Economic Growth India Project #1900

Empowering Villages in Rural India

by Seva Mandir

Project Report | Sep 8, 2021
Preparing Villages for Covid-19 Third Wave

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

While the second wave of COVID-19 that hit our country left a trail of fatalities, in addition to economic and social crises, health experts warn of a third wave.

Our experience during the second wave shows that a set of measures would help face the third wave. Strengthening of local administration, civil society organizations lending them support and their synergic work with community collectives is a potential way of overcoming the situation, when it arises.

Through our HUM SAJAG (We are Alert) initiative we aim to build a pool of trained and equipped human resource base of 6,000 frontline workers and village volunteers in 1,500 villages spread across 14 blocks of Udaipur and Rajsamand district in 100 days. Establishing collective COVID management norms in villages through active village groups, youth, community and women leaders will be a core focus of this initiative. We plan the following:

1. To provide basic safety kits, diagnostic kits and a COVID safety protocol and education material reference book to 6,000 frontline staff and village volunteers.

2. To train and build capacities of over 6,000 front line workers and village volunteers through a comprehensive training module designed in consultation with health experts, Government IEC materials and other health-based organization. The training will majorly focus on critical aspects of addressing COVID-19, its spread, home isolation, monitoring, referrals, vaccination and post COVID care.

3. Activating village groups (10-12 members from youth, village institution leaders, women committed to minimize the impact of Covid-19 in villages) to understand and establish commonly agreed community norms to increase vaccination, reduce fear and myths and isolate in case of a potential third wave.

4. We aim to support block level Community Health Centers to help improve the health infrastructure for better management of COVID-19 at block level. Earlier we have connected such donors to government for supplementing the need of Oxygen concentrators in health institutes.

5. Reaching out the areas with most vaccination hesitation in southern Rajasthan using a combination of different traditional theatre forms and music. Actors will use popular folk songs to talk about many myths and fears of vaccination.

"If I feed my child after getting vaccinated, the virus will come through milk in the child." said one of the women. Pregnant and lactating women are experiencing higher doubts and hesitation towards vaccination. Through theatre and discussion, we will try to clarify these types of concerns.

Thank you for your precious support to our programme. Your support is a source of encouragement to us during this much needed time.

We are also happy to share with you that we are participating in GlobalGiving’s Little by Little Campaign. This is a five-day crowdfunding campaign taking place from September 13-17. All eligible donations up to $50 per unique donor per organization will be matched at 50% during the campaign. So, this is a chance to double the impact of your donation. We hope that you will support us to get matching funds for our programme and for the communities we work with.

Stay safe and healthy.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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May 17, 2021
Rural Communities: Struggling with the 2nd Wave

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

The 2^nd wave of COVID-19 across India has hit us harder than the first one. The entire health system of the country is out of its breath, due to the large number of patients needing treatment. At Seva Mandir, we still believe in the importance of precaution and prevention, and the only way to reduce the burden on a health system that has already been pushed to the limits. But the worst-affected are always the underprivileged and vulnerable communities. For them prevention is very important, as treatment is a bigger challenge.

The state of Rajasthan is under strict lockdown. Udaipur and parts of southern Rajasthan are severely impacted. Unlike last year, this time the rural region has been hit hard and large numbers of patients are reported from the villages.

During this medical emergency, Seva Mandir team continues to work and support communities. We are working closely with health experts and organisations to understand needs and have taken up the response work ahead in the villages where Covid cases are surging at an unstoppable pace. Multitude of problems are witnessed causing spread of the virus such as rural patients struggling with home isolation, finding treatment close to home, arranging for food and basic amenities, misinformation and so on. An immediate and pressing need is to provide access to reliable information, counter dangerous myths regarding the disease, vaccination and treatment, and provide survival support to the vulnerable families in the rural and tribal parts of Udaipur and Rajsamand.

Seva Mandir is well placed to deliver this through its wide network of volunteers and community institutions. It is responding to this situation by undertaking the Covid Relief Work. The assessment of needs in areas of food, safety equipment, care, counselling, awareness and referral is being carried out continuously in consultation with communities and local institutions to help community withstand the adversity.

Also, Seva Mandir is implementing robust measures to protect its staff and the team of front liners who are undertaking the implementation of the relief work.

We, hence, seek your continuous support to help the rural communities withstand the impacts of the pandemic. We are aiming to provide families in rural, tribal and urban slum communities with vital relief packs to ensure they can survive this crisis. We trust that you will continuously support us. We also believe that the world will soon come out with this situation.

Thank you so much.

Regards

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

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Dec 28, 2020
Transforming Communities and Changing Lives

By Atul Lekhra | Programme Incharge

Dear Friend,

Seva Mandir has always believed and worked towards empowering communities to take accountability of social transformation as the most sustainable way of moving ahead. Seva Mandir has nurtured its village development groups into spaces where people are able to actively participate in the decisions which directly affect their lives.

To further empower these village groups, the groups have been amalgamated into federations. These are multilayered, self-governing community institutions created by Seva Mandir to resolve larger-scale issues. The federations work on the social as well as financial issues of the region and liaise with various government as well as non-government agencies.

Rod ka Guda is a small village situated in the rocky area of Kumbhalgarh. This village consists of around 100 households with a population of 700. The village people have very few government services and have long had problems with drinking water. In addition to working on pastureland development and some soil and water conservation work, Seva Mandir has formed a Village Development Committee (VDC) as well as two women’s Self-Help Groups in the village. Seva Mandir spent INR 429,000 (just over USD 6,000) on construction of a water tank and pipeline for the villagers under the supervision of the VDC members. The VDC then negotiated with the village panchayat (local Government body), successfully securing INR 100,000 (nearly USD 1,500) towards the purchase of a pump to help them lift water to the tank.

Now the VDC is taking primary responsibility for its management and maintenance. They have devised rules, fixed a token amount of INR 200 (just under USD 3) which each household must pay per month towards water service charges, and appointed a point person to operate the machine twice a day. The amount paid by households is being used for payment of the point person, electricity charges and other maintenance.

This case is notable for the collective effort and contribution of the VDC and also because they were able to persuade the panchayat (local government body) to play a positive role in their development.

We would like to thank you for letting us meet our commitments in the field. All this has been possible due to your consistent support and trust in us.

Our whole team wishes you a lot of joy and happiness during this holiday season. May the upcoming year bring new achievements and happiness to you and your family. Happy New Year.

Best Wishes

Atul Lekhra & the Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

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