Community Development
Bridging facilities to campaign a new life
Safe Drinking Water
In a small village called Kottaipatti in the Dindigul region, a simple water tap installed has changed the lives of many women.
Before this tap was installed, I had to get water from far, a half or more hour walk away,” said Kamala, who has four children. “Having to that twice a day meant that I lost most of my time in fetching water and my legs and body ached,” she lamented.
Two pots of water for just half a day: to drink, cook and wash.
Radha’s story is not uncommon in the villages of Dindigul and Namakkal districts. The burden of carrying water merely adds to the myriad responsibilities they already juggle. The untreated and unsafe water led to many people falling sick, especially children.
Ripples of joy
Radha is grateful that after SSH intervened and installed around 30 borewells in Dindigul and Namakkal districts. Our Safe Drinking Water programme enables the community who face severe water scarcity to get clean and safe water. SSH also took steps to treat the untreated water drawn from the wells and managed the untreated water for kitchen gardens.
“The impact was significant,” says Dr. Britto Selvaraj, the Secretary of SSH even as the little kids and women with big smiles on their faces, ran to the pump with their pots and filled them with clean, fresh water.
Joy overflows
As a result of the borewells closer to their homes, the women had quality time to spend with children, involved in income-generating activities and the percentage of girls’ attendance in school increased.
Community Programme for Children
“There is a spike in the number of children who attend school; some unleashing their potential; encouraged and motivated parents; empowered women and a community thriving in a safe environment,” declared a proud programme coordinator of SSH.
Through this programme, we provide educational and emotional support to children and their parents who are from the vulnerable background.
Main activities:
- Triggers the inert skills and creativity of children through the support of Children Clubs and Children Support Groups
- Provides psycho-social support that frees them from mental and social depression of children and their parents
- Supports the education of children to continue their education
- Establishes community rapport by mobilising financial and in-kind support from local businesses and well-known individuals for sustainability
- Provides nutritional and daily usage packages
- Conducts training to instil leadership qualities, life skills, personality development, and to impart knowledge on healthcare, rights of women and children.
Poultry Program
Hatching income
“We had almost packed up all our household. “Would the grass be greener on the other side?” – this question kept popping up now and then. But, we had no alternative since my husband had no job and neither me,” recalled Jayanthi. Fortunately, SSH’s help to change our mind has reshaped our future. Goats came to our rescue. Through the self-help group, I got a loan to buy hens. Now it has multiplied and so is our income,” boasted the joyful Padma.
Look for resources in your village
There is a necessity for indigenous and small business employment in the rural areas to prevent migration of workers to urban areas. Periodic motivation, training and awareness generation of the women and youths in Sempatti and Namakkal paved the way for SSH to launch this program. As a result, there is a growing number of youths interested in self-employment with the available local resource with updated skills.
What did we do?
- Selected youth and trained them on poultry production and benefits of local poultry and poultry products.
- Enabled linkages with production support, safety, handling and inspection and marketing.
- Trained 150 poor women in the promotion of poultry units which provided significant avenues for self employment. This fetches a handsome income within a short period.
Facilitation Training Centre
Supported by the Government of Japan and its people, the Facilitation Training Centre is the resource centre for NGOs and CBO networks. It is the abode for upcoming aspirants for meaningful engagement in trades and business enterprises, capacity building of communities on thematic workshops and strategising and project designing centre for communities and think-tankers. SSH has developed to the level of catering to the technical needs of communities now, and conducts many residential workshops. The FTC is situated in a serene rich greenery situation, and efforts are being taken to keep the surrounding area under the green cover initiatives and organic farming. The components of workshops conducted of FTC varies from RCH education, HIV education, Nutrition management, Organic farming, Vocational training etc. and workshops on how to start a business, improve a business and market potency analysis and participatory need analysis of communities on different sectors. Dispersal meetings of IGP loans/fund were also held here with the participation of other secondary stakeholders which paved the way for a holistic understanding of the needs of the trained aspirants on different trades and skills.
Networking with other NGOs & Forums
We should approach any comprehensive development which would consist of social and economic improvement along with right perspectives in a cohesive dynamism which requires more networking and linkages of development agencies and subject experts. For this imperative need, SSH has formed a Network with NGOs and District, State and National level Forums and pursues international knowledge accomplishment in its service to the targeted disadvantaged. SSH for its enabled various functioning styles with improved strength participates in the national and international seminars/workshops/meetings. At the grassroots level, it engages in the sharing discussions and facilitates and invites resource persons from the network. Special mentioning among them are:
