Development comes only from within.Always! Not from Dilli,Not from DC MM
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 > 20:29:42 -0600> Subject: [Assam] FW: Rural India and the DHAN Foundation> > > > > Wonder which district in Assam has DHAN been to. > > Anyway, another good > one to add to the list of organizations that are doing good things for the > poor.> > JFYI> > > > > From: Ram Narayanan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: > Thursday, February 14, 2008 4:21 PMSubject: Rural India and the DHAN > Foundation> My dispatch of January 13, covering the visit of 24 Indian > Americans to rural Tamil Nadu, was the first of a series on my impressions > (and the impressions of my colleagues) of what’s happening in rural India and > what the Indian American community can do to lend a helping hand to make sure > that rural India catches up with the rest of the country in economic progress > over the next decade or two. An NGO which is very active in the villages we > visited, was the DHAN Foundation with its headquarters in the city of > Madurai. DHAN stand for Development of Humane Action. The DHAN Foundation is > a professionally managed development institution which has been working, for > over a decade and a half, with poor communities to improve their quality of > life and reduce poverty. The Foundation believes in enabling communities to > bring about significant changes in their lives by themselves. The enabling > process requires highly motivated professionals. DHAN’s raison d’etre > consists in: ** Mothering development innovations: Promoting and nurturing > new ideas on different development themes, viz., microfinance, small scale > irrigation, dry land agriculture, working with panchayats. ** Promoting > institutions to reach scale: Encouraging exclusive thematic organisations to > undertake development work with a sub-sectoral focus -- to ensure that > quality benefits reach a large number of the poor.. ** Developing human > resources: Bringing young professionals into the development sector and > providing them opportunities to practice and develop relevant knowledge, > attitudes and skills to work long term. DHAN’s guiding principles include: ** > Engaging high quality human resources to work at the grassroots with the > focus on enabling rather than delivery of services. ** Valuing collaboration > with mainstream institutions and government to demonstrate effective ways of > development interventions to build viable linkages between them and the > people. ** Promoting people’s organisations at various levels to ensure > entitlements and to build an effective demand system. ** Focusing on > promotion of livelihoods to directly address poverty. ** Enriching the themes > and retaining sub-sectoral focus as the strategy for growth. DHAN’s > Programmes: Presently DHAN works with some 700,000 poor families in TEN > STATES of India in the rural, tribal, coastal and urban contexts. The states > are: Andhra Pradesh in 6 districts Assam in 1 district Jharkand in 1 distrct > Karnataka in 5 districts Kerala in 1 district Madhya Pradesh in 1 district > Maharashtra in 1 district Pondicherry in 2 districts Orissa in 2 districts > Tamil Nadu in 19 districts. It has over 750 development staff, including 350 > professionals, both men and women from varied disciplines working at the > grassroots. It has pioneered in evolving new themes for addressing poverty > and livelihood which are scaled up to reach large numbers of families. It > currently operates two major themes in Tamil Nadu: **Kalanjiam Community > Banking Programme with poor women and **Vayalagam Tankfed Agriculture > Programme with small and marginal farmers dependent on tanks for their > livelihood. The Kalanjiam Community Banking Programme has developed the > federation model of people’s organization. The model places emphasis on > establishing appropriate institutions and services owned and managed by poor > women and building sustainable linkages with mainstream banking and > government institutions. The women are now going beyond microfinance and are > addressing other development needs such as health, education etc. Village > tanks and ponds occupy a significant position in irrigation and local > ecosystem in South India. They are one of the vital water resources for rural > communities. As water-harvesting structures, they were ingeniously designed > by ancient rulers and traditionally managed by the local communities over > many centuries. They sustained farming activities. Neglect of these precious > water resources led to a decline in their performance as assets and badly > affected the livelihood of the community. DHAN Foundation, through the > Vayalagam Agriculture Programme, has sought to conserve these treasures by > organizing the farmers dependent on them and regenerating local management by > building their stakes. One of DHAN’s important initiatives is reviving > ooranis -- oorani is a dug-out pond that traps rain water run-off and stores > it for drinking water purposes in rural areas where ground water is either > inadequate or unfit for use (http://dhan.org/ooranis/index.php). For a list > of ooranis under development now in Tamil Nadu: > http://www.dhan.org/ooranis/projects.php . Another interesting oorani > site:list of donors http://www.dhan.org/ooranis/donors.php . New themes in > progress include the Tata-Dhan Academy for grooming development > professionals, Rainfed Farming Development to improve the livelihood of > farmers, enabling the Poor through Information Technology, and Working with > Panchayats. DHAN has an integrated model of livelihood restoration and > rehabilitation programme in tsunami affected coastal regions for fishermen > and coastal farming families. DHAN People Academy and DHAN Institute of > Vocational Education cater to training and capacity building needs for the > leaders and people functionaries. The Foundation is also promoting > development tourism to show case art, culture, heritage and development work. > DHAN is involved in developing rural tourism model in collaboration with UNDP > and Government of India. Through its work at the grassroots, the Foundation > has been successful in demonstrating large scale linkages of people’s > organisations with the mainstream institutions such as banks, government > agencies, academic and research institutions. With experience and learning > from the grassroots, it has been able to influence policy makers at different > levels. It is a member of several policy advisory fora to banks and > government. It is also being seen as a resource centre for the themes of > microfinance and water for NGOs, bankers, government agencies, donor > agencies, and researchers. The experience of over a decade and half has laid > a strong and sustainable foundation for a few more decades of development > innovation, institution building, human resources development, networking, > development campaigns and policy impacting for pro-poor policies. It is a > founder member and member of various national and international networks for > promoting pro-poor policies. As for the future, DHAN looks forward to > intensifying its work in the Southern states, both in depth and scale, and > further strengthening its involvement in projects in the Northern states. It > proposes to give focus through specific projects to livelihood opportunities > for the poor, and skill and capacity building programmes. People within India > as well as people of Indian origin living abroad, including Indian Americans, > have contributed financially to the development of specific projects > sponsored by DHAN. Dhan also has a volunteer programme where socially > concerned and committed individuals from within India and abroad can offer > their expertise in the area of health, education, water, communication, web > design, content creation in local language for meeting local needs, for > periods ranging from three months to a year. Volunteering could also be > virtual for tasks such as web design, editorial support, writing for the web > etc. There are also opportunities for donation in kind such as computers, > cameras etc. DHAN’s website is at http://www.dhan.org/ . Email: [EMAIL > PROTECTED] , [EMAIL PROTECTED] . A useful US contact: Ram Krishnan at > Minnesota [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Cheers Ram Narayanan US-India Friendship > http://usindiafriendship.net/ > ________________________________________________________________PS: (*)This > update is being sent to you because we believe you welcome it. If, however, > you prefer not to receive similar information updates on India, US-India > relations and related security issues, please reply to this message with the > word "UNSUBSCRIBE" on the subject field. Powered By PanWebMailer Version 2.0 > © 2004-2005> > _________________________________________________________________> Helping > your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. 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