|
PROGRESS REPORT FOR THE PERIOD
April 2002 to March 2003
Coverage
Starting in 1983-84 with a small programme to resettle landless families
in agriculture on land made available by the Government of Andhra
Pradesh in Madakasira Taluk of Anantapur District, the Project gradually
expanded by the late 1980s and early 1990s to cover 5 mandals (Agali,
Rolla, Gudibanda, Madakasira and Amarapuram), all in the same taluk. In
the current year, it continued to work in these areas but in the
direction of gradually completing all the planned programmes and
eventually phasing out. The staff strength of the Project is currently
33.
Project Focus
The core programme of the Project is linked to the concept of child
sponsorship and emphasises the education and health of children as well
as making improvements to the environment (home, school, community) in
which children grow. Currently, sponsorship programme covers
approximately 4,000 children.
Other programmes include working with women to promote awareness and
development, organising the poor into self help affinity groups, and
supporting the poor to take up income generation activities that include
both agricultural and non-agricultural investments (if the families earn
stable incomes the children’s growth and development is secured better).
Funding
PLAN International has been and continues to remain the partner
agency for this Project. Local resources are mobilised for various
programmes. The Project has been regularly raising funds from the
Panchayath Raj Department for the establishment of rural water supply
systems. In the current year, water supply systems were established in
18 villages.
Local Level Institutions
The Project is working with 489 self help groups, 22 federations of self
help groups, 43 children’s clubs and 1 watershed institution. The
children’s groups include both sponsored and non-sponsored children in
the age group of 8 to 14, and engage in a variety of recreational
activities. 7 children’s theatre groups have been formed and enjoy
performing in the villages on themes of education, health, public
sanitation, environment, child marriage, etc.
The federations enable members to access various schemes such as old age
and widow pensions, benefits for disabled persons, toilet construction,
cooking gas connection, etc. The SHG-Bank linkage programme is
relatively more recently being pursued on the project and a little over
80 groups have been linked so far.
Education
Apart from promoting the attendance of children at regular schools, the
Project has identified the problem of girls being denied education and
having to work as labourers, because of their parents’ poverty,
ignorance and lack of support. Hence, the Project is running 7 girls’
learning centres for girls between the ages of 9 and 19 where they can
learn to read and write besides being encouraged to develop life skills
(confidence, personality development) and vocational skills (tailoring,
embroidery, doll making, basket weaving, etc.).
Phasing Out
The Project first started working in Agali, Rolla and Gudibanda mandals
and is now working on phasing out from these areas over the next few
years. In Amarapuram and Madakasira mandals, where it entered later, the
plan is to phase out by 2009.
*************** |
