Working with the Community
  • The winning trust of the community is the starting point for community development.
  • Motivating the villagers and ensuring greater cooperation leads to greater success
  • Selection of the right target group such as pregnant and lactating mothers, single women leads to big impact in the community
Strengths of the community
  • Villagers are ready to contribute for good causes. Example - Grain bank for the poor, Feeding all children once in a week
  • Villagers come forward for help in emergencies beyond their means. Example - taking care of a another village which had been damaged fully in a fire; sending a truckload of food grains for the Gujarat Earthquake in 2001
  • When drinking water tanks for cattle were constructed, all the nearby farmers cooperated to fill up their tanks everyday without any charge
Empowerment of Women
  • Contrary to general perception, women can come forward easily to take charge of their pressing problems
  • Women empowerment ensures that she not only solve her problems but also helps the family and the community
  • Lack of information for the women is a major hindrance in their development. The men hardly share any information on livelihood, government schemes and other benefits for the women
  • Ensuring greater participation of women in Panchayats based on 50% reservation will have a long time impact
  • SHGs are a good method to organize women and empower them
  • Adolescent girls is a ignored group and need special attention and care in villages
Water a main priority of the Villagers
  • Water is a major issue in tribal areas. Every summer there is a drinking water crisis
  • Water for the cattle is a priority for all villagers but not handled by any government scheme
  • Groundwater levels are going down and comparative effort to conserve rain water and recharge the groundwater are extremely low
Agriculture
  • The condition of farmers is very pathetic due to several factors such as
    • high cost of cultivation due to chemical inputs and purchase of seeds
    • poor services and reach of agriculture extension system
    • variations in weather due to climate change
    • variations in weather due to climate change
  • Women are not considered as farmers and deprived of training, loans and other benefits
  • Organic agriculture techniques has appeal to the farmers as it reduces their input costs and improves the health of the soil
  • Farmers are taking keen interest in local seeds preservation and use
Panchayats
  • Although there is a reservation of 50% for women in the elected representatives, but due to the dominance of men , women are restrained from getting elected. Once elected they are not allowed to work
  • The concept of Sarpanch Patti ( Husband of Sarpanch ) is very much functional as husband’s not only attend meetings on their behalf but also take decisions and even sign on their behalf
  • Most of the activities done by the panchayat members are connected with construction as there are large expenditures and possibility of corruption and leakages
  • Planning and implementing GPDP – Gram Panchayat Development Plan is a must in every gram panchayat, but it is not being properly planned
  • Approval of the GPDP by Gram Sabha is an essential condition but the process is not followed in letter and spirit
  • Small efforts in mobilising villagers to participate in panchayat activities gives a large result
Digital empowerment
  • Other than the educational , social and economic divide, a new digital divide has emerged in the past one decade. This digital divide is due to lack of Internet facility in remote areas, high cost of smart phones, inability to buy personal computers, non-availability of regular and quality electricity
  • Large number of programs of government through digital platforms, online education and other digital channels are there but villagers are not able to fully benefit
Advocacy
  • Taking up common issues of target groups such as women , single women, farmers etc and sharing with government is helpful
  • Special efforts are required to bring change at a larger scale through government intervention
  • Collective voice of NGOs is largely heard and accepted in government circles
Others
  • A self-help group of 40 weavers promoted by SIRDI was working energetically. However when we registered it is a cooperative society to get some benefits, the interference from the cooperative department led to winding up of the whole activity. Formal registration of beneficiary group does not always help.
  • Similarly Sathin Federation of 3000 women members was registered as a society but the formal meetings and other regulatory provisions became a load on the members. Without the support of the NGO it was difficult for them to manage on their own
  • Hiring external consultants helps to find solutions to the problems in the villages, which may not be perceived by the NGOs. Example - Taking drinking water to a remote village, Tanki. The water had to be lifted by1500 feet and without electricity from the grid. A consultant found a solution to this problem
  • External agencies and professionals many a times cheat and manipulate the NGOs specially in technical matters
  • Our NGO had a campus which was 80 km from the district headquarters. Such a remote location has lots of disadvantages and should be avoided.
  • Using MP and MLA funds for large critical needs is always useful
  • Funding opportunities for remote NGO’s , small and medium sized NGOs are reducing progressively