Project Pragati – Developing Rural Areas Through Sustainable Development Seed CSR

 

Why is Rural Sustainable Development Important?

The Government of India has launched several poverty alleviation programmes in rural areas in terms of agriculture, technology, education and infrastructure to boost the socio-economic status of farmers and marginal workers. Globally, this is recognized as a major challenge for the governments to bridge the gap between development in the urban and rural sector.

SEED CSR through its project “Pragati” is implementing various sustainable development interventions in seven villages falling under Bargarh municipal district of Odisha.

The first phase of the project, which includes several awareness programmes for the villagers about sustainable development, setting up a Centre for Excellence (COE) to enhance the skills of youth, providing safe drinking water and healthcare facility and developing sustainable livelihoods for all. The project is implemented by SEED CSR in collaboration with PTC India.

Sustainable Rural Development is the process of improving the social-economic status of a village by engaging the people in several programmes and providing better housing, water, sanitation, health, education, infrastructure and livelihood to all the residents.

SEED CSR follows integrated planning method to build the “New India”. For instance, building a school also requires providing water and power supply. It is important to note that through integrated planning method all the requirements of the project are fulfilled at an early stage.

Sustainable Rural Development has three aspects for successful implementation of the project:

–    Survey of the village

–    Community mobilisation and participation

–    Planning, Executing and Managing

SEED CSR representatives carried out a detailed survey of the village that helped us to evaluate the existing infrastructure and facilities with regards to health, education, sanitation etc.

Based on the assessment, SEED CSR during the first phase of the project decided to implement interventions to provide quality healthcare, water and hygiene and skill development through community participation.

Community Engagement and Awareness:

• Formed a Village Development Committee (VDC), comprising 10 members with the aim to look after the initiatives and ensure maximum participation.
• 9 monthly meetings were held to keep track of the initiatives.
• Using “Out-of-the-box” strategy, children were sensitized about the benefits of cleanliness and washing habits.
• We exposed the children to innovative ways of learning like nukkadnaataksand engaged them in several indoor and outdoor activities. 
• 800 people were sensitized about open defecation, cleanliness and menstrual hygiene.

Quality Healthcare:

During the initial assessment, we observed that the health status of women and children are extremely poor in the region. As per our initial assessment, we also observed that people had issues pertaining to pediatrics, eye and skin problems. Depending on the needs of the community, SEED CSR provided healthcare facilities to these beneficiaries through different health camps. 

• 8 general health camps and 8 specialized health camps benefitting over 1600 people were setup.
• These camps are organized every month providing free health check-ups, free medicines and sensitizing people about several other diseases and disorders.

Skill Development:

• SEED CSR imparted vocational training courses to 200 trainees under two categories – Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) and Mobile Repairing.
• A Centre for Excellence (COE) is set up by SEED CSR to impart vocational training courses.
• Additionally, courses like personality development and career counselling were also provided to the trainees for their overall growth.

Water and Hygiene:

• We installed a water centre at New Gudesira village, which helped in benefitting 3,100 people directly and 6,350 people indirectly.
• Several sessions were also held to sensitize people about cleanliness, importance of safe drinking water and menstrual hygiene to over 600 beneficiaries.

The first phase of this project has changed lives of thousands of people living in these villages, who were earlier oblivious to the basic amenities. SEED CSR through its interventions continues its journey to change the lives of people living in rural areas by providing them with sustainable solution for better facilities. Come along! Let’s go ahead with more CSR Initiatives in India.