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Report

For the Period from August 2013 to March 2014

“From People to People and with the People … Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor…”

Rural ConneXtion Foundation

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Contents

Mission About Rural ConneXtion Foundation..........................03 RCF Approach ...........................................................04 EDUCATION PROJECTS.........................................05 First Steps Academy ..................................................07 Adult Literacy Classes .................................................09 VOCATIONAL/SKILL DEVELOPMENT TRAIN-ING PROJECTS ........................................................10 STAR by NSDC (the Govt. Of India) Initiative .........12 Vocational/Skill Development Programs ..................12 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS...... 13 HEALTH & HYGIENE PROJECTS........................16 ENVIRONMENT PROJECTS..................................19 Voices from the Projects................................................21 Partnership in Development.........................................23

“From People to People and with the People …

Fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Poor…”

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Our Mission

Rural Connextion Foundation (RCF)’s mission is to unite with people in order to create development in the broadest sense through the implementation of projects that aim at transferring knowledge, skills and capacity to individuals and communities that need assistance to come out of poverty and other dehumanizing condi-tions.

Our Vision: We aim to fight shoulder to shoulder with The Poor in the villages and in the slums to eliminate poverty and create an open future with prospects and possibilities for everyone. Our Objectives: • For every man and women to be able to earn an in-come that can provide for more than the basic needs for the family. • For health for all, through knowledge and services. • For access to quality education for children and youth.

Rural Connextion Foundation works together with the people in the projects as partners in finding solutions and in creating the necessary conditions to improve their living standards and to achieve people’s aspira-tions towards a just and humanized life for the indi-viduals, the families and their communities.

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About Rural ConneXtion Foundation

Rural Connextion Foundation is a public charitable development organization registered under Rajast-han Public Trust Act, 1959. It is a non political, non religious organization. Rural Connextion Founda-tion (RCF)’s focus arena are : Education, Women Empowerment, Vocational Training / Skill Develop-ment Trainings, Community Development , Health & Hygiene , Sanitation, Environment, Advocacy & Awareness generation.

From People to People and with the people: The people can make changes. They can get together and find ways to improve their lives, solve their problems. The people need others to support them, assist, inspire, and give a hand. The most pressing issues facing humankind can better be solved if people in the rich part of the world and people in the poor part of the world are allies. Development is created in a collective process with broad participation, best with a mindful government in the lead, and with contributions from many sides. Rural Connextion Foundation work with the people and is part of the people, because that is the only way to create devel-opment – together. Fighting Shoulder to Shoulder with the poor We do not engage in a struggle against an abstract phenomena called poverty. We do engage in the con-crete struggle side by side with the people, who are the Poor. Nature does not, but societal developments of certain sorts do, produce the Poor. To root out the cause of the conditions for the Poor can be done as an action of man. With the base for the struggle being the Poor engaged in changing his own fate, we join forces with the Poor, governments, and progressive forces na-tionally and internationally in a collective effort to transform and in the long rung erase the existence of the conditions of the Poor. We operate in projects with good concepts: The project is the unit of operation. It is solidly based on a concept, defining the idea, the overall con-tents of the program, the time frame, the organization of the people and the desired effects of the project. Each project is organized with a project leader, who shares the overall responsibility with one or more co-project leaders and a project council. The project leader lives in and is part of the community where the project operates. The concept is agreed upon with the organization and the people involved. With that in place, many people participate in formulating the aims and concrete actions of their specific involvement in the project, and even more people become involved, and new elements can be added as per necessity and desire of the community or partners. A Holistic approach to development With a holistic approach to development we include all people involved in the matter: the children, the parents, the farmers, the teachers, the neighbors, the local leaders and the national governments, as well as our international partners. When people are in the process of creating better conditions for themselves and their communities, they do not work in single stringed sectors of development, but they handle the complex reality in which they face their challenges, and in which the solutions must be created. So do we - attacking the problems from more angles, and in cooperation to all sides.

Since RCF’s inceptions (July 2013) till date more than 7,000 People are directly and indirectly being benefiting from its various programmes and activities in the community . Please see below :

RCF Approach

Progress So far :

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Education should be empowering and

emancipating; a giant leap is needed to

achieve the goals of the National Curriculum Framework and the

Right to Education Act

Education Education for a Better Future

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Education Projects

The issue at hand Learning is a life-long process. You learn through your experiences, through observations and through studies. The time we have in school can only uncover a tiny part of all the knowledge gathered through the generations of mankind. School is like exploring the tip of the ice-berg, while the main body of knowledge lies untouched out of sight. School should therefore be a place where you learn to learn. A place that opens up your mind to the wonders of the world, to the joy and benefit of work-ing together with fellow men and the necessity to take a stand based on your own collection and analysis of in-formation. School should teach you how to learn, how to construct your own knowledge, how to think for your-self, how to use your new-found knowledge to the bene-fit of common good, and how to create change. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 is where the Government of India has made the foundation for a great change in what to learn and how to learn within the educational system, and the Right to Education Act is the tool of the Government to ensure that there is a physical framework wherein the NCF 2005 can take place. Rural ConneXtion Foundation is implementing two edu-cational concepts: The First Steps Academies (FSA) motivate and prepare the younger children out of school, mainly from urban slums, to be enrolled in formal schools. The project also provides primary education up to grade 7 for working children that are too old or for other reasons do not wish to attend the formal education. The Women/Adult Literacy Classes( WALC) for Adults and women who has never attended the school or have very little education from both rural and urban areas mostly in slums. The Adults Literacy classes not only teach basic education but spread and provide knowledge in the area of health& hygiene, nutrition, education, family planning, human rights and etc. Rather than this RCF also touches upon building their communica-tion & managerial skills and their self confidence.

Educate kids for the Better Nation

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First Steps Academy The First Steps Academy identify children out of school, motivate the children and their parents to let the children come and study at the FSA and provide primary school education, grade 1 to 7. The FSA also prepares the younger children both socially and academically to enroll in the formal local schools as soon as they are ready for this, and works with the teachers and community to keep the children in school. Typically, the FSA projects are organized with one main centre with 100 of the older children, and where computers also are used as means of education. In addition, each FSA project has three to four satellites for the smaller children, situated in the middle of the slum. The first FSA Satellite Center was started with 13 drop out , poor slum children under a tree since we didn’t have any place and resources for this but after some day one the community member offered his building for one month where we could run the FSA . Now the progress can be seen as follows; Mobilization & Awareness Building Programs: The project areas have a continuous inflow and outflow of migrant families. Hence FSAs have to continuously mo-bilize people. FSAs organized community & slum development meetings every month where they informed people about the importance of education, water & sanitation, how to improve their living conditions, basic knowledge on HIV/AIDS, health & hygiene. FSAs also organized meetings with local youths and informed them about seasonal diseases and how to prevent it. Youths were encouraged to help to send children to school, help teachers during slum development meetings, health check-up camps and women’s literacy classes. Parents’ Teacher Meetings are an important essence of FSA, because through these meetings, the FSA staff directly mobilizes the parents about their children’s education. During the last 6 months, parents were given information about basic health and hygiene, different diseases, fam-ily planning and the importance of education. The teachers discussed about every child’s progress with his/her par-ents. This helped the parents to know their children’s progress. Enrolment of children: First Steps Academy’s major task is to provide education to underprivileged, drop-outs, and recently migrated chil-dren from slums and surroundings. FSAs have conducted door-to-door field surveys to reach out to newly migrated families in the project operational area( LalKhan , Kunda Bassti and JhalanaSlum) in the last six months. During the last 6 months, more than 160 children were enrolled in FSAs. It is a continuous process, as FSAs keep mobiliz-ing people in the project area to enroll their children in FSAs. The project works towards enabling children to study in formal schools after receiving basic education at FSAs. This year also, the FSAs have enrolled children in formal schools after they have received education from FSAs. Providing education to out-of-school children: FSAs provide education from 1st to 7th grade. In order to maintain the interest of children in regular teaching hours, FSAs have started a new method known as 10 Steps for Better future ,Multi Grade Multi Level (MGML), a pedagogical structure designed and implemented by various state governments in India. It is a very effective way of teaching the children and also helps develop the teachers’ teaching capacity. The method is very valuable, as it has shown improvement in children who like the innovative way of learning. The children are not dependent on teachers anymore and are learning fast as they study in groups. The teachers have set weekly and monthly goals. The students have used 10 steps educational materials and tools. 10 Steps refers to the teaching of students of dif-ferent ages, grades and abilities in the same group. The projects are using the 10 Steps method to encourage chil-dren who have different capabilities and capacities. It is an activity-based learning, which helps children to learn at their own pace and discourages the traditional system of rote method. Extracurricular activities in FSA for a holistic development of children Sports and Cultural Programs: FSA works as a center for culture for the broader community. The project or-ganized an art competition for children, where they showcased their talent in drawing and painting. Sports and cultural programs were also organized in the FSAs. Sports events like frog race, banana race, spoon race, 50 & 100 meter; kho-kho, tug of war, badminton, musical chair game, blind folding game, Kabaddi, and balloon blast. FSAs organized cultural programs where children presented English and Hindi poems, jokes and stories. English and Hindi plays, dance and singing competition were also organized. Monthly Parents Meeting: As monthly parents meeting are being organized at the FSAs to share the progress of the children, sharing the best practices of the children, and other experiences. The meeting is also use to raise any common issue in the community which could be discussed among the community member as FSA teacher also help them to solve such issues. We keep on sharing and bringing awareness in the community for various issues as Health & hygiene, Sanitation, Human Rights and etc.

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Women Literacy Classes The Women/Adult Literacy Classes (WALC) : RCF organizes literacy classes for illiterate Adults and women living in the nearby areas. The class is focused on teaching the women and adults on how to do basic mathematics like counting, addition, subtraction, multiplying and division. They are also taught on how to write their names, sign, read a newspaper and write small articles. The teachers organized practical lessons for the adults and women as using mobile, watching time, seeing the expiry dates on medicine and any other products. The WALC spread and provide knowledge in the area of health& hygiene, nutrition, education, family planning, human rights and etc. Rather than this RCF also touches upon building their communication & managerial skills and their self confidence. During last six months 30 adults and women have been benefiting for women literacy classes , and for other once survey is being done and the next batch and classes would be regularly running.

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RCF provides skill development/vocation

trainings to unemployed underprivileged youths in

various skills and facilitate them to get employment or

start their own work.

Vocational/

Skill Development

Training

“The main hope of a Nation

lies in the proper Education of its Youth.”

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Vocational/ Skill Development Training

The Issue at Hand Creating jobs for young people is a major challenge around the world, which has been further exacerbated by the global financial crisis that hit this group hard. In this broader global context, this paper presents a detailed profile of youth employment and unemployment in India, which has the world’s largest youth population. Young Indians face major barriers because of poverty and low levels of human capital. Though educational attainment has risen quickly in recent years, gaining a foothold in the labor market remains elusive for many young Indians. In rural and urban areas, young males are usually em-ployed in casual jobs, while their female counterparts tend to be self- em-ployed. Although a large proportion of young rural women are employed in agriculture, rural males are increasingly turning to the non-farm sector. In comparison, young urban males are largely working in the services sector. Among young women, social conditions play an important role: labor force participation, for example, is higher among scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes, especially in rural areas. In response to these challenges, policies should address the lack of productive employment oppor-tunities for youth both in rural and urban areas. While skills development is crucial, these initiatives should be supplemented by more comprehensive Programmes that target the most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth. The youth’s situation in these underprivileged communities is very poor ,although India is developing country and creating many opportunities for employment but due to lake of proper education which they did not got at their childhood most of them used to do daily laborer work as they do not have such kind of skills or education, only 26% Youths are skilled workers as per the Rajasthan government’s data , due to lake of skills they have to work as temporary worker and 4 to 6 months can work, rest of time they spend use-less .In Rural areas only 51% youths goes for higher education rest 49% do domestic laborer in harvesting seasons remaining time they spent useless . The main cause of this they had not attend a quality education and do not have enough skills. Rural ConneXtion Foundation is implementing two Vocational/Skill Develop-ment concepts: STAR Scheme by NSDC : The Initiate by National Skill development Corpora-tion( NSDC) in the Cooperation of the Govt. Of India .this Scheme is to en-courage skill development for youth by providing monetary rewards for suc-cessful completion of approved training programs. Basic Courses: RCF provides various course to help underprivileged unem-ployed youths to develop and enhance their skills which help them to earn money and improve their family situation.

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STAR Scheme by NSDC STAR Scheme by NSDC : The Initiate by National Skill development Corporation( NSDC) in the Cooperation of the Govt. Of India .this Scheme is to encourage skill development for youth by providing monetary rewards for successful completion of approved training programs. Specifically, the Scheme aims to: encourage standardization in the certification process and initiate a process of creating a registry of skills; and increase productivity of the existing workforce and align the training and certification to the needs of the country. Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification to boost employability and productivity of youth. RCF implements the STAR Scheme programme in Cooperation of NSDC ( The Govt. of India) . So far under this we have survived and enrolled 54 youth and as 18 youth have already started their training in the RCF’s FSA center this.

Vocational & Skill Development Courses by RCF Vocational & Skill Development Courses by RCF : RCF provides various Vocational & Skill Development courses to underprivileged unemployed youths to develop and enhance their skills. After having these training So than they could get jobs or could start their own and earn money. That can help them to improve their lives and their fami-lies’ situation. RCF provides English and Personality development Courses for underprivileged unemployed youths . So far 23 youths have been attending these and got benefited.

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Development aims to encourage

sharing and togetherness and to create

structures that give genuine

participation and involvement

Community

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Community Development Projects

The issue at hand Poverty in India is a major issue. Rural Indians depend on unpredictable agriculture incomes, while urban Indi-ans rely on jobs that are usually scarce. More than one third of India’s fast-growing population of more than one billion still lives below the poverty line, with large parts of the entire rural and urban population living their lives in poor and dehumanizing circumstances. Rural Connextion Foundation’s Community Development Projects are about fighting with some of these poor peo-ple, developing the skills, knowledge and experience of people as individuals and in groups, thus enabling them to undertake initiatives of their own to combat social, eco-nomic, political and environmental problems in their com-munities, and enabling them to fully participate in a truly democratic process. To support the idea of the project, Community Develop-ment Projects are implementing their activities under 10 lines, covering most aspects of life and thus intended to strengthen the community on the whole. The ten lines are: • Strengthening the Economy of the Family • Health • Early Childhood Development • Children and Youth as Active in Society • People in Difficult Circumstances • Education • Water & Sanitation • Environment • Two locally defined lines Community Development Projects support the establish-ment of strong communities that control and use assets to promote social justice and help improve the quality of community life. It also enables community and public agencies to work together to improve the quality of gov-ernment functioning. Activities: RCF’s is already implementing some the objective’s activi-ties of the project in our operational area ( Lalkhan , Kunda Basti and Jhalana Slum, Jaipur) .

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Community Meetings RCF regularly do organize the common community meetings to discuss the common issues in open and finding the solution for same together with the people. These meetings has been really very effectives so far to solve some of the common issues like : Cleaning common places, Not drinking in common places, Water Saving and etc. These meetings have been really a very great platform to bringing the changes in the community . During this period RCF has organized 6 community meetings on various common issues and themes.

Together with the People for building better community to live ,we must have to have better understanding be-tween and the building strength together , so we could bring the change . Therefore, RCF to organize various ac-tivities and events to bring the community together, e.g. Common community cleaning Action , Sports Day and etc.

Common Actions

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People are mobilized

individually or in groups to take

responsibility for their own health

and to make use of the public health

services

Health & Hygiene

“Health is Wealth”

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Health & Hygiene Projects

The issue at hand The state of general health in India is a cause of concern, not least for the people residing in rural India, with pov-erty, ignorance and poor access to health services. Health is one of the most important elements of being able to lead a good life. The state of health in the family and in the community has a decisive influence on all as-pects of human life – on the individual and the collective reserves of energy to work, to think, to learn, to socialize – to live a decent life. A good marker of a country’s progress is the environment in which its children grow up. India, one of the fastest growing economies, is still amongst the five countries with the worst maternal mortality rate. High percentages of infants have low weight at birth, and many children under five are suffering from wasting and stunting. A rather small number of diseases and conditions are the biggest killers of young children today. Pneumonia, mea-sles, diarrhoea, malaria, HIV and AIDS and complica-tions during pregnancy and after birth cause more than 90% of deaths in children under five. Children who are malnourished are at a far greater risk of dying from these causes because they’re too weak to fight disease. Another primary cause of widespread health problems is the shortage of safe drinking water and unhygienic sur-roundings, especially in rural areas and in slums. Only part of the wastewater is being treated, with the remain-der flowing into rivers or groundwater, and the lack of toilet facilities in many areas also presents a major health risk; open defecation is widespread even in urban areas, and thousands of children are dying every day from diarrhoea. Still another important health issue is the lack of general access for all to clinics and health check-ups. Although India in many ways is a “doctors’ country”, the effects of social and economic inequality are profound. The socially under-privileged are unable to access the healthcare due to geographical, social, economic or gender-related distances. Rural ConneXtion Foundation strives to create better conditions for a healthier life for people in places where the health situation is poor and devoid of trained health service providers and other resources. Groups are estab-lished for people to stick together around their own and the families’ health and to make it easier for them to ac-cess the public health services.

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Activities Health & hygiene : various activities & events are being organized to create awareness and building knowledge between the community, so the health & hygiene situation can be improved and the place can be better to live. As well , some physical exercise and Yoga activities also being organized and taught to children and community. Health Check-Up Camps The Health Check-Up Camps are about people’s general health, including eye and dental health. Doctors and nurses come to the villages and slums to perform check-ups and treatment and to inform about health issues. The camps also inform about nutrition and serve to detect sexually transmitted diseases (STD), which are referred to the public clinics for treatment. Water RCF strongly working hard towards to save and safe water, since RCF works in such area where there is common water is the only option of water. Since it is a common place people really do not care as much and nor are aware about how keep water clean and save it. Therefore, RCF keep on organizing various activities e.g. street plays, rally, poster , banners and etc . to create awareness about it among the community.

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Together we find simple and affordable ways to protect and improve the environment

Environment

Save Trees , Save Environment

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Environment Projects

The issue at hand Looking around in our areas, we see dried-out wells causing women to walk far to bring water to their households, soil too poor in quality to support cultivation of vegetables and grains, trees crippled as their branches are being used for animal fodder because grassing areas no longer provide sufficient greenery, we see polluted water bodies, unsuitable for any usage. Many more problems could be added, due to global warming and lacking or faltering measures to redress the balance of nature. We take action in different ways at our projects to improve the surroundings, by planting trees, cleaning up polyethylene bags from our area, conducting environ-ment education sessions with our project staff and school children, conducting water saving campaigns etc. The poorest people have to fight the hard-est to protect the environment. They de-pend on the soil, the water and the weather for their livelihoods, for their im-mediate survival. Even though they con-tribute least to global warming and climate change, they are the ones to feel the conse-quences first and most. Rural Connextion Foundation allies with people in the area around the issues of en-vironment. Activities: Tree Planting Save the Trees! Tree saving action is an activity that is being implemented in the projects to involve people, young as old, in improving and protecting our environment. Tree planting and saving trees actions have resulted in enhanced awareness about the environment, and by actually planting a tree many have been inspired to take part in more programmes where they have gained knowledge about climate change and global warming.

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Voices from the Projects

Namste! My name is Seema. I am 28 years old. I live in Lal Khan,Kunda Basti (slum) Jaipur. I wanted to get education since my childhood but that time our situa-tion was not good, so I could not go to school ,because my father passed away in early age due to ill. At that moment, my mother was only one to take care of entire family. My mother was working at other’s place and through her this labor job, she was earning very little and by this she was feeding us and serving. We are 6 sisters and one brother; all of us were just staying at home. And for all of us responsibility was at my mother only. In that situation, we could not even think of studying because all other ba-sic and important things e.g. food to eat, clothes to wear etc. were also not available. But I wanted to study and do some-thing in life. I got married when I was 10 years old. Today, I am 28 years old and have 3 children. My husband name is shree Kallu Ram. He is also illiterate neither he cannot write nor can read now. He dose daily labor work and earns 3000 rupees’ ($ 50 USD) for month. With this money we can’t even able to survive properly and due to this we are unable to send our children for study in the school.Mostly we only

able to get food once in a day because our situation is very weak & bad and do not have money to buy food. Continues….In next page.

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But I also want to study and want to be self reliant. So I can run my family and house. When, I got to know about First Steps Academy run by Rural Connextion Foundation organization in our slum than was very happy about this and thought I have got chance once again to full fill my hopes and I can study now. Therefore I came to the school and got admission along with my all three kids. It has been now 3 months I am coming to the school continuously, because of my continuation to the school, today I can read and write easily. And in these three months time period I learnt a lot and want keep continue my study. So I could able

to improve my family condition. Now four of us (me and My 3 children) come to the school regu-larly for study. I really very much heartily thankful to all the peo-ple/staff of Rural ConneXtion Foundation and wants to say that more children and women like school get this opportunity to study. Thanking you

Seema Devi

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Partnership in Development

Rural ConneXtion Foundation A-195,Malviya Nagar, Jaipur ( Raj.) 302017 Contact : +91-8696800680 Email: info@rconnextionfoundation.org Website : www.rconnextionfoundation.org

Partnership in Development builds on the understanding that progress and development must be created “From People to People”. The driving force will always be the people involved in the issue at hand. But they need partners who can provide the financing, and partners on the ground together with the people to make the development happen. A beautiful trio: the princi-pal partner, who is the people themselves, the funding partner, and the implementing partner .