Gram Seva Sansthan

Results: Our Success From the very beginning GSS realized the potential of its strength that it drew from the masses and has over the years made its presence felt in the region through a series of campaigns to root out various social evils from this region besides organizing masses for forest protection, water conservation and watershed management. The efforts of GSS resulted in the stopping of naach tradition that degraded females. In 1986 GSS initiated chipko movement in Dwari and the administration was compelled to review the forest policy. With the support of the MMDs voluntary restrictions were: imposed upon lopping and felling of trees in the surrounding forests and a massive afforestation drive was undertaken to revive the forests. These initiatives paid dividends and appreciably good oak forest has come up in the region. The advocacy of GSS has borne fruits at present the jungles in the surrounding villages are managed by the MMDs and lopping is regulated and done systematically so that the forest gets ample time to regenerate. These a forestation measures resulted in enhanced water resources in the region. Many new springs have appeared at the slope break below the jungle while many seasonal springs have become perennial. GSS from the very beginning appreciated the traditional measures taken by the people for resource management in the region. And it was amongst the admirers of traditional chaals (water harvesting / recharge enhancing structures) and with the support of FORRAD it built 50 chaals (traditional recharge pits) in this region for Enhancing recharge of groundwater and thus to increase the yield of the springs. These have significantly enhanced the spring yields besides impeding the pace of running water resulting in reduced rates of mass wastage. Our Strengthen From the very' beginning GSS has been deeply conceded about the drudgery of women of the region who shoulder most of the workload of agricultural and allied operations besides taking care of the household. The Sansthan realized the latent potential and strength of the hardy hill women and organized them to initiate social change at grassroots level. In all the movements so far launched by the sansthan, females have played a key role and sansthan has no hesitation in sharing the success of these movements with the females of the region. . The female groups; Mahila Mangal Dais (MMD) women’s group) as these are called over here, are established in almost all the villages of the region to gamer support of the females who comprise majority of the labour force in the hills due to the out migration of able bodied men folk. MMDs were first organized in Gona and Bhatgaon in 1978, and it was followed by MMD at Lodas in 1981. Since then there has been no looking back and at present GSS has organized 30 MMDs in the region. Aided by Uttarakhand Sewa Nidhi, Almora GSS has strengthened its presence in 12 villages where it runs balwari (child nursery) program. Besides taking due care of the children and providing basic health facilities the ba/wari worKers have helped in bringing about awareness amongst the masses. Even in the earlier stages of its inception GSS realized the importance of awareness drive 'through mass campaigns and since then it has been agitating the masses through its innovative puppet shows that it has by now mastered. Through its awareness drives GSS agitated the females of the region over the cause of depleting forest resources and its implications over the day to day life of the villagers. To reduce the drudgery of the females of the region who had to walk stirringly long distances to get the flour milled and oil pressed GSS has established a flour mill accompanied by an oil press in its premises. To save the villagers from any extra burden age old system of taking flour in lieu of the milling charges has been retained. As commercial energy is not available to the masses of the region, they take recourse to fuel wood for their energy requirements. Fuel wood collection takes toll of a major portion of the productive time of the females and they are deprived from contributing towards other productive pursuits that result in their degraded social status. To add to it smoke emanating from the fuel wood results in many a lung and eye ailments. In order to provide easy access to energy and to improve the socio-economic condition of there females GSS installed 15 biogas plants in this region for demonstration purpose.

Target demographics: Disaster Relief, environment, education, Intigrate sustainable development, upliftment of weaker section of the society

Geographic areas served: Backword and dificult area of midile Himalaya

Programs: The Gram Seva Sansthan (GSS) is a voluntary and charitable, grass root level, development constructive organization. Integrated and sustainable development of the entire hilly terrain together with human resources, with the co-operation of the masses is the motto of the Gram Seva Sansthan. GSS is registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act (1860) and under the FCRA (1976) with the Ministry of Home Affairs. GSS has active grass root level rural integrated development social research and technical support and working programmes in Water Resource Management, Rural Organizations monitoring, Environment Education and protection, Child Environment, Disaster relief, Social Evils Eradication and Dalit Upliftment. Target area & situation: Donate us for: Emergency Relief Response for Flood Victims Project Rudra Pryag, Uttarkashi and Tehri Garhwal of Uttarakhand are currently in crisis of the destructive flood disaster. Majority of villages are situated in remote areas and so faraway from the main roads. Often Peoples build houses with stone and soil, so these houses are not able to face any disasters’ affects and usually breaks down. These areas are situated on the 3500-6500 feet from sea level and very sensitive toward the disasters at present, badly affected by the destructive flood disasters. Peoples of Rudra Pryag, Uttarkashi and Tehri Garhwal have very critical economic condition because of their poverty and destructive flood disasters. They do casual labor for their food to survive. There is animal husbandry and agriculture as the main occupations of the peoples, while, livestock and agriculture have been most affected. The economic, educational, livelihoods etc. are damaged. Beneficiaries & Need of housing: In 1991 and 1999 here came very destructive earthquakes which destroyed the area very badly and so many crakes appeared in the houses. In 2001, cloudburst affected majority of houses were damaged in these valleys. Now 2013, in Uttarakhand state, cloudburst swept lands and houses with everything by the heavy rain and landslides in villages, people are suffering from the critical conditions. Enormous numbers of households have to live in leakage house and some of households have to live without house because of destructive cloudbursts. Beneficiaries of this project are highly affected by this destructive flood disaster. Village wise survey is included of the salacte village. Proposed Intervention: The proposed Relief Response operation contains components are Temporary Shelter, Damaged House Repairing, and basic relief with food and non-food relief items to 500 highly affected and vulnerable households during six months months. Temporary Shelter and Relief: The operation shall target 235 displaced households and 265 Damaged House Repairing, who will be provided with materials for the construction of emergency shelters and house repairing and provided with food and non-food relief items which will contribute to improved living conditions for the families. Strategies to Implement: The proposed operation shall be coordinated by the Gram Sewa Sansthan’s Relief response programme. At the ground level the Relief Response Team (08 Staff and 15 volunteers) shall manage the operations in their respective areas of intervention and will undertake the service delivery to the affected populations through the support of the local volunteers of the organization. 08 Staff and 15 volunteers will be mobilized to carry out the activities in relief response operation. Gram Sewa Sansthan shall work directly among affected with the local volunteers in the delivery of the response. The existing community structures shall be utilized to support the operation. There are existing volunteers within the affected populations who shall support the registration exercise of the affected house holds and the delivery of the services to the beneficiaries. The beneficiary community shall be involved in the intervention starting from assessment, planning implementation and monitoring and evaluation. The beneficiary community feedback on the intervention will be taken into consideration to help improve service delivery. Special consideration will be undertaken to the needs of women, children and vulnerable households from Dalit and disadvantaged. Logistical, Transportation and Administration Specification: To provide effective logistical support that enables rapid assistance provided to targeted beneficiaries. Transport relief supplies to final distribution points. Identify suitable warehouses for storage of relief items. Local procurement of shelter items, non-food items material supplies. The logistical support for the intervention will include procurement services, transportation, temporary warehousing and support for final distribution of the shelter and non-food items to the target beneficiaries. Staff salary, office expenditure and miscellaneous expenditures will include. Monitoring and Reporting: Our team is assessing the situations on the ground. For this, teem has been trained and leaded by the Emergency Relief Response of the Gram Sewa Sansthan. To instant and appropriate successfully operation of this Emergency Response Proposal, regular monitoring will be undertaken by the relief teams supported by Programme manager, including field visits and updates from the regions. Detailed reporting will be undertaken at the end of the three months of operation. An end of operation review involving the Relief Response Proposal staff and volunteers both at the regions will be undertaken to evaluate the Relief Response operation. You can wire transfer your won kind donation or fund for national donor Bank account name: GRAM SEVA SANSTHAN Bank account no. : 11410784282 IFSC : SBIN0002347 Branch Code : 249002025 for foreign donor Bank account name: GRAM SEVA SANSTHAN Bank account no. : 11410812915 IFSC : SBIN0002347 Branch Code : 249002025