Students from various disciplines (BSW, MSW, BBA-LLB, MPH, BSc-Agri) and colleges visited the organization for block placements and exposure to practical social work. The young scholars are given exposure and guidance according to their career needs through experience sharing, field visits, case studies, survey, street play, etc.

It is a cultural exchange program of Germany, in which young volunteers are arranged for voluntary services in Indian NGOs for eight months. Under BBP program two German students are sent to VOSARD every year for doing voluntary work for eight months. The volunteers help the organization in making brochure, short films, case study and teach English in local schools. During the stay in India they try to learn our culture, tradition, food habits, etc. This program of German government promotes cultural exchange between India and Germany. During the year three volunteers – Mr. Florian, Ms. Carla and Ms. Melissa – visited VOSARD during August 2016 to March 2017 and involved in various programmes of the organization.

Kerala Backward Community Development Cooperation (KSBCDC)

Kerala State Backward Classes Development Corporation Ltd (KSBCDC) is a Private Limited Company fully owned by the Government of Kerala, registered under the Companies Act 1956 on 28-02-1995. The Corporation has offices in all the 14 Districts of the State and 6 Taluk level Sub District Offices. Their Mission is “Freedom from Poverty and Backwardness” of the targeted communities in the State of Kerala.  VOSARD has availed 25 lakh rupees from the cooperation and distributed to 100 SHG members to start livelihood and employment programs in the year 2018. In II phase 335000 received from KSBCDC and distributed to 134 SHG members. In 3rd phase 3050000 received from KSBCDC and given to 122 beneficiaries.  .

The Kerala State has roughly 35,000 new cancer cases every year (age adjusted incidence), based on the cancer registry data. There are 133 male and 123 female cancer patients per lakh reported in Kerala. A total of 120,000 cancer patients are in prevalence annually in the State. As per statistics, nearly 50 per cent of cancer cases could be cured if the disease was identified in the initial stage itself and treatment started.

In Idukki district, the excessive use of pesticides in the plantations and vegetable gardens is posing a threat to the health of locals. Tobacco is the most important identified cause of cancer in the area followed by dietary practices, alcohol consumption, infections due to viruses and sexual behaviour. The District Hospital data and reports show that there is an increase number of the people with signs and symptoms of cancer. Lung, blood, breast, throat and intestinal cancers seem to be the most common in the area. The district government hospital reported that 40% of patients comes to the oncology department are with the symptoms of cancer. In last year alone, 260 patients were reported having cancer and precancerous conditions.

Cancer prevention through health education and promoting community volunteers in Katapana block of Idukki district, Kerala” has been designed to promote the primary and secondary care service in the area through building network and coordination with the health care professionals and building community volunteers to campaign against the cancer consistently in the project block.

Though the disease affects the whole community irrespective of their age and living conditions, we work closely with the school going children, college students, agricultural labours, women group members, farmers and petty shop owners who sell the tobacco and other prohibited stuffs leads to dreadful diseases.

The prime objective of the project are:

  • To sensitize the community to bring reduction in cancer mortality, and cancer associated morbidity.
  • To identify and build the capacity of community volunteers to promote cancer awareness and preventive care initiative in the block.
  • To provide community health education regarding early symptoms, causes, primary and secondary preventive measures of cancer disease.
  • To sensitize the school children and college going students about the good dietary practices and sensitize the educational institutions to proactively respond to the usage of poly substance abuse.
  • To organize medical camps to diagnose cancer at early stage and guide the patience to access medical care and rehabilitation services with the support of RCC and District Medical Hospital.
  • To sensitize the farmers to promote organic farming in the area.
  • To extend the palliate care to the persons living with the cancer disease through ASHA and health department.
  • To take up advocacy with health and environment departments to minimize the factors influencing cancer disease in the State.

 

The main activities carried out in this project are:

  • Organizing training to the community volunteers to motivate people for habit curtailment, attend for screening, prompt treatment as in a campaign and co-ordinate the project activities at grass root level
  • Awareness to the People to promote community awareness and educating the women, children, youths, aged and other people those who are vulnerable to the dreadful disease.
  • Conducting Early Detection Camps.
  • Cancer diagnosis and treatment
  • Pain relief and Palliative Care
  • Advocacy
  • Counselling for the Patients and Family Members
  • Medical and treatment Aids.

Protection of environment and nature is inevitable for reducing negative effects of modernization. In this context, all efforts to familiarize and promote non-conventional energy sources like biogas and solar energy among the rural population are made by the organization. Sensitization and training programs were organized and motivated people to adopt environment protection measures. Construction of biogas plant using Ferro cement technology, which is cost effective and long lasting, is widely accepted by the people. Supply of solar lamps helped to replace kerosene lamps in 550 families. It also helped education of the children by increasing study hours in black out days.

JALANIDHI is a project of Kerala Rural Water supply and Sanitation Agency (KRWSA) of Kerala Government. VOSARD is the support organization to provide technical and social support to beneficiary groups. The main objective of the project is to supply clean and safe drinking water to the people in Chakkupallam Panchayat. The project is implemented in participatory way by forming Beneficiary Groups (BGs). Survey, source identification, construction, distribution etc., are managed by the BGs. 23 BGs have been formed to manage supply of safe drinking water to 1,350 households with an estimated budget outlay of Rupees 5 crores. Type of work done under the project are:

  • Renovation of existing water supply schemes

  • Construction of new schemes

  • Rainwater harvesting units (managed by 6 BGs)

  • Construction of community sanitation facility – public toilets

This 4-year project supported by Karl Kubel Stiftung, Germany was started in 2014 to improve quality of lives of the rural people and addressing the negative effects of environmental degradation in Vathikudy Panchayat of Idukki district of Kerala. Major components of the project are: enhancing capacities of the target people, promoting sustainable agriculture & livelihood opportunities, enabling to protect soil & water and facilitating to mobilize local resources. Direct benefits of the project are being reached out to 1,000 marginalized families of small/ marginal farmers and daily workers. The following achievements were recorded while the project is nearing its completion:

  • Construction of soil & water conservation structures like: stone bunds, contour trenches, water percolation pits, stream bank protection, gully plugs, live fencing, etc. could convert 30 acres of waste land into arable land.
  • Support for agriculture and livelihood promotion activities has benefited 700 families to increase their family income by 30% at the minimum.
  • Beneficiaries from 1265 target families were organized in to 85 SHGs, Four clusters and a federation. The federation named, Vathikudy Farmers Association (VFA) is a registered society that manages the functions of SHGs and clusters.

 

Community mobilization is one of the most important factors in social work. Since beginning VOSARD has been focusing on uplifting the poor and weaker sections through self help initiatives and capacitate them to be the part of the main stream of the society. Besides providing financial assistance; orientation classes and leadership-training camps are also conducted for SHG members. The concept of micro-credit financing is widely introduced among them. SHGs of the men as well as women are formed as per the norms of NABARD. Over 12,000 families of the target groups located in the remote hilly terrain of Idukki District are organized into self help groups. Today, over 766 SHGs and 45 Children’s Clubs and 16 Child Protection Units are functioning very effectively in the area. VOSARD has also framed 36 Clusters, 4 Federations and an Apex Federation to coordinate and capacitate the people’s structures through decentralized planning, local linkage & collaboration and collective action. Awareness creation, Leadership training, Skill training, Livelihood & agriculture promotion activities, etc are being initiated through the people’s organizations. This social structure is helpful in implementation of projects with people’s participation, information dissemination at grass root levels and monetary transactions among the groups.

 

Micro-credit & credit linkage

 

Thrift and credit system has been introduced in all the SHGs to promote economical empowerment of rural people especially the women. Micro-credit system serves as a stimulant for initiating self help ventures. The Apex Federation coordinate and supervise micro-credit activities of 30 Clusters and 525 SHGs. This people’s network facilitates VOSARD to makes best use of revolving funds created from various completed projects for continuing the development initiatives. Along with Apex Link, it facilitates and co-ordinates linkage with banks for availing credit facilities and loans by SHGs and clusters for running their income generation activities and micro-enterprises.

Structure of different people’s organizations promoted by the organization is shown below:

 

 

 

Awareness creation, leadership training, skill training, livelihood promotion, micro-finance and taking up issues with government are the major activities dealt through SHGs and federations.

 

 

Childline 1098

It is a project under Integrated Child Protection Scheme of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India and we have been implementing the project in Idukki district since 2011. The project aims to reach out to the children in distress and those who need help. A Collaborative centre at Kattappana is providing 24-hr toll free outreach (Help line No. 1098) service to the entire Idukki district. Besides, a Sub-Centre of Idukki Childline to cover Kumily region is also managed by VOSARD. The CHILDLINE project provides assistance to children in distress particularly street children, neglected and delinquent children and children facing physical, mental and sexual abuse. The main interventions of CHILDLINE project were: shelter, medical help, repatriation, rescue, sponsorships, emotional support and child protection at the large context.

Chavara Jyothi Education Promotion (CJEP) Programme

Since 2008 onwards around 500 poor and bright students are financially supported every year. The children were given interest free loan in the beginning of academic year to meet essential expenses for joining the school/ college. They repaid the amount in ten installments and the repaid amount is again distributed to another 500 students in the next year. This way the programme goes on since last eight years. Besides this financial support, study materials such as books, dictionary, umbrella, school bag etc., are also distributed to children with the support of local benefactors and agencies. Life skill development training, leadership training, cultural programmes, career guidance workshop, etc are also conducted for holistic development of the children.

KELI Scholarship for Professional Education

With the support of Rajagiri Outreach Service Society (ROSS), Kochi the poor students pursuing professional courses were given financial support ranging between Rs. 15,000 to 20,000. ROSS channelized the financial support (Rs. 20 lakh) from KELI, Switzerland.

KAVAL Project (Social Justice Department to the rescue of children in conflict with the law)

Kaval, a project aimed at the integration of children in conflict with the law into the mainstream of the society. The project was started in 2016 for “Psychosocial Care and Support to Children in Conflict with Law” project initiated by Department of Women and Child Development, Kerala under the technical support of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. Under the project, the individual care plan should be given to each child who is in conflict with the law. After producing the child before the Juvenile Justice Board, they would be sent to NGOs picked for the implementation of ‘Kaval’. Children would be given 17-day comprehensive training by the trained personnel. The project implemented by Voluntary Organization for Social Action and Rural Development (VOSARD) in three Taluks (Peermedu, Udumbanchola and Idukki) of Idukki District.

Kaval’ project unique is that it addresses not just the child but also his family.It involves not just psychological help but also social assistance.The project is carried out through NGOs in the field.There will be regular follow-ups; every three months the progress of the child, and his family, will be meticulously recorded.

PRIMARY INTERVENTION STAGES IN THE PROJECT KAVAL

  • The primary intervention stage contains
  • Home visits
  • Building rapports with the client and his family
  • Education
  • De addiction treatment

 

SECONDARY INTERVENTION STAGES IN THE PROJECT KAVAL

  • Group work
  • Case work
  • Life skill training
  • Parent management training (pmt)
  • counseling’s
  • Weekly home visits

Capasity Enhancement

Seminars, workshops, interactive lectures, exposure visits, training camps etc are organized for enhancing capacities of women. Skill training in appropriate trades, leadership training, micro credit & bank linkage, motivating to contest Panchayat elections, etc are also done in this regard. Efforts are made to support them for self employment and starting micro enterprises.

Service providing centre (SPC)

It is a project of Kerala State Social Welfare Board under Domestic Violence (Prevention) Act-2005 for the protection of women from domestic violence. The Service Providing Centre (SPC) for the protection of women from domestic violence started to function in 2008. A Lady advocate is employed in the centre for providing free legal service to the women who are victims of domestic violence.

Holistic development of marginalized communities in Kanchiyar Panchayat of Idukki district in Kerala, India.

Duration: Project will be implemented in four years starting from May 2019 onwards.

Demography: Three Wards (Ward No. 4, 5 & 7) of Kanchiyar Panchayat in Idukki district of Kerala is selected for implementing the project activities. Total population of the selected wards is 5,285 (2,559 males and 2,726 females) who are members of 1,292 families. These families belong to two different socio-economic categries (as per the criteria of the government): “Below Poverty Line (BPL) and “Above Poverty Line” (APL). 53.5% families (691 families out of the total families) are in the BPL category and the remaining 601 families (46.5%) belong to APL. Among the BPL, 257 families belong to the socially backward groups of Scheduled castes and tribes.

The project aims to target 250 families belong to Poor and Middle Income Categories (170 BPL families and 80 APL families) from the small & marginal farmer categories. They are the direct beneficiaries of the Project. Financial support of the Project will be given only to the direct beneficiaries. Remaining around 1,000 families in the area will be motivated to join the project activities with their own resources and will be given technical guidance to improve their living standard too, and contribute to the overall impacts and sustainability of the Project. They will be the indirect beneficiaries.

Land is the most important asset and base of livelihood of all the families and therefore, economic status is generally defined on the basis of size of ownership of land. It is found that 90% of the families (224 hhs) belong to the category of marginal farmers (less than half hectare of land) and 6% (16 hhs) belong to small farmers (half to one hectare of land). Only 4% of the total families (10 hhs) are medium farmers having more than 1 hectare of land.

Objectives and activities:

Overall objective: The overall objective of the project is to improve living conditions of the selected 250 families belong to marginalized communities in the Kanchiyar Panchayat of Idukki District, Kerala, India with special focus on creating an atmosphere conducive for holistic development of the women and children.

Specific objectives and Related Activities: The project will have following four specific objectives with related activities, shown in brackets, to achieve the overall objective:

  1. To organize the target people into Self Help Groups, Clusters and Federation to create a platform for capacity building, socio-economic empowerment, gender equity and realizing the rights of women and children. (Activities: Formation and strenthening of SHGs/Cluster/ Federation, Capacity building inputs to group leaders/ members, preparation of IEC materials, interface meetings, annual gatherings and celebrations).

  2. To support and direct the target beneficiaries to have increased family income and better living conditions in the family and community. (Activities: Establishing Kitchen gardens,biogas plants, construction of ferro-cement rainwater storage tanks, income generation activities – dairy & goat, health insurance, awarness on health & hygiene, etc ).

  3. To create a child-friendly environment in the project area that promotes education, life skill development and youth and protection of child rights. (Activities: Formation of childrens clubs, life skill training, career guidance seminar, awareness creation on child rights & issues, educational support, Childrens Day celebration, etc).

 

Success Story:Legal Support Stops Violence in Family

“Nisha has a child together with her husband Dominic. She has been mentally tortured by him. He was addicted to alcohol and got in debt because of his money mismanagement. Dominic has also misused the money earned by his wife Nisha, who is a life insurance corporation agent. His behaviour affected the studies of their child too. When they argued he became violent frequently and broke several phones, the TV and other house hold objects. During the counselling sessions at the Service Providing Centre, both were made aware of the legal situation. Dominic was referred to a psychiatrist. After taking medicine his behavious became normal so that the matter was settled successfully. He is now working as an agriculturalist and can repay his debts. The relation between both, husband and wife, improved and the violence stopped. The child is not strained by its parents’s problems any longer and is able to focus on his studies.”