EDUCATION

To improve the poor status of education within the tribal communities, Pararth Samiti engages in government schools by building capacities of government teachers, promoting creative learning among children with an equal focus on extra-curricular activities. The teachers are tapped of their motivation and trained on creative methods of teaching by designing and using the TLM materials. Another important engagement in this program is with School Management Committees (SMCs) in order to strengthen their functioning and ownership. The SMCs then take care of the school campus, mid-day meals along with other issues. The program directly contributes to SDG-4.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION

Targeting SDG-3, the nutrition program, focuses on improving health of women, adolescents, and children through improved nutrition intake and promoting hygiene practices. The program involves awareness generation and ensuring proper functioning of government services like Anganwadi and ASHA. Women, girls and youth are collectivized and trained on menstrual and reproductive health, nutrition, maternal care, and child care. They are also made aware on discrimination and taboos around health and hygiene.

LIVELIHOOD

Marginalized tribal families’ livelihood mostly depends on natural resources around them. Main sources of food and income are agriculture, livestock and forest based produce. Targeting SDG-1 and 2, Pararth Samiti works for the economic development of marginal tribal farmers by improving productivity of these resources through various interventions like promoting improved production practices, and facilitating backward and forward linkages.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Organization’s main focus are women of the community. Women are the most disadvantaged in a family, when it comes to making choices, freedom, rights and ownership. Thus, they are strategically made primary node of engagement in all activities. Women are collectivized in Self-help groups and trained on number of issues like gender, rights and entitlements, leadership development,  improved livelihoods, health and nutrition.

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

SDG-13 demands urgent action to combat climate change and its impact. The conservation of natural resources such as land, water, forests and grasslands is a pressing need. Rural families depend on them for their survival. Pararth Samiti engages tribal communities in planning and implementation of conservation related activities which also generates additional income for them. The activities include timber and non-timber plantation, construction of water harvesting structures and promotion of sustainable practices in agriculture. Convergence with government departments is also a major component of this program.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

More than 90% of the rural families are directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture for their livelihood. The fragmentation of land with time is continuously reducing the land holding of families in rural areas. Young generation now have less land to cultivate. Moreover, erratic weather poses additional problems in farming every year. Inputs costs are also continuously rising. These problems together, are making agriculture an unreliable and unsustainable. Rural youth are getting detached from farming and poor status of education is increasing their economic vulnerability. Most of them have to opt for distressed migration.