangham sponsored 150 blankets to the children in Ankireddypally. Ramakrishna, the owner of a printing press, arranged bed sheets for 200 camp children. The district secretary of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, G. Venkat Reddy, distributed class 7 marks memos to children in public and clothes to 200 people. 200 girls from the Shramika Vikasa Kendram camp received clothes from the Ganesh Group of Companies, Hyderabad. In Pedda Kothapally, the MMS gifted 100 saris to women who underwent sterilization. * Chandi Venkatswamy, the MPTC of Chennapparaopally, formerly an SEC chairman, was elected 4 years ago. He was a building contractor during his term as chairman. He was instrumental in getting a school building for the school in the BC Colony there and also got it upgraded from a primary to an upper primary school. He got an additional teacher deputed there. He, along with Nagendram, an active youth from Pittala village, bore the expenses of sponsoring the education of an orphan for 2 years. He also donated 200 plates and glasses for children in the Shramika Vikasa Kendram camp. Venkatswamy involved all the other MPTCs in the international conference on child labour held by M.V. Foundation. He is a keen campaigner of child rights and places it on his agenda in all General Body meetings and in the MPP’s chamber. He facilitated the construction of bus shelters in 5 villages through various sources. * The Gram Panchayat, Vayillabavi, drafted a resolution addressed to the MEO and arranged for a school to be opened in the village. The issue of raising contributions to meet the expenses of appointing teachers for the school was also raised during parents’, Gram Panchayat, and SEC meetings. Local youth took up the responsibility of handling classes in some villages where the schools with no teachers. In 6 villages, they contributed physical labour for construction of school buildings. Venkatamma, MMS Secretary from Jonnalabaguda, gave away Rs. 30,000 towards the construction of a school in the village. Ever since she has been actively advocating the role of the Panchayat and spreading awareness among women on its responsibilities along with the volunteers, a number of women have actively entered the political scene. * In August 2000, Bala Karmika Vimochana Vedika (BKVV), a forum of government teachers against child labour, was formed in Kollapur mandal. The members were taken on exposure visits to the M.V. Foundation project area where they interacted on a wide range of issues with their peers there. Teacher activists supporting the M.V. Foundation project shared their experiences with them, building their perspective on the role that a teacher could play in the elimination of child labour. On their return, the teachers came up with their own plans of action to work towards elimination of child labour in their respective villages. They held discussions on the situation within their respective villages on a number of issues dealing with child labour. They participated in Kalajathas in the evenings and followed them up with door-to-door enrolment drives in the day with the support of all groups in the village. Every Sunday, a meeting is held to review the status of the programme and to plan for the ensuing week. Teachers’ unions also have an important role to play here. The teacher activists attend TC meetings without fail and ensure children’s regularity in school, their own punctuality, and take steps to prevent dropout. The teachers prepare TLM, focus on quality education, facilitate SEC meetings and arrange additional volunteers wherever needed, In many cases, they have provided stationery to poor children who are not capable of purchasing them. They have also borne the cost of their education. The pupil-teacher ratio has improved a lot from the earlier 70/80:1 to 50:1 as of now. Eight villages are free of child labour as on date and retention of children in school stands at 100% in 15 villages. 10 Shramika Vikasa Kendram volunteers are directly involved in teaching assignments in schools of the project area. A meeting was held with political representatives prior to the elections held in 2004 and they were asked to declare their political agenda on child rights. They all promised to take up the issue at their respective levels and in the Assembly. * Members of the Bala Karmika Vimochana Committee, the SEC, and other CBOs monitored children’s attendance in school on a regular basis and counseled their parents to send them to school without fail, explaining the benefits of education to them. They substantiated this with the help of practical examples that the parents were familiar with. Women’s groups and the GRPC, which was formed in 2004, launched an ongoing campaign against child marriage and succeeded in sensitising parents to its perils. Meetings were held with mothers’ committees to discuss the state of overpopulated ICDS centres. Awareness meetings were held for community members on the issue. Resolutions were passed for new AWC buildings wherever required and the Gram Panchayats endorsed the construction of temporary buildings. People were asked to monitor the functioning of the AWWs. In one case, the AWW replied to a question as to her delay in reporting at the AWC that her salary was barely enough to pay for her travel. The villagers suggested to her that she could take up some accommodation in the same village.
Shramika Vikasa Kendram is a member of a major state level network of child right activists by name AP Alliance for Child Rights (APACR). This status was used as an opportunity to being the issue of child rights to the forefront. Shramika Vikasa Kendram volunteers also gathered in Hyderabad to participate in the M.V. Foundation sponsored international conference on child rights and elimination of child labour in November 2004. Shramika Vikasa Kendram is also affiliated to the Mahabubnagar Association if NGOs (MANGO) and has been involved in all campaigns undertaken at the state and national levels to enforce the Free and Compulsory Education Act. The Secretary of Shramika Vikasa Kendram was one of the 5 partners nominated by UNDP from AP to attend an international study tour on child labour in the Maldives in 2001. Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) requested Shramika Vikasa Kendram to coordinate a study on the implementation of the Panchayat Raj system in Mahabubnagar in 2002. SVK also raised its voice against fascist and communal interference in education and took part in a national march. As part of their agenda during Chaduvula Pandaga, a state initiated drive aimed at total literacy in which a number of NGOs working on issues of child labour were involved, the Shramika Vikasa Kendram volunteers took along some child labourers every Sunday and got them to fly kites along with other children. Meetings were also held with them and they were counseled on the importance of education. Rallies and Kalajathas also featured. An SSA logo proclaiming that all children must be in school was pasted in all public locations of villages in the project area. After attending some village level meetings held by the Shramika Vikasa Kendram volunteers, some staff members of Continuing Education Centres were influenced to lend their support to the programme. The volunteers took active part in Janmabhoomi, a development effort of the erstwhile Telugu Desam government. The Adult Literacy programme was implemented in all villages of the SVK project area. Between 15 and 20 people attended each of these centres on an average, totaling 500-600 people. Shramika Vikasa Kendram also produced education material for bridge course camps in Mahabubnagar, Kurnool, and Hyderabad in coordination with the DPEP. Exposure visits to the camps were held for community groups such as the BKVC, the SEC, the CRPC, and the GRPC, with the idea of acquainting them with the children’s background. These visits helped them empathise with the children and prompted them to work towards eliminating child labour. It also gave them valuable perspective into the functioning of the camp. Children passing out of these camps often acted as motivators who brought other children to camp. Other important effects of the programme have been the establishment of strong linkages between the school and community, a realisation of the evils of child marriage and the importance of education, a changed attitude towards education of children, especially of girls, and increased enrolment and retention in schools. CONVERGENCE The establishment of child rights was the common thread running through all three components of the Shramika Vikasa Kendram programme. Self-help group members were oriented on education and child marriage on a regular basis and they played a key role as advocates of the child rights agenda. They made conscious attempts to increase their income levels with the primary objective of providing quality education for their children. In addition, they resolved during their meetings not to get their minor daughters married and pledged to send them to school instead. In some instances, self-help group leaders refused loans to members who proposed to get their daughters married when still young. Community Health Workers supported the right of the child to live through immunisation, pulse polio and other health programmes. Special focus was placed on prevention of Infant and Maternal Mortality Rates. They also took up intensive mobilisation drives to campaign against the practice of child marriage and counseled the mothers of the children involved on the ill effects associated with it. In this manner, all stakeholders in the project have been working in united fashion towards CHILD LABOUR INTERVENTION Project Coverage Number of Mandals covered 3 Bridge Course Camps Number of Bridge Course Camps conducted 20 Enrolment and Mainstreaming Number of children directly enrolled in school 8,301 Meetings and Training Number of participants in community meetings 35,680 Campaign Number of bonded children freed from work 280 Coverage Number of Mandals Covered 2 Self-Help Groups Value of thrift generated Rs. 1,88,49,600 List of Income Generating Activities Supported by Loans to Members Agriculture Training and Exposure Visits Number of members benefited by exposure visits 5,450 THE HEALTH PROGRAMME Project Coverage Number of Mandals Covered 1 Government Infrastructure Number of Primary Health Centres in the Mandal 1 Pregnant Women Number of pregnant women monitored 3,141 Infants Number of infants (aged below one year) monitored 3,016 Meetings and Training Number of Health Meetings held 4 GOODWILL SOCIAL WORK CENTRE Greetings from Goodwill social work centre,Madurai,India. Please take a few moments to visit our website at http://mfcs.malianfoundation.org/goodwill/ The Goodwill Social Work Centre, a professional social work organisation deeply committed to the development of children, youth and women was founded in November 1981 in the temple city of Madurai by a Professionally trained Social worker with the prime objective of performing a wide spectrum of roles in the development of children, youth and women and undertaking a comprehensive action through professional approach with a preventive, curative and rehabilitative perspective. It aims at utilising the scientific methods of Social Work for problem identification, problem solving and problem prevention for the multifaceted development of children, youth and women who are at a disadvantage. It is a Non - Governmental organization, registered under the Tamilnadu Societies Registration Act 1975 and Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act 1976. The Centre is a Member of the International Forum for Child Welfare, [IFCW], Member of Child Rights Information Network [CRIN], U.K and ENSCW, Belgium. Our Centre is a member of the World Association for Non-Governmental Organisation (WANGO),USA and is included in the NGO database of the websites: www.idealist.org (Action without Borders), www.enscw.org and www.euforic.org
Our Aims The Centre aims to promote the overall development of children, youth, and women in rural and urban areas in India who are socially and economically deprived; to provide family centered home based intensive services to children, youths and women in dysfunctional families in slums and backward areas in India; to sensitise rural and urban children and women on various environmental issues and concerns through education, training and communication; to create public awareness on the rights of the child and women and to work for the promotion , protection and defence of children's and women's rights . It focuses on educational sponsorship; home based care and school placement for children; family counselling; environmental education for children and children and women rights education. It is operational in service provision training advocacy research and information.
As part of the development initiative, the Goodwill Social Work Centre has set up a Children's Rights Centre {CRC} in Madurai city, South India, coinciding with the Children’s Day in India (14th November 1998) with a prime objective of proclaiming, protecting and defending Children's rights as affirmed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (1989).
Like many other countries, the rights of children are still generally low on the agendas in India. It is evident from a study Report (Maheshwar Madan Lal, 1994) that the percentage of children in India who asserted their rights was negligible and a high majority of children were not even aware of their fundamental rights of children due to lack of education. Similarly, amongst adults, 10 percent were aware of the rights of child while 15 percent gave this subject a thought. Only 7 percent were engaged in facilitating these rights to them.
It is being increasingly realized that there is an urgent need for initiating an action plan for creating awareness and dissemination on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child among children, adults and various civic action groups in rural and urban areas in India through the following strategies, adopted by the Children's Rights Centre.
Strategies I. Children's Rights Education (CRE) for School and non-school children.
II. Children's Rights Training (CRT) for Parents, Teachers, Child Care Workers and civic action groups.
III. Children's rights Communications - Designing & developing CRC Communication Materials for education and training in local language
IV Children's Rights Research (CRR) Research on child rights Issues and concerning the UN convention on Children's Rights
V.Children's Rights Information Network - Exchanging information through electronic and non-electronic networking with agencies involved in Child rights promotion and protection at the national, Regional and International level. . VI. Provision of Services - Legal advice and support- Resourcing and advocacy- Counselling services- Guidance and support services and facilities.
Our actions for endangered children In attempting to promote the UN convention of the rights of the child through the above strategic interventions, the Children's Rights Centre aims at protecting the following endangered children through direct practice actions, namely 1.Children on the streets 2. Children who are at risk of child abuse and sexual exploitation 3. Children at risk via media 4. children at risk of smoking and drug addiction and 5.Children who are affected by HIV/AIDS and 6.Children with disabilities.
The Goodwill Social work Centre invites you to be a Project Partner of the Children’s Rights Centre and seeks your valuable financial support and material assistance. Your contribution goes a long way in promoting the human rights and needs of children in India. Please make as generous a donation as you can. Our centre is also looking forward to the greater opportunity of networking with you and your member organizations in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
Contact address: Prof. Dr. J. Christopher Daniel, M. A., Ph.D., (Social Work) Email: chriskan@satyam.net.in
********************************************************** Posted by: PROF.DR.J.CHRISTOPHER DANIEL on March 20, 2006 06:50 AMARAVANAIKKUM KARANGAL (Registered charitable Trust) ABOUT CHILDREN:
We are a legally registered in Government of India and Tamil Nadu state, social service non profit organisation serving to the poor women, children, disability rehabilitation especially for the Tsunami affected areas and Poor children educational sponsorship and Poor people Housing construction projects in India. E Mail- cost@sify.com Posted by: Bro.P.Samuel Raj on July 1, 2006 07:13 AMSubject:Req- Grantapplication FROM To Bill Woodward Network Manager Sustainable Forest
Respected Sir/Madam, It is a registered organization with the Government of Since we are giving services to coastal fisher folk We came to know about your organization from different please go through our web site:www.leverageindia.org Yours Lovingly in christ.
Help our organisation jyotirgamaya situated district katihar Bihar. jyotirgamaya provided elementary education for tribal children . Posted by: jyotirgamay on July 10, 2006 07:32 AM Information on ‘ADHAR’ Background information of the contact person / project holder:
LEGAL STATUS OF THE ORGANIZATION: THE INCEPTION and THE ORGANIZATION: Organization’s basic philosophy and Goal: Vision: Mission: Goal: Burning Issues of Balangir and the Causes Distress in migration Poor governance systems ADHAR’S INITIATIVES SO FAR...in a framed-in format: Issues Intervention Strategies Qualitative Achievements Quantitative Achievements THE OPERATIONAL AREA PROFILE OF ‘ADHAR’ The Visionaries of ‘ADHAR’: The Executive Body Structure of ‘ADHAR’
More than 58 years ago, when our country finally won its independence from British rule on August 15, 1947, the mood of the country was euphoric. Despite the deep sadness caused by the tragic partition riots, the working people of our country-millions of hardworking peasants, landless agricultural laborers, industrial workers, educated persons working as teachers, white collar employees in the private sector, government employees and many others—welcomed our independence with joy and high hopes. Tens of thousands of our people had sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their motherland. Hundreds of thousands of our people had braved brutality, torture and imprisonment. Throughout the freedom movement, the leaders had promised many things. The landless would get land; the working tenant, the actual tiller of the soil, would become its proud owner; the industrial workers and other workers in the formal and informal sectors would get a fair and decent wage; the curse of untouchability would be wiped out; women would be treated on par with men, and so on and so forth. In 1950, we gave ourselves a constitution that committed the state to make every effort to ensure all fundamental rights to its citizens in its true spirit. The dream was that illiteracy, malnutrition and mass ill-health would be wiped out; that the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter; and health and elementary education would be met, and met for all our citizens. Nearly six decades after independence the reality is stark and bitterly different from the promises made. Millions of our people are still non-literate and majority sections are women. Majority of children in our rural areas still do not avail the basic access to education keep apart the quality aspect. Health for all remains a distant dream, with 90% of our population living without any sanitation facilities, and half of our people not having access to adequate food and safe drinking water. We have the credit for having high mortality rate less than five years of age along with maternal mortality. Women are consistently worse off than men. Unemployment has become a major scourge. If one includes the uneducated, unemployed in rural and urban areas, the actual figure of unemployed would probably be around more than 150 millions, which is closed to a large percentage of the able-bodied population in the country. In short, our lives today, nearly six decades after independence, bear no resemblance to the promises held during the freedom struggle, wide spread unemployment, acute poverty and malnutrition and resultant mortality and morbidity and ill-health, mass-illiteracy, continuing exploitation of women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other weaker sections, all these add up to a picture of mass misery. ADHAR’s mission starts with all these above realized and felt gaps and lapses that the people at all levels have internalized but have had never got any space and scope to ventilate their feelings. Although, the operational and interventions approaches are still limited within a small geographic boundary; but for ADHAR every single digit counts and matters. Because ADHAR believes that in every single seed remains the promises of thousands of forests. Thus, capitalizing the deprived, marginalized and excluded sections of the population in an economically most backward district of the country, ADHAR pledges its commitment to the people for organizing them to fight for their own rights and assert those rights on their own without depending on any external agencies and sources to come and help them out of the situation that they still live in. ADHAR makes its reference group people understand that no ‘Messiah’ is going to come to rescue them from their present positions and conditions. It is only them who can help themselves. Balangir is the district that ADHAR attempts to pilotize its’ mission as a laboratory to experiment the real empowering processes through rights-based approach. Here, the question comes “WHY BALANGIR?”. SETTING THE CONTEXT IN BALANGIR The Issues and the process of systematic deprivations Balangir is endowed with rich mix (predominately Sal) deciduous forest from which the locals drawing enough forest food. In the 40s, due to the construction of railways track in the Kantabanji area, forest was depleted on a large scale basis. This attracted timber traders (Marwadi) from other States to come and settle down at Kantabanji. By 60s forest cover in the district has came down to about 20% of the total geographical area from over 40% earlier. Severe drought in 1965 forced the poor to resort the tree felling and fuel wood selling .Timber traders grabbed the opportunity to use the poor for huge profit through illegal timber trading. After the drought 1965 drought, tree felling has become the integral part of the rural livelihood. Now in the term of canopy cover is down to about 3% of the total geographical area Depletion of forest led to erratic rainfall and soil erosion, which resulted in the silting up the traditional and modern water harvesting structures (WHS) in the pre-independence time , traditional water harvesting structures (TWHSs ) built by the local Gonda community were irrigating about 33% of the total agricultural land in Balangir. By 1965 after independence the state government had constructed 292 minor irrigation projects. Now only about 6% of the total agricultural land is under assured irrigation. The previous collector of the district Mr. C.S.kumar had admitted that 200 out of the existing 240 minor irrigation projects (MIPS) are defunct. During monsoon, a number of rivers flowing through the district drain any thing between 1 lakh to 4 lakhs cubic feet of rain every day into the Bay of Bengal Lacks of WHS’s allow this huge quantity for rain water to go waste. Balangir can ill afford this, especially when about 57% and 18% of its total agricultural land happen to be upland and middle land, respectively. Lack of tree cover, soil erosion and poor water absorption capacity of the thinning soil cover has led to dropping of water table, bringing stress on tree growth, erratic rainfall and water crisis in parts of the district. What happens after drought? The landless agricultural workers and the marginal farmers are affected the most in a drought situation. The later resort to distress mortgaging or selling of their little yet precious land (also other household articles ) to none other than the big farmers and migrate out to far off places like Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh and Bhadoi in Uttar Pradesh etc. in search of wage employment. Induced them to do so are the labor contractors who take them illegally and exploit them at every stage of their migration period that ranges between 6& 8 months in a calendar year. When they return home after barely surviving the period, they are left with absolutely no saving making them depend for survival for the credit from the local money lenders who charges high rate of interest. In order to repay the loan and for survival, they migrate out again and again. Severe untouchables in the village does not allow the poor land less people from schedule caste to survive on petty business such as vegetable vending, forcing them to migrate. This way migration in Balangir has almost been institutionalizing because of the lure of so called ‘big money’ which instead of helping the poor is in fact aggravating their poverty situation. Drought have, therefore, resulted in displacement-both temporary and permanent- of large numbers of people from their traditional work base although out – migration started in Balangir after the severe drought of 1965, it reach dangerous proportions after the 1996 drought known as the drought of the century. It was reported by various quarters that about 40000 people migrated out in 1996/97. A latest study reveals that now over 100000 people migrate, every year, out and work in miserable, unhygienic conditions for survival. ADHAR tries to imbibe the spirit amongst the oppressed and disadvantaged sections with a sensitization of the conviction and confidence that “the very fact that once we are successful in defeating those devils who enjoy and take pleasure from the suffering of others, successful in eradicating poverty and unemployment and the sense of manifold-insecurities, low self-esteem for our own selves that will give us hope and strengths. We too can, one day, defeat those who keep us poor-provided we have a will and courage to do it and we make the collective effort for it.” Response of the State: Drought in Balangir therefore is not a rain deficiency syndrome rather a political issue that manifests lack of poor people’s participation in decision making and lack of access to relevant information, inappropriate resource management and poor governance. Nevertheless, despite all these maladies and oppressions, ADHAR and all its activists and workers never lose hopes. We the people in ADHAR are used to speak to ourselves and the sections of people that we work with in a complete and concrete voice that “there is no necessity for skepticism. There is nothing that we cannot achieve. We have to strive for it; we have to go step by step. And we have to go together. Alone or in small groups we will fail, we will be beaten up. We should know that, whatever caste or religion we may belong to, we are all human beings with one stomach and two hands. We all suffer from same hunger and same poverty; we all drink the same dirty water, breath the same polluted air. It is they who want to divide us and make us fight us with each other so that we don’t fight them; it is they who poison us with sinful ideas about high and low castes, about masjids and mandirs. But we are all human beings with one head and two eyes. Let us use them, to see the truth and reality. Let us not allow them to run our lives and our world. It is our lives and our world that we should have complete control over. That exactly ADHAR has been adhering to for years together. WE ARE HAVING A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION IN KARIMNAGAR(Dt), ANDHRAPRADESH. WE ARE HAVING 12A,80G 5(VI),F.C.R.A. AND APPLIED 10(23)C FOR OUR ORGANIZATION. Respected Sir, We Carmel womens and rural development society (CWARDS) is working in the tribal are of Bhadrachalam, Khammam District of Andhra pradesh in India. Since five (06) years we are doing several activities for the tribal masses especially Environment, Education, Vocational trainings and Health awareness activities especially HIV/AIDS awareness programmes. (Y.GUILBERT) we need donors any organisation who are intrested to implement hiv/aids programme in the remote areas of khammam dist ap india/please contact to my email address Akshaya Foundation is running a free home for elder destitute women at 29, 2nd Street, Malliga Nagar, Pallavaram, Chennai 600 043. The objective of the Foundtion is care the uncared. Poor women who has no place to go is accommodated. No caste, religion restriction. The elders are cared with love and affection which they really in need. The foundation need your financial support to have a building specially designed for elders with best possible comforts. We are an voluntary organisation needs financial funding for develop our activities. we are working in the areas where the peoples are live without proper Health, Environment & Literacy facility.Area of operation-Koraput District of orissa state. Posted by: HELP on October 24, 2006 07:30 AMDEAR SIR, SAMAJ SAMATA ANI VIKAS SANSTHA Shree Gurudeo Adivasi Shikshan Sanstha (SGASS) is registered trust under fcra and 80G . Motive of organisation to relief and welfare of Tribal community in health section. so co-operate us Posted by: kishor B Deshmukh on December 27, 2006 06:24 AMPREDICT is interested in running a computer training center for the socially under previlaged children. any help in the form of donation of computers, financial remittances, other form of support like volunteers are welcome. you can e-mail- kamala_shankar@hotmail.com or contact 9884776245. Posted by: shankar on February 9, 2007 04:30 AMhai i had visited ur website information's good Posted by: dharmendran on May 7, 2007 09:23 AMi got lot of information in this site about child labour right now i am in australia. i am from ranga reddy dist shamir pet mondal, lalgadimalakpet. i will do some thing for this probluem in future. thank you Posted by: sudhaker on May 20, 2007 10:44 PMWe have a society firm, hallo sir, Could you please,get us some information regarding the funding source of above mentioned field! Reply us! We are work to health, Rural, education, womean empowerment, livlihood, natural resource, management & awareness generation (poupat show, nukadar natak) etc. Our organisation intation are have been work in decrease mother die rate in the future.
Nectar foundation of India is a registered non-profit organization working in the area of creative communication for over all development. At Nectar we are involved with designing and implementing creative, interactive workshop for all. We have our expertise in workshop. we are in Muslim Miniistry and NGOs called Zoe Ministries under this we have We doing church ministry.We like to start child,widow or elders ministry & we like joint with your org.Pls can you help us?How can we start? Posted by: P.M.Roshani on March 28, 2008 03:04 AMWe are running an NGO.Namely SAMAJ KALYAN SAMITI.We are working in the field of education.We are running many institutions for last 10 years.We are looking for financial aids.Can you tell me the resources from where I can get financial aid. Posted by: AZHAR UDDIN on April 28, 2008 12:29 AM
we voice voice of voluntary organisation for integrated community empowerment is an ngos network of andhrapradesh. we working for the empowerment of the poor people with several programmes in various districts. Now voice ready to work with mutual co operation of like minded ngos networks. Here i enclosed our profile for your kind consideration.we need your favourable suggestions/support. voice is registerd ngos network working in grassroot level with sincerely. with regards P.CHAITHANYA Post a comment
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