The
District Poverty Initiatives Programme (DPIP) is a World
Bank-assisted project currently being implementing across
three states of India, including seven districts of Rajasthan,
which are amongst the poorest in the state. The project
aims to reduce poverty in the selected districts by organizing
men and women from BPL (Below Poverty Line) families into
common interest groups (CIGs) through which they can take
up a variety of savings and credit activities, discuss possible
IGAs, generate and access the required finances, and then
take up the activities. It is expected that through this
process the participants in the programme will be able to
improve their economic and social status. Seva Mandir is
responsible for implementing the programme in 67 villages
across 14 panchayats in two clusters of Kumbhalgarh block
of Rajsamand district.
Under DPIP, a total of 210 sub-projects
have been identified to be taken up by the various CIGs.
These sub-projects fall into three broad categories:
In 2004, Seva
Mandir, in collaboration with the National Foundation
for India (NFI), embarked on an innovative project of
participatory governance in a semi-urban settlement. Semi-urban
settlements constitute a somewhat forgotten but very important
category in the development context. Too large and too
crowded to be served effectively by a village panchayat,
and having many of the problems and social dynamics of
towns and cities, such places are also too small to qualify
for municipality status, and hence lack access to the
funding required for meeting their developmental needs.
At the same time, such settlements serve as important
links between rural and urban economies, providing markets
and employment to residents of nearby villages. They also
offer a variety of services that are unavailable in more
remote rural areas.
The idea, then,
of engaging in a project to explore how a participatory
approach to governance could be applied in such a context
appeared not only attractive but also essential for meeting
the broader objective of securing regional development
in what are typically considered rural areas. Since the
opportunity represented a new field for Seva Mandir, the
project was conceptualized as giving due attention to
both the action and learning components through the implementation
process.
The project
site is Delwara, a town located about 28 km to the north
of Udaipur. Delwara is, in many ways, a typical semi-urban
settlement.
At
the core of the Delwara Project is the same set of values
that is common to all of Seva Mandir’s work: the
bringing together of citizens in an effort to address
collectively the problems that affect them. As such, the
creation and strengthening of community organizations
provides a fulcrum around which a variety of community-led
development works can be carried out. A total of six thematic
sectors emerged through interaction with the community:
Water and sanitation
Health and solid waste management
Education and youths
Livelihoods
Heritage
Communication and advocacy
Learning to understand and work with, rather than against,
prevailing social and political dynamics within the community
has been a critical part of the process. Thus, in addition
to working across the aforementioned sectors, the Delwara
Project makes a specific point of working with all sections
of the community, thereby cutting across religious, caste,
gender, age, and political divides to bring citizens together
in the struggle for an inclusive and equitable development
process that seeks to improve the quality of life for all.
Unsurprisingly, the project is constantly evolving and taking
shape as new interventions, processes, and activities uncover
new community leaders, create new spaces for different sections
of the population to participate in the development process,
and challenge existing power structures and relationships.
At the heart of the process of strengthening community organizations
was the formation of a Citizen’s Development Forum (Nagrik
Vikas Manch, or NVM). The executive committee of the NVM
initiated a number of village-level development activities,
but was eventually perceived as being too elitist and male
dominated to provide an adequate base for a truly participatory
and sustainable community-driven development process. Accordingly,
it was decided to establish a second tier of organizations
in the form of neighbourhood (mohalla) groups. Each group
would be led by an elected committee. Intensive and regular
dialogue with the mohalla groups enabled the emergence of
a wide range of local issues that needed attention. These
issues were identified, discussed with the communities,
and eventually presented by the communities in the form
of proposals. Meanwhile, various stakeholders from Seva
Mandir, NFI, the local project team, and also some external
consultants worked together to develop appropriate interventions
that would meet the needs of the community, all the while
striving to work in collaboration with the local government
as far as possible.
CHILD LINE is a 24-hour telephone-based
national helpline that attends to calls relating to children
in distress. Started in April 2002 in collaboration between
the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government
of India and the CHILD LINE India Foundation, Mumbai,
the programme is currently operating in 77 cities in India.
Seva Mandir also runs one such helpline. In 2006–07,
under the Udaipur CHILD LINE project, a total of 1,169
calls were registered, including inquiries about medical
help, sponsorship, emotional support, and guidance.
The
Kunjru Library has a history of its own. Dr. Mohan Singh
Mehta founded Seva Mandir. Before this, he was working as
an Assistant Professor in Economics at Agra College. At
that time, he received a letter from Pandit Hriday Nath
Kunjru. This letter evoked such determination in Dr. Mehta,
that he gave up his job at the Agra College and laid the
foundations of Seva Mandir. In the letter, Pt. Kunjru wrote
‘there will be many more people in the society to
become Professors, but today the society needs more volunteers
for its own cause, for the people who need our help and
support'. Dr. Mehta regarded Pt. Kunjru in high esteem.
He changed his ideas and in 1969, laid the foundation of
Seva Mandir. At that time, he also dreamt of a good library
for Seva Mandir staff, to guide and enhance the process
of continuous learning. Therefore On October 7 1973, the
library was inaugurated and named after Pt. Hriday Nath
Kunjru. Along with the then Vice-President of India, Shri
G.S.Pathak, a girl from Harijan Area, who was running Seva
Mandir’s NFE center in Amba Mata, also inaugurated
the Library.
Ellie's
Diary of Little Children
Bhurki is a small, beautiful,
quietly
child with big brown eyes and a little smile that
plays on her lips, Both her parents......
