Central Himalayan Rural Action Group(CHIRAG)
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Mission Statement
With a mandate to work in the central section of the Himalayas that lie in Uttarakhand, the Central Himalayan Rural Action Group or Chirag was registered in July 1986. Chirag seeks to improve the quality of life and facilitate the movement towards self-reliance of local communities, particularly women and the poor. To achieve this goal Chirag works closely with local communities utilising community based strategies for the sustainable and equitable use of resources. Chirag’s Vision: To be a catalyst for the creation of a society rooted firmly in the principles of dignity, justice and solidarity. Chirag’s Mission: Chirag’s mission is to improve the quality of life of rural people- especially the poor and women- in the Central Himalaya. The organization tries to do this through interventions in health, education and natural resource management, and by providing access to diversified livelihood options. Chirag promote the sustainable ownership and management of common resources by the community. CHIRAG follows an integrated approach to development in the villages wherein it is functioning. The four sectors of intervention that CHIRAG works in are: Education I. Bal Shikshak Programme to support primary school education in Government schools. II. Strengthening School Management Committees to ensure better service at the ground level. III. Scholarship Programme for Girl Scholars studying in schools. IV. The Chirag School, a successful community institution was set up to demonstrate that quality education can be provided in rural areas, with available resources. Natural Resource Management I. Forestry II. Fodder III. Spring Water Recharge IV. Watershed Development Livelihood Support I. Agriculture II. Animal Husbandry III. Agri- marketing support to members of the cooperative IV. Fruit and Vegetable processing Health I. Curative Health: CHIRAG Hospital II. Preventive and Promotive Health Programme, working with Village Health and Sanitation Committees to improve health and sanitation, and improve better service at the ground level CHIRAG’s development work is implemented through Village Level Institutions (VLIs ) such as Van Panchayats, VHSC, SMC, Gram Panchayats and community instituted user groups and federations such as SHGs,cooperatives and Producer Companay. CHIRAG shares its technical expertise and engages with the community to carry out its development work.
About This Cause
DEVELOPMENT IDEOLOGY Chirag is a secular organisation with no political affiliations, committed to the principles of participation, transparency and equality. Chirag’s motto aptly describes its developmental approach. “Go to the People, Live among them, Learn from them, Love them. Start with what they know. Build on what they have. But of the best Leaders, When their task is accomplished, Their work is done, The people all remark, “We have done it ourselves”.” KEY STRATEGIES Chirag’s key strategy in all its’ interventions is to involve the community right from the inception and seek active involvement of them from the planning phase to the project implementation phase and in post project maintenance phase. Building robust community institutions and providing handholding support to them has been Chirag’s focus The key strategies followed by Chirag can be summed up in the following: a) Building capacities of the local communities in understanding the issues and the proposed solution. In this case, geo-hydrology and distribution and management of water. b) Active involvement of the community in the planning the interventions. In this case for rejuvenation of the spring c) Create a post project operation and maintenance budget for project sustainability. In this case for every spring through community contribution based on annual O&M plan d) Liaise closely with govt departments for scaling up of the model. In this case with organisations like JalSansthan/Jal Nigam for scaling up this model and impact water policy in the state e) Document the impact thoroughly and scientifically so that the impact can be captured accurately and disseminated widely EDUCATION The following are the major objectives of the education programme: • Improving and sustaining the quality of education in primary government schools, in programme areas. This is being done by working with the village school management committees. • Inculcate a reading habit amongst children, through a school library programme. • Ensuring that girls from disadvantaged backgrounds complete their schooling. Chirag’s involvement with education has been increasing steadily. To improve and enhance the quality of education in public (government) schools, in the programme area, the organization is working closely with 65 village School Management Committees (SMC) and helping them in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities under RTE. The organization is also supporting SMCs in appointment and training of balshikshaks, i.e. teachers appointed by the local village committees, to augment and support efforts of the government appointed school teachers. This is proving to be a very effective programme, especially in very remote villages, where government appointed school masters are reluctant to take up assignments. Around 3250 children study in the 65 primary schools where Chirag is supporting the balshikshaks programme. Chirag also operates a growing school library program for children and a scholarship programme for the girl child, which presently benefits 89 scholars. The Chirag School, a successful community institution was set up to demonstrate that quality education can be provided in rural areas, with available resources. The school has 122 students and is now a recognized institution. Chirag is working to leverage the resources and expertise built in the operations of the school, for wider community benefit. LIVELIHOOD Chirag continues to enable communities to strengthen and diversify livelihood options through agricultural marketing, finance for development and animal husbandry programs. Chirag has also initiated efforts at processing and packaging of agricultural and horticultural produce of the region that provides betters returns to farmers. The integrated programme that the organization operates includes supports to farmers on: • Sustainable agriculture and Non Pest Management (NPM) • Promotion of community based animal husbandry • Setting up cooperatives and micro federation with poor women farmers • Support to existing micro-enterprises • Facilitation of value added research and development • Setting up of a producer owned company. Chirag today works with more than 200 SHGs of women, 4 cooperatives, Producer Company and 5 livestock based micro-enterprises. Approximately 5,000 farmers are members of these women led instutions and have, in the last financial year, realized over Rs. 50 lakhs through the sale of agricultural and horticultural products through the Producer Company. THE SPRING RECHARGE PROGRAMME Over the years, coupled with widespread forest degradation, a steady decline in spring discharges in the Himalayan region has been observed by both, local communities and experts. Irregularity in rainfall and changing land-use pattern are the principal contributing factors. With most hill communities dependent on the springs, which are primarily groundwater resources, the need to conserve and augment them has never been so urgent. Chirag has over the years developed a better understanding of the relationship between geology and groundwater resources. Understanding the former is essential for working on the latter. This understanding has contributed to the development of a Spring Recharge Programme, which takes into account local geology and seeks help from other fields like forestry and soil & water conservation for recharging the dying springs. The major objectives of this ongoing programme are: • To understand the nature of water resources in the central Himalayan region through action research. • To understand the process of identifying the actual catchment area of any water source after conducting a detailed hydro-geological survey. • To enhance/sustain the yield of a water source by proposing soil & water conservation measures based on hydro-geological conditions. • To initiate perspectives on long-term management of fragile hydrologic systems like springs. • To provide the potable drinking water. • To establish adequate monitoring infrastructure for impact assessment. Chirag has treated 150 springs in the last ten years and continues to monitor the discharge of more than 100 springs in the region. The organization also carries out regular testing of the water at sources to prevent contamination and facilitate the control of water borne diseases. HEALTH CURATIVE SERVICES The health programme of Chirag started with Rural Health Centers (RHC) in Sitla and later on in Sargakhet, two villages in the Mukteshwar block of district Nainital. In January 2009, the Chirag Hospital was inaugurated at Sargakhet, with a special focus on the health of women and children. The hospital also provides much needed emergency services to the region. Facilities at the hospital include a well equipped laboratory, an X-ray facility, an ECG machine, treatment rooms, a delivery room, a general ward with six beds and two private rooms. The curative services are managed by doctors trained in ayurveda, modern medicine and surgery, a pathologist, a dentist, a trained lab-technician, an X-Ray technician, a pharmacist and two nursing staff. Since 2009, the hospital has treated almost 25,000 outpatients (most of which are women). In 2014-2015 the hospital treated nearly 5000 patients through the year and facilitated the delivery of 30 infants. We expect these numbers to escalate further this year onwards with the addition of a full time dentist and pathologist to the hospital staff. PREVENTIVE & PROMOTIVE HEALTH The programme has enumerated its five year strategic goals which are listed below: • A reduction in water borne diseases particularly diarrhea and jaundice • An improvement in maternal/ child health & social security services of the government • Reduction in morbidity amongst woman with special focus on anemia and leucorrhoea • Stemming the declining sex ratio in the 0 – 6 age group. The programme has evolved from the initial phase where the focus was on increasing access to drinking water and sanitation. Piped water schemes, maintenance and up-gradation of springs, community water tanks and rain-water harvesting tanks in addition to latrines were constructed. A cadre of community health workers supported by the Chirag health team spearheaded the preventive and promotive health effort. Additionally In 1996, Chirag set up Kumaun Grameen Udyog (KGU), a not-for-profit company, with a mandate to reinvest all the profits back to the community. KGU was set up explicitly to support the marketing of the various income generating programs that Chirag initiated. It is now a fully functioning company that operates independent of Chirag. KGU has achieved total sales of Rs.1.75 crore in the year 2017-18, which it is well poised to overtake this year.