We thank our partner organizations for believing in our idea and extending support to the Grassroutes Program. If you would like to partner with us for the future editions, please write to us. To know more on how we can work together, please go through our brochure. We would love to hear from you.

We have three new additions to our list of partners for the coming Summer 2010 Edition.

We have Samata, working with tribal communities in Andhra Pradesh; Grassroots, working on sustainable development in the Himalayan States;

Samata

Samata is a non-governmental organization that focuses on advocacy and development issues among tribal communities in Andhra Pradesh. Samata helps tribal groups address problems of land alienation, displacement, and political dis-empowerment. Its mission is to uphold the traditional, constitutional, and human rights of the tribal or adivasi people. Samata focuses primarily on projects in the tribal villages of East Godavari and Vizag districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. This region forms a part of the Eastern Ghats range of mountains. Samata is also involved in the protection of the natural resources and ecology of the Eastern Ghats (hills).

Grassroots

The Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation (Grassroots), is a non-profit voluntary organization, that works in the central and western Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh to promote sustainable, self-reliant development at the village level.   The emphasis is on self-help participation working across the integrated issues of water & sanitation, renewable energy, community forestry,  sustainable agriculture and enterprise development.

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Nishtha

Nishtha is providing alternative education to children of sex workers. The aim of this project is to financially support their infrastructure. In the remote village Baikunthapur, located in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, girl children and women often get deserted and became victims of exploitation, torture and violence. The condition of the children, particularly the girl children was equally distressing. Very few of them could get chance to go to school. In the year 1974 five women of this village were thrown out of their in-laws’ house and two other women committed suicide driven by the torture in their in-laws house. This prompted Mrs. Pritilata Das and some other sensitive women to form a group called NISHTHA. Their aim is to empower women and children.

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For the December 2008 edition of Grassroutes, we have partnered with organisations from the states of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, who are working on divese issues such as Rural Health care, Development of Rural Enterprises and Wildlife Protection.

Jan Swasthya Sahyog

Jan Swasthya Sahyog (literally People’s Health Support Group) is a registered society that is committed to developing a low-cost, effective, community health program in the tribal and rural areas of Bilaspur district in the state of Chhattisgarh. Over nearly 2 years now, they have been developing a community health program in 21 tribal villages in Kota block of Bilaspur district. 47 village health workers (VHWs) from these 21 villages are being trained under the Community Health Programme to provide primary preventive and curative services for common illnesses. Over the past six months, Jan Swasthya Sahyog has been involved in the collection and cultivation of indigenous varieties of rice, wheat and different species of millets (e.g. jowar, bajra, madhia, kutki, sawan) and lentils (e.g. arhar, kulhat) that can be grown on poor soil without irrigation, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Members of this group are socially responsive healthcare professionals, many of whom got together during their post-graduate studies at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, around twelve years ago.

WWF - India

WWF India is recognized as a premier conservation NGO in the country dealing with nature conservation, environmental protection and development-related issues. It has been working to promote harmony between human beings and nature for more than three decades. At a time when the Web of Life has come under increasing threats, WWF India’s attempts have been to find and implement solutions so that human beings can live in harmony with nature, and leave for future generations a world rich in natural resources and natural wonders. WWF India is engaged in a multitude of activities for protection and conservation of the environment in the Indian context. Climate Change and Energy Conservation are among the chief areas of concern for the organization.

The Nilgiris Eastern Ghats landscape harbors the greatest number of Asian elephants in the world, with an estimated 6,300 to 10,000 living in the habitats that range from evergreen forest and dry deciduous forest to thorn scrub jungle and grasslands. The Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape aims to conserve Asian Elephants by securing the Greater Moyar Elephant Corridor connecting Mudumalai WLS to the Satyamangalam Forest Division of the Nilgiri-Eastern Ghats Elephant Landscape in the state of Tamilnadu. WWF India and its partners are working to secure forested corridors in the landscape, reduce man-animal conflicts and strengthen antipoaching efforts.

Accord

ACCORD (Action for Community Organisation, Rehabilitation and Development) was born in November 1985 out of the realisation that the adivasis of the Gudalur Valley were being cheated and exploited and might soon disappear off the face of the earth. Accord’s vision is to help the adivasi community of the Gudalur Valley in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu to take control of their own lives. In March 1986, out of a small office in Thorapally, Gudalur, Accord began the battle for adivasi rights. ACCORD believed firmly that adivasis had a genius of their own and that if people could regain their dignity, pride and self esteem, they could once more take charge of their own lives. Accord’s mission is to redesign the systems necessary for that, to help the adivasi community cope with the onslaught of modernity on their way of life and to prepare them to emerge from their forest retreats with their heads held high. Proud of their culture and their people. More than 13000 adivasis have since joined this movement and have become members of the Adivasi Munnetra Sangam, successfully fighting for Gudalur adivasis’ rights.

Aksharakriti

Aksharakriti was initiated by development management professionals to fulfill the need for affordable and timely professional support to individual organizations in development sector. Aksharakriti works for improving existing rural/urban/tribal livelihoods, identifying and utilizing best practitioners’ within the existing livelihoods, bridging the gaps in these livelihoods, and identifying and availing viable new livelihoods opportunities, leading to the built-up five capitals – natural, physical, social, human and financial - of livelihoods and contributing to functioning four arrows – increasing incomes, decreasing expenditure, increasing employment and decreasing risks. Further it works to better the quality of life of the poor, including education, health and other public services. Their initiatives include a wide variety of activities ranging from Rural Livehood Enhancements to Information and Communication Technology. Akshara Network also mentors and facilitates endogenous Tourism at Bhoodan Pochampally in partnership with GOI, UNDP, AP Tourism and Nalgonda District Administration. As a software implementing partner, Akshara is promoting weaving and tourism based livelihoods. Bhoodan Pochampally is famous for IKKAT Tie & Dye fabric and for the Bhoodan Movement initiated by Acharya Vinoba Bhave.