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Click
here to find out about Skillshare International's
partner organisations in India
Skillshare International's programme in India focuses
on community health, HIV/AIDS, disability and livelihoods.
We also support programmes in environment & natural
resource management and the economic & socio-political
empowerment of disadvantaged communities such as tribals,
Dalits and artisans, focusing on women and children.
We work with partner organisations
(NGOs) in 8 Indian states - Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Kerala, Jharkahnd, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu
and Uttaranchal. We do this through skills development,
programme funding and building the capacity of our
partner organisations in fundraising, communications
and building networks and coalitions. Our development
workers (including health trainers) include engineers,
doctors, paramedicals, ethno-botanists and textile
designers.
Our partner organisations work mainly with rural
communities in mountainous, forested areas who are
economically and socio-politically excluded. These
communities lack sustainable incomes and have high
levels of illiteracy, ill health and barely any access
to education and health care facilities.
Through
the 3-year Knowledge, Confidence and Healthier
Lives (KCHL) project, we work with 7 local
NGOs to support their community health initiatives
in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and
Orissa. The project, which is supported by the EU,
aims to improve the health of over 140,000 tribal
men, women and children. To achieve this, Skillshare
International development workers are training nearly
500 tribal community volunteers as village health
workers (VHWs). The VHWs, many of whom are illiterate,
have had a huge impact on the health of their communities.
In the Nilgiris where ASHWINI works,
infant mortality has decreased from 250 to 60 in every
1,000 and there have been no maternal deaths since
2000. In Jharkhand, where SLADS
works, malarial deaths have been reduced to zero.
While many of our health trainers are doctors of
modern medicine, we also promote traditional systems
which indigenous people have practised for centuries.
This retains traditional knowledge and provides a
sustainable livelihood option for the tribals, whose
livelihood sources are fast disappearing. A Skillshare
International development worker is now helping tribals
to research and document indigenous plants and herbs
and to register these with the state to protect their
economic rights and traditional knowledge. We are
also exploring the possibility of economic returns
to the tribals, in the patenting process, through
royalty payments.
Partner Organisations
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ASHWINI
The Association for Health Welfare in the Nilgiris
(ASHWINI) was born in 1990, to meet the need to provide
health services to tribals, led by two young doctors,
Dr Devadasan and Dr Roopa Devadasan. Soon after, the
Gudalur Adivasi Hospital, led by Dr Shylaja Devi and
Dr Nandakumar Menon, was set up.
Skillshare International's partnership with ASHWINI
through Action Health began in 1998 when Dr PG Premila,
the first Action Health trainer was placed with ASHWINI.
Dr Premila spent 2 years training nurses for the hospital,
health animators for the sub-centres and village health
guides, all tribal people. In 2001, Skillshare International
placed Dr Bharat and Dr Deepa Gadhvi, from the UK,
with ASHWINI to train more health animators and village
health guides and to hold refresher sessions for existing
health animators.
Skillshare International's current support to ASHWINI
comes under the KCHL programme
and our 3 development workers have trained about 200
village guides and several Health Animators in 230
villages in the Gudalur and Pandular districts of
Tamil Nadu. During this period,
infant mortality has decreased from 250 to 60 in every
1,000 and there has been no maternal mortality since
2000.
ASHWINI
PO Box 20 Gudalur
Nilgiris 643 212
Tamil Nadu, India
Tel: 91-4262-261645
Fax: 91-4262-261504
Email:
otytwaccord@sancharnet.in
Website: www.ashwini.org
Kairali Mahila Samajam (KMS) is
a small women's group set up in 1980 to help rural,
predominantly tribal, women improve the quality of
their lives through mutual and self-help. Founded
by Ms Christal Stephen in a village called Chemmannuvila,
40 km from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, KMS has set
up more than 40 self-help groups for women, who use
the money to extend credit to members. This small
credit enables the women members of these groups to
run small businesses such as stone-crushing, tailoring
and dairies. It runs 2 nursery schools and a primary
school, and conducts medical camps in collaboration
with the Government's Primary Health Centre.
Skillshare International's support to KMS comes under
the KCHL programme. Skillshare
International's development workers are training village
health workers to provide health education and care
to their communities. Skillshare International first
placed Dr Ajay who conducted an assessment of the
health needs of the communities, and began training
the 25 tribal volunteers. Dr Premila, a former health
trainer, supplemented this training. In early 2004,
Dr Sagar Thankachan, a clinical psychiatrist, joined
KMS as a health trainer and continues to train the
VHWs. He also educates tribal communities on health,
visiting a cluster of 10-12 settlements each week.
At weekends, he conducts medical camps to provide
basic services to the communities.
Kairali Mahila Samajam
Chemmannuvila
Panachamood, P.O. Vellarada
Thiruvananthapuram District 695 505
Kerala, India
Tel: + 91 471 242610
Email: Kairalisamajam@yahoo.com
Manav Adhikar Seva Samitee (MASS)
Devastated by flood or drought, its forest cover shrinking,
and with malnutrition regularly claiming lives, tribals
in western Orissa are deprived of their livelihood
and are easily lured into bonded debt by local moneylenders.
To address some of these critical concerns, a group
of post-graduate students of anthropology started
MASS in the late 1980s to work with the local tribal
and rural communities. As part of its empowerment
programmes, MASS has been encouraging women to form
self-help groups and micro-credit groups. In 2004,
there are 250 such groups, with around 3500 women,
under 3 federations. These women are encouraged to
set up a co-operative to manage the community health
programme.
Skillshare International's support to MASS in 2003-2005
comes under the KCHL programme.
Our partnership with MASS began in 1999-2000 with
the 1-year placement of Dr Neil James and Dr Anita
Cross. Subsequently, 60 village health workers from
49 villages, nominated by their self-help groups,
were trained in preventive, palliative and curative
health care. The village health workers reach out
to nearly 27,000 people. In 2003, a Spanish nurse
called Elena Catalan joined Skillshare International
and brought with her a new perspective, focusing on
women's health and filling the information gap.
Manav Adhikar Seva Samitee (MASS)
Dhanupali
Sambalpur 768 100
Orissa, India
Tel : +91 663 2520962/2404974
Fax: +91 663 2540936 (Attn.MASS)
Email: manav1@sancharnet.in
Samraksha is the HIV/AIDS unit of
Samuha, an NGO working with vulnerable people to improve
their quality of life in the Raichur, Koppal, Uttara
Kannada and Bangalore Urban districts of Karnataka.
Samraksha was started in 1993 to prevent the spread
of HIV infection and reduce its impact on those affected.
Skillshare International had been supporting Samuha's
work with people with disability for some years, when
Samraksha requested help with the battle against HIV/AIDS.
It sent Dr Chris Bakshi, a gynaecologist and a specialist
in sexually-transmitted diseases, to help Samraksha
structure its reproductive and sexual health programme.
The Well Woman Clinic was set up to enable women to
freely walk in and seek treatment.
The respite homes in Bangalore and Kustagi were set
up to provide care and treatment. Skillshare International's
health trainer, Ms Marie Coughlan, trained the nurses
and developed a curriculum for health workers. In
2002, Samraksha identified Ms Gilly Burn, a palliative
nursing care specialist, to train staff. Skillshare
International supported her and Ms Usharani Augustine,
an experienced palliative nurse, to train a 24-member
team of doctors, counsellors and nursing staff. The
courses improved the quality of care with simple and
cost effective ways to reduce pain. Ms Elisabeth Reid,
a senior development consultant worker, was also brought
in to train field staff and to help review Samraksha's
programme. The people trained with Skillshare International's
support are today providing services to over 3,000
people living with HIV/AIDS at counselling centres,
respite homes, outpatient clinics and at home.
Samraksha
Bangalore
17/1 Harris Road
Benson Town
Bangalore 560 046
Karnataka, India
Tel: + 91 80 23546965/23547424
Email: samraksha@samraksha.org
Website: www.samuha.org
Seba Jagat was started in 1992 by
a local young man, Satyanarayana Pattanayak, inspired
by the Gandhian ideology to strengthen socially and
economically disadvantaged communities like the tribals
and Dalits in Kalahandi, in particular women and children.
The Kalahandi district in the eastern Indian State
of Orissa is synonymous with starvation and resultant
deaths. Over the last 2 decades, it has faced either
floods or drought, year after year. Many children
die by the age of 5 due to malnutrition, starvation
and diseases such as malaria, cholera, diarrhoea and
sickle-cell anaemia. In fact, many tribals in the
area do not name their children until they are 7 years
old, because they are so uncertain of the child's
survival.
In April 2002, Skillshare International began supporting
Seba Jagat under the KCHL programme.
In 2003, we placed Dr Dinesh Baliga with Seba Jagat.
Dr Baliga found that unsafe practices, such as sleeping
without a mosquito net or keeping cooked food uncovered
in the open, were responsible for most of the locally
prevalent diseases. Dr Baliga developed a curriculum
and trained 22 women and 4 men, chosen by the local
communities, to become village health workers.
Seba Jagat
Rangapadar, PO Urladani
Via M. Rampur 766 102
Kalahandi District
Orissa, India
Tel: + 91 6676 250447
Fax: + 91 6676 250447
Email: sebjagat@rediffmail.com
Singhbhum Legal Aid and
Development Society (SLADS) was set up in
1985 by Mr. J.K. Mahato, a local teacher and practicing
lawyer, and a group of like-minded people. SLADS works
with highly disadvantaged tribal communities of 75
villages in the remote and inaccessible hilly terrains
of Singhbhum East District of Jharkhand, in eastern
India, offering them legal litigation services and
community education, besides the community health
care services supported by Skillshare International.
Skillshare International has been supporting the
community health programme of SLADS in 15 villages
since 1998, as part of the KCHL
programme. Earlier tribals visited faith healers and
quacks and the villagers suffered from malaria, malnutrition,
diarrhoea and tuberculosis. The number of deaths due
to malaria was alarmingly high. Between 1998 and 2001,
Skillshare International placed 3 development workers
with SLADS: Dr Gunjit Bandesa, Dr Noel Roy and Dr
Bob Allam. They trained 16 women and 3 men from the
tribal community in basic diagnostic, preventive,
palliative and curative techniques for both endemic
and epidemic diseases. A small revolving fund for
medical supplies made available by Skillshare International
makes it possible for the village health workers (VHW)
to buy medicines at wholesale prices and to provide
these to the community at a low cost. In less than
half a decade, these VHWs have reduced malarial deaths
to zero.
Skillshare International development worker Dr Sumit
Asthana's main task is to set up the health cooperative
and to ensure that its members receive cooperative
management skills. Excited about being in total control,
the VHWs have already turned their Training Centre
into a Community Health Clinic, offering outpatient
facilities 3 times a week to all who approach them.
They ensure that medical care is provided through
the local doctor who provides refresher training to
the VHWs.
Singhbhum Legal Aid and Development Society (SLADS)
At Laldih PO Ghatsila
Singhbhum East District
Jharkhand, India
Tel: + 91 6585 25743/25687/27154
Fax: + 91 6585 25743
Email: slads@satyam.net.in
South Orissa Voluntary Action (SOVA),
which was set up by a social worker Mr Sanjit Patnayak
in 1993, works intensively in 45 villages covering
2 blocks of Koraput district in Orissa. It educates
people on HIV/AIDS in three blocks of Koraput. SOVA
brings together tribals, primarily the women and young
people, and educate them on their rights. It encourages
women to form self-help groups to gain economic independence
and equal rights. SOVA has organised children, many
of whom are forced to work to supplement the family
income, into children's groups and a federation.
Koraput in Orissa, East India, is one of the poorest
districts in the state, with 78% of the rural population,
predominantly tribal, living in extreme economic poverty.
Driven out of the forests, which had been their natural
habitat and source of livelihoods, most tribals live
in abject poverty. Many migrate, many women and children
are trafficked in several pockets of the state and
many die of starvation.
Skillshare International supports SOVA as part of
the KCHL programme. We placed
our first development worker (Dr Yogeesh) with SOVA
in 2004. Sharing skills with the SOVA team and local
communities, we aim to ensure that functions such
as a community health cooperative and health insurance
are put in place. This will ensure the long-term sustainability
of health care services.
South Orissa Voluntary Action (SOVA)
Janiguda, PO Koraput
Koraput 764 020
Orissa, India
Tel: + 91 6852 250194/250718
Fax: + 91 6852 250718
Email: sovakpt@sancharnet.in
or sovakpt@email.com
Tribal Health Initiative (THI) was
established in 1993 by a young doctor couple, Regi
George and Lalitha. They came to Sittilingi, a remote
forest area in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu,
home to 10,000 Malayali (hill-dwelling) tribals and
set up a mud-and-thatch hospital called Tribal Health
Initiative. Today, they run a 25-bedded hospital with
out-patient, child birth and operating facilities.
They also have a hospital staff of 26, with 25 tribal
health auxiliaries.
In 2000, THI approached Skillshare International
for a Tamil-speaking health trainer. Skillshare International
recruited Dr Mari Kannan, who trained hospital staff
and 25 women from villages in the valley to become
health auxiliaries. These women had no medical background
and the majority had little or no schooling. In February
2003, Skillshare International placed Dr N. Ravi Kumar,
another young Tamil-speaking doctor, with THI. Dr
Ravi trains the health assistants and auxiliaries
and helps Regi and Lalitha to manage the increasing
number of tribals who come to the hospital for treatment.
Skillshare International's current support to THI
is part of the KCHL programme
to improve health and enhance the tribals' awareness
of health issues.
Tribal Health Initiative
Sittilingi, Theerthamala PO
Dharmapuri District 636 906
Tamil Nadu, India
Tel: + 91 4346 258601
Tel/fax: + 91 4346 258611
Email: sittilingi@tribalhealth.org
Website:www.tribalhealth.org
VIDYA SAGAR (formerly the Spastics
Society of India, Chennai) was set up in 1985 by Poonam
Natarajan, mother of a profoundly disabled child.
It started with 3 children, 3 staff members and functioned
in a garage. Today, Vidya Sagar has 120 dedicated
staff and 40 volunteers, some of them mothers of disabled
children; and reaches out to more than 2,000 children
in and around Chennai.
Skillshare International's partnership with Vidya
Sagar started in 1998, through the Action Health programme,
supported by the Cloth Workers' Foundation and the
Maurice Laing Foundation. The purpose was to train
a group of special educators to manage cerebral palsy
and other disabilities using the transdisciplinary
approach. This meant that 1 health educator could
address multiple special needs of a child and reach
out to larger numbers, especially in rural areas.
Over 3 years, Skillshare International placed 3 development
workers, Katie Thompson (physiotherapist), Ruth Duncan
(speech and communication specialist) and Rachel Strang
(occupational therapist), with Vidya Sagar. They trained
a core team of 9 special educators in all the 3 disciplines
of physio, communication and occupational therapies.
With inputs from the health trainers, Vidya Sagar
developed a training curriculum and resource materials.
Recognising that those affected by multiple disabilities
and their families and therapist have an every day
struggle to address the needs of the disabled, Vidya
Sagar and Skillshare International jointly decided
to document the unique transdisciplinary approach
in order to share it with a wider audience globally.
In 2003, Skillshare International supported Vidya
Sagar to document the development of the trans-disciplinary
approach, highlighting the experience of the families
and children who now benefit from it. This document
will be published in 2005.
Vidya Sagar
1, Ranjit Road, Kotturpuram,
Chennai 600 085
Tel: + 91 44 22354784/85/4980
Fax: + 91 44 22353757
Email: Enable@Vsnl.Com
Website:
www.vidyasagar.org
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