Parwadi Village
Transforming Parwadi Village
Background: Parwadi Village is located, 14 km away from the main city of the Mahad block of Raigad district. The population is 513 with 130 households and consists of three hamlets (small community pockets) -Two tribal hamlets and one non-tribal hamlet. The majority of the population are Katkari tribes, which are a fragmented and very scattered community of landless workers with only periodic and tenuous connections to their original nomadic, forest-based livelihoods. The children migrate with their parents to different places for work and have to live in temporary shanties without adequate security. The vulnerable environment predisposes them to various kinds of abuse and health problems, only increased during the covid outbreak, and has deprived their children to continue formal education.
Thus, “PRIDE India” in partnership with “SPYN Welfare Foundation International” has implemented an Ideal village project in the Parwadi village with a holistic approach focusing on Education, Health & Sanitation, Economic empowerment, and Community development. This concept is focused on individuals and villagers to bring about socio-economic transformation to develop the village as an institution where the community takes ownership of personal well-being and their surroundings. This should reduce the need for migration by the villagers and will ensure a healthier living and working environment for the villagers and their children.
Health and Sanitation: PRIDE believes that adequate hygiene education inspires real and lasting improvements to current hygiene practices and as a result promotes positive practices that prevent the spread of disease. Informational sessions are conducted on health-related topics like Personal and community health, hygiene practices COVID-19 prevention, and corrective measures. Additionally, toilets across the village have been renovated; campaigns are continuously conducted to clean the village and to promote the use of dustbins; and hygiene kits have been distributed. To streamline waste water eight soak pits were built in the community and to ensure drinking water and sanitation, and a 5000ltr water tank was installed, which reaches over 350 people.
Education: As part of improving the quality of education, Information Education and Communication (IEC) wall paintings have been created in collaboration with the school management committee. The major objective of the initiative is to create a healthy learning environment for school-going students as well as to simplify formal education using child-friendly pictorial theme-based information. In most government schools in the rural areas, children’s academic score or learning level is comparatively lower than those living in urban areas. There are a variety of explanations for this phenomenon as parents are generally not as conscious of formal education; there is a lot of seasonal migration; the distance to the school can be a factor; the lack of material in the schools; the level and motivation of the teacher, as well as the learning environment at home and at school. To change the above scenario, PRIDE initiated a study center in the two hamlets to improve the reading skills of the children as well as to sensitize parents about their child’s education. Teachers have been appointed to conduct remedial classes for slow learners, and 59 children have enrolled in both study centers. To allow for studying after the sun goes down, solar enabled study lights have installed in the study center. An additional goal of the program is to ensure that the children remain in school even if their parents migrate for part of the year. PRIDE accommodates the children throughout the year for those who remain in the village.
Economic Empowerment: Most people living in the rural areas see working in the agricultural sector as their only option as a source of income. But in the present situation, they can no longer be dependent upon agriculture and struggle to make ends meet due to the low wage rate and high efforts. The cost of production is often higher than the yield. Rain-fed agriculture makes the work more vulnerable and often leads to seasonal migration of the workers to nearby cities like Mumbai, Thane, and Pune. This is exactly what has been happening in the tribal hamlets of the project villages. Which also leads to farmers having to give up land they may had previously owned. To increase households’ annual income and to make rural families more self-reliant PRIDE has initiated alternate livelihood sources like goats; training women for basic tailoring and supporting them with a sewing machine; improving traditional farming practices through forming groups of farmers and women’s self-help groups. The idea is that they start saving money monthly for the times of the year where they have less income. In addition PRIDE is organizing training sessions for the women’s group on entrepreneurial development so that the women can be involved in the process of income generation and ultimately take an active part in decision making.
Strengthening Village Institution: Community organization and institution building is the major pillar of every community-based project. In the project village, a village development committee was formed to accelerate the rural development initiatives. Every month the committee members organize a meeting to plan developmental activities with the participation of the people and share progress reports. The major objective of the initiatives is to create transparency, accountability, and participation among the community to establish a good institution. Annually, International women’s day is highly celebrated in the village.
Networking with the Government: PRIDE tries to collaborate with Government departments like Health and Education along with the Local Government offices to ensure the villages are benefitting from available resources. Health camps are often organized with the Primary Health center’s suppoprt for events like the Covid Vaccination of all the eligible people in the villages, ensuring water is being supplied throughout the dry months through tankers..